The 21st BBVA Foundation Biodiversity Awards recognize the efforts of SEPRONA’s Central Environmental Operations Unit in combating environmental crime, Pedro Armestre’s photojournalism, and GEMPA’s dissemination of marine science

The award in the Biodiversity Spain category recognized the work done by the UCOMA unit of SEPRONA for “its signal contribution as a lead unit in the fight against environmental crime, not only at national level but also internationally: against wildlife trafficking, poaching, illegal fishing and other activities especially harmful to natural ecosystems, like the dumping of pollutants and toxic substances,” in the words of the citation. “UCOMA’s proven track record demonstrates a sustained ability to translate the best technical and scientific knowledge into operational interventions, with outstanding results as a front-line unit in the fight against environmental crimes, in the defense of species, their natural habitats, ecosystems, and biodiversity in general, thereby furthering compliance with environmental legislation.”

Photojournalist Pedro Armestre takes the award in the Environmental Education and Communication in Spain category. Armestre “has documented Spain’s environmental conditions, producing images that capture the full complexity of the climate and biodiversity crises,” said the jury in its citation. “His body of work combines documentary rigor, ethical sensitivity and a profound awareness of the photographic act. The visual narrative of his images generates a powerful emotional impact that helps mobilize awareness. His photography, informed by a committed environmentalism, has transcended borders and been published in international media.”

In the Environmental Education and Communication Worldwide category, the Argentine Deep Sea Research Group (GEMPA) – comprising 20 researchers, most of whom belong to CONICET, Argentina’s largest and most prestigious public research organization – has been distinguished for bringing “frontier marine research to a mass audience,” through what the jury describes as “an innovative way of communicating science and elevating public understanding of the environment.” In 2025, in collaboration with the Schmidt Ocean Institute, GEMPA researchers explored the Argentine continental slope at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters, and their live broadcasts reached a mass audience, with 20 million cumulative views, “humanizing scientists while revealing new species to the public in real time.”

After two decades, starting with this 21st edition, the BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation have been relaunched as the BBVA Foundation Biodiversity Awards, expanding the number of categories from four to seven, with a total prize fund of 1,300,000 euros. Established in 2004, the goal of the awards is to recognize individuals and organizations capable of translating scientific research findings into actions that yield relevant and measurable results of lasting impact.

This news release presents the winners of the Biodiversity Spain Award, worth 250,000 euros, and those in the Environmental Education and Communication in Spain and Worldwide categories, each worth 80,000 euros, as selected by two dedicated juries of experts (see annex for membership). In the coming weeks, successive articles will announce the winners in the four remaining categories: the Biodiversity Awards for Latin America, Africa and Worldwide – each funded with 250,000 euros – and the Biophilia Award, funded with 100,000 euros.

Biodiversity Award Spain: Central Environmental Operations Unit of SEPRONA

Cutting-edge police investigation of environmental crimes

The Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) of the Guardia Civil was set up in 1988 to mount a law enforcement response to environmental harms and crimes. Even so, the growing complexity of this kind of offence, increasingly lucrative, sophisticated and cross-border in nature, called for the creation of a specialist unit with an investigative remit, operating within SEPRONA. This was the seed that would become the Central Environmental Operations Unit (UCOMA), founded in 2000 and now the institution’s core operational arm.

“UCOMA is structured as a highly specialized investigative and intelligence-gathering unit with the capacity to handle complex criminal investigations in the realm of the environment,” explains, Division General of the Guardia Civil and head of SEPRONA. “UCOMA not only takes on the most technically challenging and criminally significant investigations, like international wildlife trafficking, the illegal management of toxic and hazardous waste, illegal offshore fishing, and large-scale wildfires, but also lends support to all SEPRONA units, providing expert personnel and specialized technical resources. It is also tasked with operational intelligence gathering and strategic analysis, identifying new criminal trends and grounding the technical and regulatory advice given to SEPRONA’s leadership team.”

