:: Gala Dinner 2002 Message

2002 Gala Dinner Message
21 of November 2002
Carlos Manuel Uribe
President
Friends of Coco’s Island Foundation (FAICO)

Mr., President of the Republic, Dr. Abel Pacheco de la Espriella, Mr., President in Exercise of the Legislative Assembly, Lic, Federico Malavassi. Mr. Ex president of the Republic Lic. Rodrigo Carazo Odio. Mr., Minister of the Environment and Energy, Lic, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Echandi. Distinguished members of the Diplomatic Body. National and International Environmental Organizations. Respectable members of the business sector. Nature Lovers… All.

With great pleasure and profound gratitude, I welcome you to this significant event, which brings together distinguished representatives of the business, governmental, diplomatic, and environmental sectors both of Costa Rica and the world.

I want to highlight the presence of several excelling professionals of international prestige that have congregated in this event to support the steps taken by FAICO.

Among them is Dr. Barbara Block from Stanford University, Rick Rosenthal from Montana State University, and Elda Brizuela, Costa Rican Documentalist, who will enlighten us with their presentations.

Also with us are Mike and Linda Heithouse, ichthyologists, Kevin Krug , Producer of National Geographic Television, Rod Mast, vice president of Conservation International, as well as Frank Paladino and Jim Spotila, world specialists in the conservation of marine turtles. We welcome and thank them for their support.
The FAICO Board of Directors would like to thank all of you for your presence and contribution, particularly to the sponsors of this event: Alcatel, Banco de Costa Rica, BICSA, Corporación de Supermercados Unidos, Colgate Palmolive, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad and Panamco Tica.

I wish to share with you some thoughts about the great challenges and threats facing the conservation and protection of the environment.

I invite you to ponder about this theme, as citizens of this planet, our home, sons and daughters of this generous and prosperous earth, filled with dreams, hope, that today cries for our help.

Now a days, collective communication systems, the access to technological and scientific achievements, among which Internet is the most prominent, our planet Earth has become a global village, allowing us, almost instantly, to know what is happening anywhere in the world.

Today, within a real time frame, we can be witnesses of the ways in which our ecosystems are being affected globally thanks to human activity.

With astonishment and impotence, we hear about river pollution, the indiscriminate cutting of forests, the spilling of petroleum in the vast seas, the high levels of both atmospheric and sonic contamination, the extermination of terrestrial and marine species, fishing with inappropriate methods and in forbidden places. The last to scourges are the main with which FAICO fights every day.

As a businessman in a developing country, and proud to be a son of this liable and hopeful earth, I have been able to observe how people from diverse parts of the world have created a future for themselves, thanks to the abundance of our nature resources, which have been used to gain affluence, and to contribute to the social and economic development of our nations.

However, Mother Earth’s generosity has not been retributed to her in the same way. As a society, we have severely misused our natural resources, thus demonstrating our lack of compromise and causing mutual damage, as well as attempting to hinder the well being of present and future generations.

“When men indiscriminately takes over natural resources, he becomes a conflicting agent of discord. But when men decides to dedicate to the conservation of these resources, he becomes an emissary of peace, social justice and equity.”

For a long time, we lived believing that the natural resources would be forever with us, but today we know that this is not so. If we do not take the appropriate measures, which in many cases are urgent, a big part of these resources may eventually disappear together us with us.

The right of every individual to enjoy a safe and ecologically balanced environment is a fundamental guarantee , and as such, it is inherent to the human race; it is as important as the right to work, to receiving an education, to being in good health, and ultimately the right to live.

We all must be part of the solution, regardless of our race, religious beliefs or social status. The preservation of our ecosystems is not, and never should be the exclusive duty of ecologists or of the governments or of any project or program.

The struggle for preservation must be the duty of all, businessmen, citizens, women, men, and children, committed both morally and economically.

From Friends of Coco’s Island Foundation, I have undertaken a serious compromise to foment in other businessmen colleagues and citizens in general, a change of attitude that will allow us to establish the base to consolidate a culture of sustainable development and social responsibility with nature, in this way transforming us from spectators to protagonists.

It is time to compromise with our natural surroundings.

As sons and heirs of a new millennium, we face the challenge of becoming part of history and now it is time for us to decide what we will do with her. There are only 3 alternatives: to read it, write it or become its protagonist.

Particularly, I have decided to provide my support for the accomplishment of this mission.

I invite you to unite your efforts with ours.

Friends of Coco’s Island Foundation, works around 5 main axis.

In the first axis, we look to position and institutionally strengthen FIACO and Coco’s Island to become part of the National Agenda, and furthermore, we project at the international level.

The second axis revolves around our relations with the government of the Republic, with the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches.

A third axis intends to create strategic alliances with national and international organizations, with the purpose of developing and establishing cooperative and technical assistance projects for the Island.

