Today, the webinar “#RecuperoMiMar: the response of civil society to the environmental emergency” was held, in which the report on the execution of the funds raised with the support of citizens and companies since the beginning of this campaign was released. As is known, #RecuperoMiMar was born with the objective of providing a timely response to the environmental emergency caused by the oil spill on the Peruvian coast in January of this year.
The event was attended by Claudia Godfrey, Director of Innovation and Strategic Management of Profonanpe, and representatives of allied environmental organizations such as Cynthia Céspedes, Manager of the Oceans Program of Conservation International; Miguel Pacheco, Policy Director of WWF Peru; and Daniella Biffi, Researcher of EcOceánica. They reviewed the environmental emergency in Ventanilla, the impact on our ocean and wildlife, and how civil society voluntarily joined #RecuperoMiMar to contribute to the clean-up and mitigation of the damage to the coastal marine ecosystem. In this regard, Claudia Godfrey commented that «The response from civil society was very good, we raised 149 thousand soles between citizens and companies, in addition to the support of international cooperation, so we can assure that we reached and surpassed our goal».
The funds raised were channeled through Profonanpe for the acquisition of the supplies required by the Sernanp and Serfor work teams in the disaster area. Yeselia Cano, Coordinator of Supervision and Monitoring of Sernanp, and Jessica Oliden, Technical Administrator of the Forestry and Wildlife Technical Administration of Lima of Serfor –who joined the event as representatives of the State– shared how #RecuperoMiMar was perceived from the work carried out by their respective institutions and thanked the prompt response of the campaign and civil society. Jessica Oliden highlighted that “The #RecuperoMiMar initiative helped us a lot in staff functions, for the rehabilitation of the affected fauna. However, this is still hard work.”
Likewise, private companies also participated in #RecuperoMiMar: Peggy Guzmán, Manager of Talent Management and Culture at Cementos Pacasmayo, and Susana Zárate, Head of Project Research and Development at Tren, expressed their perspective on the campaign and expressed how the business sector supported the initiative through donations of work equipment and monetary aid. Peggy Guzman said: “When we saw the news of the disaster, we decided to join automatically. The resources we had for volunteering were allocated to this campaign, to help in the recovery of our sea.”
At the close of the event, Bruno Monteferri, Director of SPDA’s Conservamos por Naturaleza, emphasized the importance of the campaign, as #RecuperoMiMar is the first nationwide initiative and the first platform for fundraising for our coastal marine ecosystem. In addition, this coalition has demonstrated that businesses and citizens can take an active role in the conservation of our environment and participate in collaborative spaces for the sustainable development of our country.
For detailed information on the execution of expenditures, please visit: www.recuperomimar.com