“When SEPRONA was founded, environmental crimes occurred primarily at the local level,”  recalls Lieutenant Colonel Luis Alberto Madero, head of UCOMA. “However economic and social development in the age of globalization means we now have to deal with global networks where, let’s say, a species native to South America may be illegally trafficked and transited through Europe in order to reach the Asian markets. From the outset, UCOMA has had the mission of adapting itself to the changing face of global environmental crime.”

In its 25-year history, UCOMA has run some of the biggest law enforcement operations, both in Spain and abroad, against the trafficking of flora and fauna, poaching and illegal fishing, as well as other illicit activities particularly harmful to natural ecosystems, such as the discharge of toxic substances. Says Madero, “we have various specialized teams within the unit handling areas like wildlife trafficking, illegal waste management, illegal fishing and forest fires, and we supplement this work with the most technically advanced investigative resources available to the Guardia Civil, such as drones, GPS positioning systems, communications interception, remote eavesdropping, and video surveillance techniques using hidden micro-cameras that we might place, for instance, inside a fake tree trunk.”

UCOMA’s actions thus align with the goal of translating the best police, scientific,and technical knowledge into practical, effective and verifiable measures to protect biodiversity, curb emerging threats and promote environmental restoration. “Our goal from the start,” Madero remarks, “has been to put the fight against environmental crime on the same level as the fight against terrorism and other forms of organized crime, using the most advanced resources and the best investigative capabilities available today.”

In addition, its teams prepare qualitative and quantitative expert reports to assess environmental deterioration, with the aim of documenting ecological damages and risks to human health that may constitute a crime against nature, as well as quantifying the economic cost of remediation, and ensuring that such remediation is mandated within the framework of criminal proceedings.

UCOMA’s effectiveness in pursuing environmental crimes in Spain and internationally has been demonstrated in crackdowns on the illegal species trade. A case in point was Operation SUZAKU, which in 2017 successfully dismantled an organization smuggling exotic birds from Africa and Latin America into Spain, with the collaboration of 18 countries. An earlier success, against illegal fishing, was achieved through Operation YUYUS, run with the support of INTERPOL, which in 2015 broke up an operation by Spanish shipowners who had illegally caught over 3,500 metric tons of hake in Antarctic waters.

“From an institutional standpoint,” says General Sarrión, “UCOMA positions the Guardia Civil as a national and international leader in environmental protection, ensuring dialogue and operational coordination with organizations like EUROPOL and INTERPOL. Using the latest techniques in criminal, economic and technological investigations, the unit provides evidence to judges and prosecutors that bolsters the effectiveness of criminal law in protecting the environment and preventing environmental crimes from going unpunished.”

Environmental Education and Communication in Spain: Pedro Armestre

Photojournalism that is rigorous and ethical to alert society to the environmental crisis

Pedro Armestre (A Rasela, Ourense, 1972) taught himself photography: “I was a curious child, and discovered my calling at a young age when I found an old book on the history and technique of photography in Madrid’s Rastro flea market. I built my first camera, and used my mother’s oven trays to develop the negatives. I have always been passionate about nature, having been part of the generation that grew up watching documentaries by Rodríguez de la Fuente and Cousteau. But, as a child, I also had the first-hand experience of accompanying my grandmother to the countryside where she would gather herbs and roots to prepare home remedies.”

After studying at Madrid’s School of Communication, Image and Sound, he began his professional career in 1993 with the Europa Press Agency, first as a lab technician, then for two years as a photographer. After a stint at the Cover Agency, he worked for four years at the newspaper El Mundo, while also producing features for Interviú magazine. In 2003, he joined the correspondents team at Agence France-Presse (AFP), where he remained for 16 years. It was at the French agency, he believes, that he truly became a professional: “I had a boss who not only passed on his passion for the craft, but also taught me and helped me establish myself.”

Armestre specialized in techniques of aerial photography, long before such things as drones existed, as well as covering wildfires, where he was a pioneer in documenting them photographically. To this day, he continues to work with small planes and ultralights, believing they allow him to take “more elaborate and targeted photographs.” He cites as an example the flight he took in 2025, which allowed him to feed media outlets with exclusive images of areas affected by wildfires that were not yet accessible by land; images that were also used to investigate the fires’ origins.

