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down and watch a river flow or to listen tothe whisper of the leaves on the trees”.Many thanks.Purificació Canals,Vice-president of IUCNGood morning everybody. I’m delighted tobe here today to welcome you toMontserrat and to represent the IUCNduring this meeting in such a specialplace. Those of us who work for the IUCNin nature conservation are well aware ofthe scientific and technical aspects of ourwork. However, many of us have felt forsome time that we need to look for a morehuman or more spiritual side to our workand we believe that, unless we do so, ourwork may end up as rather intranscendental.Although there are relatively few ofus here today, I am convinced that thismeeting will have significant repercussionson the work of the IUCN and I amsure that the ideas on the conservation ofnatural spaces that we are here to discusswill be taken fully into account.We are here to discuss the natural areasthat for some people are, above all,repositories of extraordinary natural values,but that for others are important asplaces of great spirituality where one canre-establish links with one’s own personalidentity. I believe that this meeting mightsignal the start of a change in some of ourperspectives on conservation, a changethat I would very much like to see becomeexplicit at the next World ConservationCongress that is to be held not far fromhere in Barcelona in October 2008.It has been decided that at this congresswe will not only discuss biodiversity, but theidea of diversity in its broadest sense thatincludes species and cultures, intangiblevalues and beliefs. I hope that thus thisworld congress in 2008 will be different andwe will be able to reach more people thanever before. There are people who will perhapsnever understand that we must protect,for example, the Lynx as a creaturethat is at the top of the food chain.However, these same people are perhapsmuch more able to appreciate that theLynx should be protected as one of God’screatures that has as such an intrinsicvalue. For these people, the Creation has aspiritual value that goes beyond the roleplants and animals play in natural systems.I think that we have rather ignored some ofthese different elements over the years andthat it is time for them to be broughttogether again.On a more personal level I would like toexplain to you my deep personal links withMontserrat. It was the first place my parentsever brought me when I was barely a26