Jeremy Pivor Spotlights Jorge Torres
By Jeremy Pivor, Speaker Ambassador at the 2019 Planetary Health Annual Meeting
In 2017, I attended the first Planetary Health Annual Meeting. It was inspiring to find a community of like-minded individuals who realize the broad implications of global environmental change and its impact on human health. While I left the 2017 gathering energized to be a part of a community who understood the interdisciplinary nature of the challenges we face, I was slightly concerned that most of the people in attendance were looking at these issues from too broad of a lens. That changed at the 2019 meeting. Over these past few years, the field of planetary health has rapidly moved forward towards solutions and actions, and the community-based growth needed to respond to the crises we face.
With a background in conservation, particularly ocean conservation work in Madagascar and Indonesia, I’ve seen planetary health at the community level. That is why I was extremely excited to get paired with Jorge Torre at the most recent Planetary Health Meeting at Stanford. Not only was this an opportunity for me to reconnect with my passion for the ocean while I was conducting public health studies, but it was also a chance to learn from one of Mexico’s foremost ocean conservation experts who works directly with communities.
Dr. Torre has been working in marine conservation and sustainable fisheries in Mexico since 1988. His research focuses on developing practical solutions to marine conservation and fishery sustainability problems via combining biophysical, socioeconomic, and governance information. Dr. Torre obtained his PhD from the University of Arizona in 2002. During his studies, him and his colleagues were encouraged to transform their work in Mexico into a Non-Profit Organization (NGO). Thus, in 1999 Dr. Torre became the co-founder of Communidad y Biodiversidad (COBI). Later in 2007, Dr. Torre became COBI’s General Director.
COBI, now celebrating their 20th anniversary, is working to address unsustainable exploitation of natural resources via a four-pillar approach: Capacity-building of leaders and fishing organizations; sustainable fisheries; marine reserves; and public policy.
As Dr. Torre graciously took the time to talk with me during snack breaks and lunch, he touched upon a poignant point that is often lost in conservation circles: “Communities have the solutions, they just need to be bridged with the resources to be able to act.” This reminded me of my work in Indonesia with the Coral Triangle Center who are similarly working as a bridge between communities and upper-level resources to solve marine conservation and sustainability issues. In talking with Dr. Torre, I wondered how many organizations there are doing this “bridging” work around the world, and how the field of Planetary Health may be able to connect these dedicated individuals and organizations.
Dr. Torre was a panelist in the “Food connects land and sea: integrating oceans into the future of food” panel. One of the main points he emphasized is the gender gap in fisheries decision-making. Within small-scale fisheries, Dr. Torre informed the audience that 50% of people within the fisheries process are women, but women are not involved in the decision-making process. In response to this situation Dr. Torre said, “I’ve grown tired of that [this gender disparity].” Dr. Torre and COBI are focusing on promoting equal gender participation in small-scale fisheries decision-making processes since there is well documented evidence that gender equal teams achieve better results to develop creative solutions for sustainability. This effort received a resounding acknowledgment from the audience.
Before the conference ended, Dr. Torre gave me a COBI shirt, symbolically welcoming me to their team. In follow-up conversations after the meeting ended, Dr. Torre said, “This is the first conference in the year, (of the three I’ve been to), where people are talking about what is happening with global changes in a very interdisciplinary/holistic view as well as talking about solutions and adaptation. I really liked it; it was a very fresh conference. Not the same scientific conferences with the same presentations.” I agree with him.
I want to thank the Planetary Health Alliance for connecting me to Dr. Torre. Most of all, I would like to thank Jorge for bringing the voices of the fishermen, (women and men), to this year’s meeting. As we move forward, those voices, and the people like Dr. Torre supporting those voices, will be vital to solve the challenges of planetary health.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Planetary Health Alliance or its members.
