Lookout Qatar
In Time
Watching the Waters of Galapagos On the 50th anniversary of the Charles Darwin Foundation Research Station, T Qatar takes a closer look at an unlikely partnership that brought together two organisations worlds apart, binding them to the cause of restoring the skewed ecological balance. BY AYSWARYA MURTHY
34
T Qatar: The New York Times Style Magazine
at Galapagos Islands. But all this changed at the hands of a certain unassuming tourist who arrived on the island ten years ago and a luxury watch-making company thousands of miles away. When Swen Lorenz landed in Galapagos he was immediately taken to the island’s rich and unique ecosystem, much like Charles Darwin was years before him. Though Lorenz had business interests spread across England, Russia and Macau, his heart refused to leave the deep blues and lush greens of the island. So he stayed and through the friends he made and his work with local high school students, he established connections with the Charles Darwin Foundation. Charged with undertaking all-important research to preserve the delicate balance in nature here and elsewhere, the foundation would soon find itself a victim of the global economic recession. Its “lack of a sustainable funding model” would compound these woes. By this time, Lorenz was already working closely with CDF and contributing both time and money towards its many projects. Eventually, in 2011 he was invited to join the board and a few months later, took over as its Executive Director. Barely three years on, the foundation is operating on the right side of the ledger, with an annual budget of (QR13 million) $3.5 million. Equally important, Lorenz’s business acumen has given the foundation’s research work better focus and has led to streamlined and effective partnerships
TRAILING THE SHARKS: Executive Director of the Charles Darwin Foundation Swen Lorenz chats about the far reaching impacts of research like the shark tagging project being carried out at the island.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: MICHAEL MUELLER, PRODUCT PICTURES COURTESY OF IWC
TIME. WHILE HUMANS are consumed by its relentless march — willing it, in parts, to jump forward, turn back and stand still — our animal friends, to quote research, are “stuck in time with no sense of past or future”. In a sense, they live in the moment more than we could ever hope to. Close to a century and half ago, when Charles Darwin was still working on The Descent of Man and growing out his distinctive bushy beard, and an International Watch Company was setting up its first factory in Schaffhausen, the sharks of the world didn’t have to worry about being plucked out of water for a brutal de-finning, only to be thrown back in, effectively immobile, to die of hunger, suffocation and predatory attacks. Today, this happens to millions of sharks annually. Every day hundreds of them sink helplessly to the ocean floor, unable to count the minutes till the inevitable end. Several metres above, an organisation that fights on behalf of this species was itself locked in its own battle for survival. And, just as for the finless shark, time was running out for the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF)