{"id":87450,"date":"2023-08-24T12:34:35","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T16:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=87450"},"modified":"2023-08-29T14:21:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T18:21:16","slug":"rotary-club-grant-supports-international-brock-marine-biodiversity-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2023\/08\/rotary-club-grant-supports-international-brock-marine-biodiversity-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Rotary Club grant supports international Brock marine biodiversity research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Norievill Espa\u00f1a is examining ways to make conservation of coral reefs in one of the planet\u2019s most biodiverse areas more effective and equitable.<\/p>\n

A Brock student in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre\u2019s (ESRC) inaugural PhD in Sustainability Science class, Espa\u00f1a is undertaking fieldwork in select marine protected areas in the Philippines thanks to a $58,000 St. Catharines Rotary Club International Global Grant Scholarship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Several<\/a>

The Philippines is recognized as the world\u2019s centre for marine biodiversity, underscoring its pivotal role in Norievill Espa\u00f1a\u2019s research at Brock University. Photo courtesy of KL Tapales.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cCoral 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,\u201d says Espa\u00f1a, who is originally from the Philippines. \u201cYet, coral reefs are one of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

A marine biologist and certified diver, Espa\u00f1a\u2019s research will involve discussions with local community partner organizations and scuba diving to survey coral reefs and look at coral cover and diversity in protected areas.<\/p>\n

Aligning her research efforts with the goals of the 2022 landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework<\/a> adopted within the Convention on Biological Diversity, which the Philippines is a signatory, Espa\u00f1a aims to amplify local perspectives and engage in dialogues that foster co-creation of solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom an ecological perspective, thriving coral reefs support highly diverse communities such as reef-building corals and healthy fish populations,\u201d says Espa\u00f1a. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Espa\u00f1a is among 28 graduate students globally to receive an environment-focused scholarship grant from Rotary International this award cycle \u2014 the first time the Protecting the Environment stream has been offered.<\/p>\n

Choosing the environment as their 2022-23 area of focus, the Rotary Club of St. Catharines led efforts to partner with the Rotary Club of Buffalo Sunrise and Brock University to put Espana\u2019s application forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis incredible Rotary grant will support Norie in conducting cutting-edge science to inform coral reef conservation and help safeguard the planet\u2019s remaining coral reefs,\u201d says ESRC Associate Professor Jessica Blythe, Espa\u00f1a\u2019s supervisor.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

Norievill Espa\u00f1a will assess coral diversity and other associated indicators of effectively and equitably managed marine protected areas in select areas of the three islands that make up the Philippines. Photo courtesy of Badi Samaniego.<\/p><\/div>\n

Also contributing support to Espa\u00f1a are Rotary District 7090, which represents 75 Rotary and Rotaract Clubs throughout southern Ontario and western New York, and Rotary Clubs of Niagara-on-the-Lake, St. Maarten and Pato Branco, Brazil.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the very first Global Grant Scholarship for a PhD student in Environmental Studies to be awarded by our club and our Rotary District 7090,” says Richard Evans, Rotary Club of St. Catharines Past President, who, along with current Treasurer Lezlie Murch, was instrumental in helping to facilitate the global grant application.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorie Espa\u00f1a was selected to be the recipient of this grant due to her many years of previous experience and expertise,\u201d says Murch. \u201cI am confident that her research will be of benefit not only to her native Philippines but to coral reefs around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Espa\u00f1a\u2019s research committee is composed of Blythe, ESRC Professor Ryan Plummer and University of the Philippines Cebu Professor Hazel Arceo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norievill Espa\u00f1a is examining ways to make conservation of coral reefs in one of the planet\u2019s most biodiverse areas more effective and equitable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":87454,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9794,7484,7,3319,188,55,1,5,38],"tags":[703,12867,296,2262,522,6583,3330,1453,12866,12874,12871,12872,12870,12873,12869,12868],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87450"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87532,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87450\/revisions\/87532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}