Donate NowGorongosa National Park was once among the most popular destinations in Africa – a place where movie stars and astronauts vacationed, where animal herds were denser than on the famed Serengeti Plain. But Mozambique's long civil war turned this natural wonderland into a battlefield. By the time the war ended in 1992, Gorongosa was a wasted, abandoned, empty place – yet another African casualty in a century filled with tragedies.
A few years ago, philanthropist Greg Carr became enchanted by the story of this lost park. The founder of Harvard's Carr Center for Human Rights, Carr was looking for new ways to tackle the humanitarian and environmental crises of southern Africa. Gorongosa, he came to believe, might be the answer.
Now, a 30-year, $40 million pledge later, he is only beginning to face the challenges…
Moderated by Jon Sawyer, Director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Panelists include: (see below for full bios)
-Armando A. Panguene, Ambassador of Mozambique
-Greg Carr, President of the Carr Foundation (funder of Gorongosa Park restoration)
-Stephanie Hanes, journalist (author of profile on Gorongosa park restoration appearing in the May issue of Smithsonian)
-Judy Oglethorpe, Director of Community Conservation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF-US)
A short video documentary about the Restoration of Gorongosa National Park will be screened before the panel begins and a Q&A session will follow.
Date: Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Time: 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.: Screening and Panel Discussion; 7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.: Reception
Location: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, First Floor, Choate Room, 1779 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC (Near the Dupont Circle Metro on the Red Line)
RSVP: Whitney Parker, [email protected]; or Ashley Hoffman, [email protected]
The Pulitzer Center's mission is to promote in-depth coverage of international affairs, focusing on topics that have been under-reported, mis-reported - or not reported at all.
Panelists:
Armando Alexandre Panguene, Mozambique Ambassador to the United States.
Ambassador Panguene was born in Marracuene District in the province of Maputo. He has been in public service since the independence of Mozambique. He was appointed as Provincial Governor in Nampula Province in 1974. He was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the first Government of Mozambique after independence from 1975 to 1977. In 1977, Mr. Panguene was the first Ambassador in Portugal until 1980. He was again appointed as Provincial Governor in Cabo Delgado Province from 1980 to 1983. He served as the Deputy Minister of Defense from 1984 to 1987; Presidential Roving Ambassador from 1987 to 1988. He was appointed Ambassador to Great Britain from 1988 to 1996. And from 1996 to 2001, he was accredited in the Republic of South Africa and covered Namibia and Lesotho on a non-resident basis. Ambassador Panguene was accredited to the United States of America in January 2002. From Washington, DC, he also covers Canada.
Greg Carr, President of the Gregory C. Carr Foundation
The main focus of the Carr Foundation today is the restoration of the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. Carr received his master's degree in public policy from Harvard University. He is the co-founder of Boston Technology, where he served as chair until 1998; was the chair of Prodigy from 1996 to 1998; and the co-founder of Africa Online. In 1998 Carr resigned from his for-profit boards and dedicated himself to humanitarian activities. In 1999, he formed both the Carr Foundation and the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He currently sits on the boards of Internews, Physicians for Human Rights, and Witness. He has also been active in human rights activities in his home state of Idaho: he is the largest donor to the Idaho Human Rights Education Center, which was founded to construct the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, and he purchased the former Aryan Nation compound in northern Idaho with the intent to turn it into a world-renowned human rights education destination.
Judy Oglethorpe, Director of Community Conservation in WWF-US
Judy Oglethorpe works on integrating social, economic and political issues into biodiversity conservation. She currently runs WWF's Population, Health, Gender and Environment Program. Previously she was Executive Director of the Biodiversity Support Program, where she developed a project that identified adverse impacts of armed conflict on the environment, and ways to mitigate them. She has 14 years of experience in Southern and East Africa, where she worked in biodiversity, forest and wildlife conservation; community-based natural resource management; ecotourism development; environmental impact assessment; institutional development and training; conflict resolution; and project development and management. Protected area work included research and planning in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique before the last war, and work on an emergency rehabilitation program after the war. Judy has a master's degree in Environmental Management from the University of London and a bachelor's degree in Ecological Science from the University of Edinburgh.
Stephanie Hanes, Freelance Reporter
Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Stephanie has written news and feature stories about Africa for The Baltimore Sun, The Christian Science Monitor, the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, the Boston Globe and other publications. Hanes is on leave from The Sun, where she covered federal courts and law enforcement. There, she focused on systemic problems within the criminal justice system - wrongful convictions; the misuse of evidence such as gunshot residue; and the power and limitations of DNA exonerations. She also regularly wrote about the death penalty and Baltimore's drug culture. Before joining The Sun, Hanes worked for the Concord Monitor in Concord, New Hampshire. She now writes a "Letter from Africa" essay for the Monitor, which appears several times a year. Those essays have focused on AIDS and poverty, hope and beauty, struggle and peace - the breathtaking contradictions that form today's South Africa. Hanes grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated with honors from Yale University.
Jon Sawyer, Director Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
Jon Sawyer is director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-profit organization that funds independent reporting with the intent of raising the standard of media coverage of global affairs. Sawyer became the center's founding director after a 31-year career with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where he specialized in enterprise reporting around the world. Sawyer was selected three years in a row for the National Press Club's award for best foreign reporting. His work has been honored by the Overseas Press Club, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Inter-American Press Association and the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He received a B.A. degree in English literature and history from Yale University and has held fellowships at Harvard and Princeton Universities.