Rotary Club Grant Supports International Brock Marine Biodiversity Research
Congratulations to Past President Rick Evans and club Treasurer Lezlie Murch, for being so instrumental in facilitating the awarding of a Global Grant Scholarship.
This intra-district Global Grant is a first for both our club, Rotary St. Catharines, and District 7090.
Norievill España (Norie) is the recipient of the grant/scholarship. She is a PhD student at Brock University, studying Sustainability Science. She will explore advance marine biodiversity conservation initiatives in the Philippines; which will include underwater research and community engagement. Also, she is a marine biologist and certified diver. Additionally, she is one of 28 graduate students worldwide to receive an environmental focused grant this year from RI.
España will examine different options to coral reef conservation that will be more effective and equitable. She will be assessing coral diversity and other indicators. Coral reefs are one of the Earth’s most diverse living areas on the planet. Originally from the Philippines, España will undertake her fieldwork in a selected protected area within the Philippine archipelago. The Philippines has been recognized as one of, if not the leading, centre for marine biodiversity. España expounded, “Coral reefs are home to over a quarter of life in the ocean and support the food security, livelihoods and cultural heritage of more than 500 million people worldwide. Yet, coral reefs are one of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth.”
- David Grabb
A portion of her research will include discussions with local community partners. She hopes to engage and amplify local perspectives, by creating dialogues which will foster solutions to the death of coral reefs. She will scuba dive to survey the coral reefs, to assess the coral cover and its diversity within the protected areas.
“From an ecological perspective, thriving coral reefs support highly diverse communities such as reef-building corals and healthy fish populations,” says España. “The generous support from the Rotary Club will enable me to engage with local communities, collect data to assess well-being in relation to coral reefs and do knowledge mobilization and dissemination.”
“Norie España was selected to be the recipient of this grant due to her many years of previous experience and expertise,” says Murch. “I am confident that her research will be of benefit not only to her native Philippines but to coral reefs around the world.”
Rotary St. Catharines partnered with Rotary Buffalo Sunrise and Brock University to put España’s application forward. “This incredible Rotary grant will support Norie in conducting cutting-edge science to inform coral reef conservation and help safeguard the planet’s remaining coral reefs,” says ESRC Associate Professor Jessica Blythe, España’s supervisor. Other contributors to the grant application included District 7090, Rotary Niagara-on-the-Lake, Rotary St. Maarten & Rotary Pato Branco Brazil.