The fourth axis focuses on collecting the financial resources, both nationally and internationally, in order to develop programs and projects in Coco’s Island.

And a fifth axis works with the management and conservation of Coco’s Island, where we hope to develop concrete plans of action along with The Coco’s Island Marine and Terrestrial Conservation Area.

For many years Coco’s Island was not part of the national agenda, and this provoked the indifference of the governmental sectors and of society in general , with regards to the importance of protecting and conserving the Island.

I wish to point out the support and compromise of the Ex President of the Republic, Lic. Rodrigo Carazo Odio, who during his administration, was a visionary man, and on the 22 of June 1978, decreed Coco’s Island a National Park , and the latter eventually became Law of the Republic. In this way, he gave Coco’s Island a privileged spot in his Governmental Agenda.

Now a days, one of FAICO achievements, has been to , once again, incorporate the Island in the National Agenda. The extensive assistance of our contributors, committed with our environment, confirms it tonight.

The presence of the President of the Republic, of his Minister of the Environment and Energy, and of other national authorities in this event, is an invaluable way to show that Coco’s Island has been incorporated into the President’s Governmental Agenda.

The issue here is that as Costa Ricans we know that Tourism is one of our main industries. If we do not appropriately attend to the alarm signals produced by the indiscriminate killing of marine species in Coco’s Island and in other protected areas in our country, this can become a double-edged sword against the reputation and image the Costa Rica has in the rest of the world.

We , then, have a two- sided speech;, on the one hand, we handle a leading role in regional conservation, and on the other hand, there exists the indifference and impunity towards environmental crimes.

Due to the latter, we support the development and OK of a project that penalizes the crimes against Protected Areas. In this way, we will counteract the reigning impunity and the lack of protection against the marine and terrestrial biodiversity.

This is why we are also in agreement with the executive decree that regulates the entrance and permanence of fishing embarkations within the Protected Area in Coco’s Island.

We hope to count with the baking and support of justice in order to be able to deal with the crimes against this Treasure of Humanity.

We know that the true enemies of the Island are not the fisherman who risk their lives in the seas with embarkations that do not meet the standards to navigate safely, and to make things worse, they are unfairly paid.

The true enemies of Coco’s Island are the international commercial interests that , through the use of local fishermen, are devastating the marine life, with the goal of satisfying the insatiable demand for shark fins by the oriental markets.

Faced with the imperative threats in Coco’s Island, this past April, after intense negotiations, our Foundation was able to attract the International Conservation Society, Sea Shepherd. With its ship of 185 ft. in length and its crew of volunteers and international observers, they perform vigilance and patrol operations under MINAE’s direction and with the help of Park Rangers. However, a foreign situation to the soon to- sign covenant impeded the formalization of this operation.

Despite of the latter, we continue to search for new options, among which I must highlight the AVINA Foundation, which has become an strategic ally in our desire to protect and conserve Coco’s Island.

Through this FAICO- AVINA alliance, it will be possible to establish programs and projects that will allow us to touch the business sector and society in general with hope to get their support and compromise towards Coco’s Island.

Friends of Coco’s Island Foundation in its interest to promote and conserve this Patrimony to Humanity, has also promoted a series of initiatives, such as the ones the MARVIVA Association promotes.

Along with the Coast Guard and Park Rangers, MARVIVA provides embarkations to watch over Coco’s Island and its surroundings. FAICO will be an ally of this operation.

Through a pact with ICE and Alcatel, we made Coco’s Island closer to Costa Rica because soon we will have direct , immediate , and clear communication through GSM cellular communication. We thank ICE and Alcatel for their support.

I wish to point out that we have began an excellent relationship with the National Geographic Society with the hope of developing diffusion, investigation, environmental, education, and conservation programs about Coco’s Island. Later, we will do the same with the marine biological corridor of Galapagos- Malpelo- Coco’s Island.

In the international plane, the Foundation has extended its invitation to distinguished leaders, investigators and conservationists of world renown, to become part of our Board of Advisors and serve as ambassadors of this cause through their prestige and influence.

Mr. Rodrigo Carazo Odio has generously accepted to preside over this Board of Advisors.

From Friends of Coco’s Island Foundation, as a businessmen and a nature lover, I can visualize a hopeful future in which the individual assumes the compromise that corresponds to him within society with respect to environmental consciousness. Despite the fact, that this is a big and complex challenge.

With optimism I detect an awakening in the business sector, and in the individual himself, towards a philanthropic culture of compromise with the environment.

I feel that the moment has arrived… the moment to leave your blueprint… a blue print that only you and I can leave, a permanent blueprint that others will be sure to follow and that will stay imprinted in time and space as our legacy to the present and future generations, a blueprint for our children and the children of our children.

Thank you very much for leaving your blueprint today!