My name is Luis Balbás Sanchez, a 50-year old Venezuelan citizen. I realize that I discovered my profession because I'm a lucky guy who was in the right place at the precise and convenient time… and just because I could not be a doctor. My original profession is University Applied Biology Technician, an academic training to use biological knowledge as a tool to control food production from animal sources and vegetables (chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, animal physiology, thermodynamics and so on) and with no relations to nature or ecology. Nevertheless, my first job was in a little zoo feeding some animals while I was expecting a real employment. Then, in 1978 I got a job at Guri Dam in the State of Bolívar with EDELCA, a big government hydroelectric company that was building the last stage of this project on Lower Caroní river basin. In a short time, I started with water quality control (potable, wasted, treatment), limnology (chemical and physical water characteristics, plankton, trophic level) and little later with fishes, wildlife (specially reptiles and amphibians) and hydroelectric development environment impact studies along Caroní and Caura basins. Lately, I became an Environmental Managing Coordinator in this company, a sort of a coach that leads teamwork applied to predict and fix the environmental disturbances we've been producing.

Maybe my best accomplishment has been to be part of the small EDELCA team. Starting the environmental and ecological research on this large basin, this team has been applying natural information to predict the consequences of river transformations to manmade lake. I have dedicated part of my time to wildlife and fish inventories, fishery yield, animal taxonomy, collecting for museums and promoting some long term primatology and fragments ecology researches on Guri Islands. These studies have been carried out for New York City College, Kent University and Duke University (Center for Tropical Conservation) and some Venezuelan Institutions (Universidad Central de Venezuela, Universidad Simón Bolívar, among others). I have been working on environment research and management applied to hydroelectric development and electric transmission lines for 25 years. It's true that the Caruachi dam wildlife rescue operation made in 2003 was one of my best and striking adventures in my lucky job.

I have participated in some scientific expeditions to Guayana's jungles and tepuis, our amazing flat mountains and developed and supported conservation programs. I've also formed and managed some groups dedicated to conservation and nature protection, forest firefighters and high school and undergraduate biology students. I'm not a specialist and I really like to face strong challenges that demand fieldwork and relations with industries and institutions.

I'm a good art painter (biologic drawing, art nature, silkscreen) and I believe that development is good for man and it has to be done showing respect for other living things because the future is now and the world is a small house for everyone.

Relevant Publications

Williams, J., Winemiller, K., Taphorn, D.and Balbás, L. (1998). Ecology and Status of Piscivores in Guri, an Oligotrophic Tropical Reservoir. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 18, 274 - 285.

Terborgh, J., Lopez, L., Nuñez, P., Rao, G., Shahabuddin, G., Orihuela, G., Riveros, M., Ascanio, R., Addler, G., Lambert, T., and Balbás, L. (2001). Ecological meltdown in predator-free forest fragments. Science, 294,1923-1926.