(1) What initially got you interested in biodiversity?

When I was a boy, I lived in a mountainous village in Okutamba, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan.  After World War II, I entered a new-education-system junior high school which was in the process of trial and error just after being established.  At the junior high, I joined in the establishment of a club as a student, and started conducting activities related to biological diversity in the region.  Finally, these activities led me to specialize in biology at a later date.

When I started my career as a researcher, analysis of life phenomena was a major issue in the field of biology that devotedly clarifies universal principles.  In such circumstances, I thought about how I should deal with the diverse biology painted by living things, in order to totally understand life, and came to have aspirations for biological diversity.

In the late 20^th century, the deterioration of biodiversity became an emerging issue as part of the range of environmental problems.  As a biodiversity researcher I could not ignore this urgent social issue and also participated in activities in the field of conservation biology through pointing out the problems and developing strategies.

I became interested in biodiversity by following my scientific curiosity.  Biodiversity is one of the most important issues in order to understand what life is.  Probably due to the tide of the times, I was not able to turn my eyes away from the fact that biodiversity in danger. The process where I started participating in scientific activities for science in order to apply what I learnt in the field of science to society, however, turned into also participating in activities in the form of scientific activity for society.  

(2) What initially got you interested in biodiversity?

One of my first memories as a young boy is of watching birds in the forest. For me the forest of my village contained a lot of secret things. But I knew very well the trees with fruits that we could eat, that provide food for birds. I knew the leaves of some trees, plants or grasses that provided us with instant cures for bee stings or bites from centipedes or scorpions. The most interesting things for me was walking quietly in the forest and listening to the birds singing, watching them make their nests and feed their chicks. I spent many hours hidden in the bushes, silently watching one pair of bulbuls make their nest from beginning to end. The nest-making was so sentimental and full of live and happiness that I thought if only all people could see it – then they might learn respect and beauty from these enchanting birds. During these long and enjoyable hours I slowly became an ornithologist and conservationist.   

(3) What initially got you interested in biodiversity?

Scientists and educators agree that children are innate beginning explorers and naturalists, and that we humans have an inborn attraction to nature. That was precisely my personal experience as a child.

I was born and raised in rural areas of Costa Rica, in towns surrounded by coffee plantations, cattle or dairy farms, very close to forests and rivers. Most of my pleasant memories of my childhood and adolescence relate to our adventures and expeditions through the countryside, picking fruits, swimming in rivers, riding horses, climbing trees or camping in the mountains or beaches by the sea. In other words, enjoying nature in many different ways.

In addition, my years as a Boy Scout gave me a more formal hands-on experience in outdoors life, but also in learning about principles and values related to both nature and humanity. Reading was an added stimulus. Not surprisingly and in addition to field guides and nature books, titles such as “Robinson Crusoe” or “20,000 Leagues under the Sea” were among my preferences.

I feel these living experiences constituted the foundations of my life-long interest in nature.

(4) What initially got you interested in biodiversity?

I got interested in biodiversity by two different. First, and expectantly, at my early academic career when I was a polychaete (marine worms) taxonomist.

It came to me as a big surprise that there were over 12.000 alive species of marine worms. The worm biodiversity was not only huge but beautiful and intriguing.

Evolution was behind worm diversity and I enjoyed working for 10 years in that group, trying to understand the Chilean fauna of polychaetes. Who care for worms?… not very many people!. I did. Worms do not have animal rights ….. as vertebrates appears to have. We need to think more carefully and deep about the real meanings of Biodiversity

Then, in the more mature part of my career, when I discovered that functional biodiversity was the key to link biodiversity and human well-being.

 I like to contribute to improve human well-being in Earth. Biodiversity is not, as the great majority of the people think, only and exclusively about the number of species.

The key to care about biodiversity is functionality. Not an easy subject, even embracing ethic positions. But then, biodiversity is a very complex and little understood scientific and social theme.

 I think that we need to start a Biodiversity-Alphabetizing-Campaign. People need to understand Biodiversity from a dynamic and functional point of view and surely, and the link between Biodiversity and Human Well-being. The MIDORI Prize can help in this huge “bridging biodiversity challenge,” to my one of the most important one in our days.