By ALISHA HAMILTO
The king of Tonga, Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, will be making his first visit to Utah to receive the Indigenous Conservationist of the Year award from the Seacology Foundation on Friday at 1:30 p.m. in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City.
Before the award ceremony, the King, accompanied by Queen Halaevalu Maraaho, will pay a courtesy call to the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Seacology Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in 1990 by Paul Cox and Bill Marr?, gives this annual award to an indigenous person who has performed heroic acts in preserving their culture and ecosystem.
The first three recipients were chiefs of different villages in Western Samoa. The fourth awardee was Gov. A. P. Lutali, governor of American Samoa.
Following this impressive list comes the king of Tonga, the fifth person to receive this award.
“The king has continued to protect flying foxes (large bats with wing spans up to four feet) in Tonga. … He has also been instrumental in the creation of new national parks in Tonga, particularly forests in ‘Eua Island, and he’s currently involved in discussions with us about setting aside an entire island as a nature preserve,” said Cox, who is a professor of botany and also dean of general education and honors at BYU.
Cox explained that the flying fox population is essential in maintaining the rain forest.
“Flying foxes are the key pollinators of the islands in the South Pacific. Dr. Sandra Banack of the botany department here has found that over 60% of the trees in the primary rain forests depend on flying foxes for pollination and seed dispersal. So if the flying foxes disappear, the forest will be unable to regenerate itself,” Cox said.
“Because of the loss and likely extinction of one of the flying fox populations in Samoa, both governments, the government of Western Samoa and the government of American Samoa, have made legislation to prohibit commercial hunting and exportation of the flying foxes. Even still there’s tremendous smuggling of flying foxes,” Cox said.
The Indigenous Conservationist of the Year award involves the trip here to the United States and a ceremony where the recipient receives a plaque and cash award.
The award is funded by Seacology Foundation board member Ken Murdock, who is the founder of Murdock, Madhaus, Schwabe natural pharmaceutical firm in Springville.
After the award ceremony, the local Tongan community has rented the Salt Palace for cultural recognition and a ball honoring the king. Cox is expecting well over 10,000 Tongans to be there
