GC Event—Secretary Wade Crowfoot of California and Minister Juan Carlos Navarro of Panama Detail Solutions on Protecting Our Planet
From left to right, Jeff Morgan, Juan Carlos Navarro, Bob Woodruff, Wade Crowfoot, and Martina Sasso.
On May 14th, nearly one hundred philanthropists and environmentalists gathered at The Olympic Club in San Francisco to support Global Conservation and participate in a distinguished panel discussion featuring global leaders in park and wildlife protection, including ABC News’ Bob Woodruff, Martina Sasso, founder of Por El Mar, Secretary Wade Crowfoot of California, and Minister Juan Carlos Navarro of Panama.
The unofficial theme of the evening: Boldness.
While being interviewed on the panel that evening, Martina Sasso emphasized that we need more boldness to accomplish everything we as environmental conservationists work to accomplish to save Earth's natural ecosystems from ourselves. And by the end of the panel discussion, an anonymous philanthropist donated $100,000, as she stated, “in the spirit of boldness.”
A lively discussion ensued with Secretary Wade Crowfoot of California showing how California’s Division of Natural Resources mobilizes 25,000 employees to protect California’s forests, nature, and marine resources from massive wildfires, illegal fishing and hunting, encroaching urbanization, and illegal marijuana cultivation on our national and state parks and forest lands.
Minister of Environment of Panama Juan Carlos Navarro emphasized, “talking won’t save our planet” with more conferences and global meetings—“now is the time for action.” Panama has taken bold steps in the past year to protect its forests and national parks, including:
Enacting a province-wide logging moratorium in Darien to stop the illegal cutting and clearing of tropical rainforests.
Hiring, equipping, and training 150 new national park rangers with trucks, boats, and necessary equipment, with an additional 100 rangers on the way
Deploying new technologies like Satellite Monitoring, Marine Radars, Cellular cameras, and systems like EarthRanger and Skylight to improve conservation, protection, and monitoring efforts, and
Supporting indigenous Communities, like the Naso Kingdom, to protect their Comarcas and promote the sustainable use of forests.
To that end, just last month, Panama interdicted sixteen illegal fishing boats in the Cordillera de Coiba Marine Protected Area, using an advanced marine protection system to detect illegal fishing around this site and Coiba National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, deep in the Pacific. This was the largest environmental bust in the country’s history.
Martina Sasso, founder of Por El Mar, showed how her NGO in Argentina has established the first protection of marine ecosystems and bold plans to reverse destruction of the country’s kelp forests- largest in the world—and over 30% of the earth’s oceans being highly exploited through new marine protected areas and sustainable kelp harvesting.
Panelists made three main points that stood out in the discussion:
“Be” Bold”—only by aggressive action can we make real change.
“This is not Rocket Science” – just needs the will and determination.
“Everyone must get involved”—we need the whole planet to make real change.
The "Panama Solution" is a clear and successful way forward for immediate, much-needed rainforest protection and nature conservation that is replicable in almost any country. The country deserves our immediate and wholehearted support.
The world would do well to look at and emulate Panama and its efforts to protect its natural heritage. We should also safeguard our own interests while gaining knowledge from this remarkable success story.
Panelist Bios:
Bob Woodruff (Host): Bob Woodruff joined ABC News in 1996 and has covered major stories throughout the country and around the world for the network. He succeeded Peter Jennings as anchor of "ABC World News Tonight" in December 2005. On January 29, 2006, while reporting on U.S. and Iraqi security forces, Woodruff was seriously injured by a roadside bomb that struck his vehicle near Taji, Iraq.
Juan Carlos Navarro: Selected as one of the planet's 100 most promising leaders by TIME magazine (1994) and as one of the key Latin American Leaders for the new millennium by both TIME and CNN (1999), Juan Carlos Navarro is one of Panama's prominent national figures.
Wade Crowfoot: Wade Crowfoot serves as California’s Natural Resources Secretary, leading efforts to conserve California’s environment and natural resources. He has served as Secretary since 2019 and advises Governor Newsom as a member of his cabinet.
Martina Sasso: A former advertising executive, Martina Sasso now channels her creativity and storytelling skills into protecting one of the last wild places on Earth: Argentina’s Península Mitre.
