Letter from the Chairman
In our modern world where nearly everything carries a price tag, it is easy to forget the human cost of environmental degradation. Indigenous people often are the first to be impacted by rainforest logging, destruction of watersheds, improper disposal of toxic wastes, topsoil loss due to strip mining, or destruction of fisheries and coral reefs. And because indigenous peoples are often both politically and economically impoverished, they are usually the least able to buffer themselves and their families from negative impacts, to seek legal redress, or to engage the political processes necessary to protect their habitats, their cultures, and their future.
When we therefore hear of indigenous peoples, be they villagers, traditional leaders, or respected elders taking a stand against the loss of island environments, we find that often these stands have been taken at staggering personal costs. For example, Tafua village chief Ulu Taufa'asisina, who promised his dying father that he would protect the rain forest with his life, steadfastly resisted the pressures of logging companies to harvest the primeval rainforest of his Savaii island. In distant Hawaii, Take Matsuda and Doris Saromines decided not to develop their stunning (and valuable) sea-side parcel into a resort hotel, but instead to preserve the priceless archeological heritage that it represented. In Pago Pago, Governor Lutali decided to pursue, without regard to political cost, his vision of a National Park for American Samoa. He won the park but lost the election.
In my opinion, these and all of the other previous winners of the Seacology Prize are true heroes - heroes of their environment, and protectors of their culture. I am humbled to realize that our prize is the only award to exclusively recognize the efforts of indigenous islanders. And yet it is precisely because of wonderful people like Moelagi Jackson, Madison Nena, Saula Vodonaivalu, Mary Thomas, the late Fuiono Senio, and all of the other Seacology prizewinners mentioned earlier that the rest of us have the physical beauty and cultural diversity of islands to treasure and enjoy.
The recognition and prestige associated with the Seacology Prize allows winners to return to their island homes with far great press and political advantage than they imagined possible. Seacology is determined to find and recognize indigenous peoples who have done heroic service in protecting their environments and culture. If in your island travels, you meet an indigenous person worthy of such recognition, could you please forward their name to the Seacology office? Together, through the Seacology Prize and the exciting new projects that you can read about in this newsletter, I am confident that we can continue to save the world, one island at a time.
Cordially,
Paul Alan Cox, Chairman
