PABLO HOFFMAN - Whitley Award-winning Conservationist - Exec. Director & Co-Founder of Sociedade Chauá

PABLO HOFFMAN - Whitley Award-winning Conservationist - Exec. Director & Co-Founder of Sociedade Chauá

Pablo Hoffman has always been passionate about plants and natural ecosystems, with special appreciation for research and dissemination with practical results for the production and conservation of native species. Pablo graduated in Forestry at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) 2002, had his Master’s in Forestry – UFPR 2014, currently he is a PhD candidate in Forestry. One of the Founders of the Sociedade Chauá, Pablo has been a board member since 2008. Currently is the Executive Director as well Coordinator of the Chauá Nursery of native species. A specialist in conservation, propagation and restoration of rare and endangered species of the Araucaria Forest, whose projects are locally and internationally recognized. As a result of Sociedade’s Chauá efforts to save endangered plant species Pablo was awarded the Marsh Award (2018), Whitley Award (2022), and Guardians of Nature (2022). As a life choice, working with conservation of rare and endangered plant species is the lifeblood of his personal and professional aspirations, to leave a positive legacy for the next generations, keeping the ecosystems alive with humans as part of it.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST

From what I understand, you must have had a kind of magical childhood. You were very connected to nature from the time you were young?

PABLO HOFFMAN

Most of my family are cowboys and farmers. And I was like eight or nine years old. My grandmother was getting sick, and she always had a lot of plants at home in pots, and she asked me to help her to water the plants. And it was quite a good experience because when you start to like plants, it becomes like a viral thing. After some time I was growing my own plants, and I was very interested in doing her garden. And I would go to the forest and collect plants to grow at home like orchids that were beginning my first nursery.

And it's a crazy love that grows when you start to understand how plants grow, and how the ecosystem functions. And how beautiful and amazing all this is. And we as humans are part of it, and I've always loved animals as well, but plants are my passion. And, of course, my, daughter's name is Flora. My wife, she's also a botanist, and she loves plants as well. So we live in the countryside where the farm has all kinds of plants. And I think one of the things that made me love and try to preserve and conserve the ecosystems and species is when you understand how slowly a plant or tree grows, and how much it takes to keep them healthy. And the interactions between the animals and plants, the pollinators and the dispersers within the ecosystem, it's something that everybody should know and see.

Not scientifically, but understand in terms of just how beautiful these natural interactions really are. And we as humans are a part of it. We can have good interactions, or we can have bad interactions in terms of destroying ecosystems. Understanding we are a part of the ecosystem is an important part to keep in mind.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST

It's all interconnected. And as you point out, extinction within the animal world, it’s very dependent on plant life. Animals are not like us. We are omnivorous and can eat almost anything. They have a very narrow amount of foods that they can eat. So when biodiversity diminishes, they go extinct. Tell us a little bit about that interplay and how we're all part of this.

HOFFMAN

It's a good point because most of the animals are very specialized. In terms of pollinators, dispersers, all the interactions that we have in the forest and other ecosystems and also humans play an important role. I understood that the Araucaria Forest ecosystem was really degraded and needed conservation to protect the plant species, the Araucaria Forest ecosystem where I live used to cover around 40% of the land. And nowadays there's less than 1% left of good, quality remnants of forest. So it's almost nothing. So you can imagine what happens with the plant species and also animal species. But nowadays the conversion of natural areas, even grassland savannahs are forced into agribusiness areas that have the most impact, as they have the capacity of using machines, and tractors for converting these areas, using more and more fertilizers, agrichemicals, and pesticides that can destroy one hector in less than one hour with their tractors and machines. It will take like 50 years to a hundred years to recover - if it recovers. Depending on how many species we still have left the dispersers, pollinators, and the other actors of the ecosystem to aid in the recovery.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS · ONE PLANET PODCAST

Last year you won the Whitley Award. Congratulations on this acknowledgement of your work. What does an award like that allow you to expand and continue?

HOFFMAN

The Whitley Award was an incredible recognition of our work. And there, of course, are some funds that we received, which was really nice. But in terms of communication, media, and stuff like that was very important. They have a very good network. Of course, they are very famous because of the Princess and the Royal Family, and some of the sponsors. The work they are doing is incredible because they are disseminating or putting in front of the people conservation projects of teams, institutions, and people that deserve it, but also they are bringing to reality some of the problems. In our region, most people don't talk about this, don't have these conversations. People don't know about destruction, or they see that they are cutting some trees, but they don't see this as a problem. They don't understand that the ecosystem nowadays is less than 1% of the original areas. So it's interesting because they brought us the opportunity to show people we are doing this work because the ecosystem is disappearing.

We're trying to do a nice thing to save species, but the problem is not ours. I mean it's ours as well, but the problem is a state problem or a countrywide problem. Everybody needs to see this. And also the communication about what we are doing. How hard what we are doing is in terms of even finding these species, and finding funds to keep on going.

Almost 20 years of working with species conservation in a country like Brazil is quite difficult. It's like almost like a miracle that we are still here and keep on going. One of the questions of the Princess was: are you still doing the same? Are you still fighting for this? And she said it because normally people give up. And this is my life. This is my life. I want to leave a legacy, in terms of trying to do something to save this ecosystem, to save the species to make sure that my daughter can see some of the species in the future, and not only my daughter. So that people in the future can see, can discover more species, and can use the species.

This interview was conducted by Mia Funk with the participation of collaborating universities and students. Associate Interviews Producer on this episode was Dara Diamond.

Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process & One Planet Podcast (Conversations about Climate Change & Environmental Solutions).

 
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