He traces his fascination with fire to growing up in an area of Ourense known as the “Fire Triangle,” where a common sight in his childhood were huge plumes of smoke that the villagers would try to put out on their own. Crucially, his view of such events was also shaped by having an uncle, Ramón, who was a forest ranger, and would take him up the lookout tower and explain, from on high, things that are still stuck in his imagination.

In the course of his career – recognized with prestigious awards like the King of Spain Journalism Prize, the Ortega y Gasset Prize, and the Picture of the Year International Award – he has documented not just the impact of extreme weather events, but also their consequences in the form of migratory movements and the flights of climate refugees.

Armestre has spent most of his career as a freelance contributor, which he believes has allowed him to preserve his independence and also to pursue the more artistic side of photography along with the strictly documentary. Asked about possible influences, he says, “When people ask about who inspires me, I think less of the big names I’ve come to know through their publications and more of the photographers who work on the street or those I’ve worked alongside of.”

“I have always been driven by curiosity and a desire to blaze new trails rather than follow well-trodden paths. This summer, for instance, during the major wildfires, I was in Galicia and couldn’t travel to the affected areas. When I finally got there, I thought there had been such blanket media coverage that there would be nothing left to do. But then it occurred to me to rent a small plane and ask the pilot to fly at a high altitude, where drones can’t reach, to see all the burned areas. I then monitored these areas and waited to see them when the torrential rains came, looking for different images.”

Since 2010, he has incorporated video into his reports, and has produced and distributed features and footage for various television channels and programs. However he still believes there is something unique about photography: “It has always been said that photography provides truth, a visual testimony. Photographers are like notaries, and in the age of artificial intelligence, authorship is more important than ever, because I can attest that my photos are truthful. I’m not afraid of AI. We’re witnessing a boom right now, but I think it will ultimately be a tool at our service.”

On hearing of the award, he said that he views it “as a recognition of my entire career at a time when I am exploring new ways of contributing to environmental awareness through a project focused on outreach and education in my home region.”

Environmental Education and Communication Worldwide: GEMPA

Frontier marine science broadcast live, in real time

 Since 2012, the Argentine Deep Sea Research Group (GEMPA) has been conducting explorations of abyssal zones and submarine canyons. This open network of scientists has been responsible for much of the research done on biodiversity and ecology in the depths of the Argentine Sea over the past 15 years.

Twenty of the network’s members – 18 of them belonging to Argentina’s premier public research organization CONICET, the National Scientific and Technical Research Council – set sail in 2025 with five other colleagues aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too) as part of the expedition Underwater Oases of the Mar del Plata Canyon: Continental Slope IV. “The goal,” explains GEMPA’s director Daniel Lauretta, “was to study the diversity of invertebrates and fish in the Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon area. What made this trip different was being able to use a state-of-the-art vessel that included an ROV, a remotely operated vehicle named SuBastian, equipped with cameras that allowed us to reach depths of nearly 4,000 meters to film and collect data.”

What the robot found there was streamed live on the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s YouTube channel. Over three weeks, tens of thousands of people were able to watch live footage in their homes of unknown species, underwater landscapes and scientific discoveries. The expedition led to the identification of nearly 40 types of invertebrates potentially new to science, and advanced our understanding of microplastics, environmental DNA and the carbon cycle. Not only that, for the first time ever the team could share its explorations in real time with a global audience: the 34 livestreams garnered more than 20 million views, with, at one point, more than 92,000 users connected simultaneously. “It’s hard to pinpoint one reason,” explains Lauretta, who was also the principal investigator and scientific lead of the expedition. “Most of the onboard team are college professors, so they’re used to giving presentations. We started talking, explaining what we were seeing, each of us in plain language, as if we were telling our friends what we were seeing, what we knew about it, and what we didn’t. Being able to show people that the seafloor was teeming with life – and that this wasn’t some documentary from elsewhere in the world, it was life right here in Argentina – I think that’s what clicked with society, and led to it all taking off.” The audience, primarily Spanish-speaking, came from Argentina, Spain and other Latin American countries, although the news reverberated internationally, with outlets like The New York Times, Associated Press, and France 24 reporting on the viral phenomenon of SuBastian.

The group has carried out 91 educational and pedagogical activities, including 44 school presentations, as well as workshops, conferences, and events open to the public. During the expedition, it organized 19 live connections between the ship and educational and cultural centers, allowing students and teachers to interact with the scientists as they explored the ocean. “It reminds me a lot of those NASA connections with the astronauts. We’d connect from the ship to a school, and the school would bring together whichever grades or classes they wanted. We’d then comment on what was happening and take questions from the kids. We could only select one group from all the schools that applied, but later, when we got back, there was this enormous demand for us to give talks in schools, which continues to this day. In the first year after disembarking we reached more than 5,000 students.”

The initiative has also led to museum exhibits, educational games, theater activities and audiovisual collaborations. Through social media, GEMPA maintains a community of followers that is helping sustain interest in marine biodiversity long after the expedition ended.

With a new expedition planned for February and March 2027 off the coast of Patagonia, GEMPA aims to replicate and expand its outreach model, leveraging the visibility it has achieved to reach a wider audience. Among its priorities will be to connect with schools in areas farthest from the sea and to create educational materials that can be used in classrooms beyond the timeframe of expeditions: “We want to insist on the message that the seafloor is teeming with life. And the better the data we have, the better the decisions we can make about what happens on the seafloor.”

About the BBVA Foundation Biodiversity Program

For more than two decades now, nature conservation has been a priority focus area for the BBVA Foundation, with efforts centering on three key areas: scientific research to expand understanding of the natural environment, direct actions on the ground pursuing its increased protection, and the building of social awareness around the importance of the challenge. This concern for the defense of the environment finds expression in the BBVA Foundation Biodiversity Program, encompassing Biodiversity Awards and the full suite of the Foundation’s activities to further the preservation of all forms of life with which we share the planet.

These awards take their place in the BBVA Foundation Biodiversity Program alongside the annual Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Climate Change and Environmental Sciences category, which positions this research area on an equal footing with other scientific and artistic disciplines like basic sciences, biology and biomedicine, information and communication technologies, and music. Additionally, since 2001, the BBVA Foundation has supported research projects in the environmental sciences, especially ecology and biodiversity conservation, through its Fundamentos Program, Prisms & Problems Program, and Leonardo Grants for Scientific Research and Cultural Creation. The strategic reach of the BBVA Foundation Biodiversity Program accordingly extends across all the main resources to address the environmental crisis, from scientific research – including the humanities and social sciences – to actions in nature conservation and the raising of social awareness on the scale of the challenges ahead.

Annex: Jury membership

The jury in the Biodiversity Award Spain category was chaired by Rafael Pardo, Director of the BBVA Foundation. Remaining members were Ernesto Álvarez Xusto, President of Grupo de Rehabilitación de la Fauna Autóctona y su Hábitat (GREFA); Gerardo Báguena, Vice-President of Fundación para la Conservación del Quebrantahuesos (FCQ); José Luis Gallego, Head of the Environment section of newspaper El Confidencial and environmental educator; Elsa Jiménez, Director of Fundación para la Conservación y Recuperación de Animales Marinos (CRAM); Juan Carlos del Olmo, Secretary General of Asociación para la Defensa de la Naturaleza (WWF/ADENA); Guillermo Palomero, President of Fundación Oso Pardo (FOP); Asunción Ruiz Guijosa, Executive Director of the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO Birdlife); and Carlos Sánchez Martínez, President and Director of Fundación Naturaleza y Hombre (FNYH).

The jury in the Environmental Education and Communication in Spain and Environmental Education and Communication Worldwide categories was chaired by Arturo Larena, environmental and science journalist. Remaining members were Jon Garay, editor in the Society section of newspaper El Correo; Teresa Guerrero, head of the Science and Environment section of newspaper El Mundo; Isabel Miranda, Environment editor in the Society section of newspaper ABC; Jacob Petrus, director of the program Aquí la Tierra on Televisión Española; Susana Quadrado, editor-in-chief of the Society section of newspaper La Vanguardia; and Esther Turu, Deputy Head of News at Onda Cero radio.