A summer of climate, ocean, and finance

I officially ended my CBE fellowship with the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) and below I reflect on this enriching experience.

What did you accomplish with your host organization? What was the impact of your work?

During my internship with the ORRAA, I had the opportunity to contribute to the organization’s External Affairs team, specifically focusing on policy matters. In this role, I supported the team in accomplishing several key tasks that had a significant impact:

  • Policy Research and Analysis: I conducted research on critical topics at the intersection of climate change, marine biodiversity, and finance, to contribute to producing a series of policy briefs on the following topics: the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD); Deep Sea Mining, Blue Carbon, and ocean-related priorities for COP 28.  This effort has been relevant in shaping the organization’s policy recommendations and strategic advice for its members.
  • Advocacy and Outreach: I collaborated with a diverse, international team to develop and implement advocacy strategies aimed at raising awareness about the need to adopt the High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles, for ocean and coastal nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation. I helped in the membership strategy of ORRAA, building connections with the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so Chile becomes member of the Alliance in the near future. I also represented ORRAA in meetings of the the Race to Resilience, a platform to accelerate climate adaptation goals. This work has helped to foster partnerships and engagement with stakeholders in both the public and private sectors.
  • Communication and Reporting: I’ve supported the communications team to elevate the work of the External Affairs team, showcasing what we have been producing through bulletins and social media posts.

2. Describe the benefits of this experience for you professionally and personally?

My internship with the ORRAA was immensely beneficial. It has helped me in at least the following areas:

  • Policy Expertise: I gained more hands-on experience in policy analysis, development, and advocacy, which enhanced my knowledge and skills in this area on the topics of marine biodiversity, climate change, international relations and governance, and finance.
  • Global Perspective: Working with a team from all over the world, exposed me to diverse perspectives and approaches to deliver our work, which was international in nature.
  • Networking Opportunities: I had the privilege of collaborating with experts and professionals from various backgrounds, expanding my professional network, and fostering lasting connections.

On a personal level, this experience was deeply fulfilling. It allowed me to align my passion for environmental conservation with my career aspirations, reinforcing my commitment to making a positive impact on critical issues facing our planet. In addition, ORRAA was supportive of my personal situation given that I had to do my internship remotely from Chile, where I needed to be to support my family and father in dealing with cancer. He passed away during this time, and I am deeply thankful for the flexibility that ORRAA allowed me.

3. Did your experience provide any unexpected discovery, self-reflection, or epiphany?

Yes. I realized that I am not only deeply passionate about environmental policy but also thrive in a collaborative, international, and interdisciplinary work environment. This experience reinforced my belief that addressing global challenges, such as climate change and marine biodiversity loss, requires innovative and inclusive approaches that bring together experts from various fields and backgrounds.

Moreover, working on the frontlines of these critical issues highlighted the urgency of our collective efforts to protect our ocean.

I also realized that finance is critical in addressing the gaps we have for effective policy implementation and that we need more people from environmental fields who are literate in finance. I do not have a formal background in finance, but it is a field that I will definitely continue studying.

An SDG filled Summer

SDG–Sustainable Development Goals, were put forth by the United Nations (UN) in 2015 as part of a global development framework that interlinks environmental, social and economic wellbeing. 

Having learned more about the SDGs in Applied Conservation Science and Policy in the Spring 2023 term, it is exciting seeing them in action and how they are used to focus the work of the UN. 

Visually, reminders of the SDGs are everywhere–big blocks in the cafe, pencil holders, and coffee mugs serve as desk reminders of the SDGs. More than just visuals however, reports and presentations refer to what SDG they are supporting and which ones they are striving to include. 

The SDGs that I am working on primarily are SDG 13: Climate Action and 14: Life Underwater. In the first blog, I wrote briefly about the work I’m doing on NbS (Nature-based solutions 😉 ) in Kien Giang biosphere reserve, which is a part of the Mekong Delta. These NbS serve to conserve and preserve coastlines, increasing the biodiversity in and along the waters while improving the livelihood of the communities.    

While these are my primary focus, I have also been able to sit in, learn about JET. JET refers to the Just Energy Transition, making sure the shift to renewable energy includes socio-economic and equitable policy. I have also been tasked with incorporating NbS as part of the Climate-Health Nexus for Viet Nam which works on creating a resilient health system in Viet Nam while improving health outcomes, a critical project as Viet Nam is ranked one of the countries to be most affected by climate change.  

In the coming weeks my team will be doing a site visit, to better determine how NbS can be applied and the interests and needs of the community. I won’t be able to attend these site visits since I will be heading back to Monterey to start another semester at MIIS. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity to work on NbS for coastal resilience in Viet Nam. I will continue to be in contact with my team at the UNDP and help them finalize the GEF8 proposal.

Supporting SDG 5 😉 as Viet Nam’s women’s team plays in the World Cup for the first time.

The SDG blocks set up for an IOM campaign on the day against human trafficking.

My Final Weeks with Sailors for the Sea

As my fellowship with CBE through SfS comes to an end, I’m feeling incredibly grateful for the opportunities that had been afforded to me throughout the summer. I feel like I did a lot of good work and got traction on some valuable and worthwhile projects.

Since my last blog post, I did another race focused on bettering the SfS sustainability best practices guidance we’ve been working on. I sailed to Canada. Specifically, I sailed from Marblehead, MA to Halifax, Canada in a race. This race was considered a “clean regatta” by Sailors for the Sea standards. During my time at both race villages in Marblehead and Halifax, I engaged with environmental representatives to see how the venues had practiced sustainability. It was interesting to see the ways race organizers and yacht clubs could institute clean practices, like a massive “water monster” to refill sailor’s water bottles, and ways in which they can still improve (example: using single use, albeit “compostable,” utensils.)

While it was interesting to engage on the shore side of sailor sustainability, I was primarily there to continue evaluating offshore sustainability best practices while underway. During my shifts while racing, I had many conversations with the crew about their struggles with sustainability while offshore. Many of them reported they had difficulty avoiding plastic or even minimizing their plastic use. Another concern was trying to learn sustainable ways to discard of gray water while underway. Another concern was disposal of trash aboard the ship. They didn’t want to throw anything overboard, but they were concerned over the trash build up on the boat and trying to find safe places to stow trash until they reached a shore facility. My role as an on-the-boat resource for the crew to have some guidance on best practices made the team at SfS consider the value and potential role of recommending teams designate “environmental stewards” on their crew who would be responsible for the sustainability side of the race.

The race from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia proved to be particularly magical because we sailed through a Northern Right Whale Critical Habitat. This raised interesting questions amongst the sailors about our boat speed. In the sailing instructions document produced by the race committee, they specified speed limits for the race boats in certain zones of high concern. Boats were not allowed to go faster than 11 knots in these zones. Although we were never at risk of going that fast because the wind was very light for this particular race, it was useful to see the guidance and regulations being produced by the race governing body.

While my team did not have a direct interaction with any northern right whales, we did hear a radio call made to the Canadian coast guard by a competitor a mile off our starboard quarter reporting five northern right whales traveling. It was incredible knowing I was so close to such a precious and endangered species. Yet, it was also valuable to see what role sailors could play in the monitoring of species. By reporting the sighting to the coast guard, that data got logged.

This is a big question that we have been working with at Sailors for the Sea. How can sailors report marine mammal sightings in a way that is 1. beneficial to the scientific community, and 2. not too difficult for sailors to do? Radio calls to coast guard for any species would be out of hand and not looked on kindly by the coast guard. However, it made sense for this boat to verbally report the northern right whales due to their critically endangered status.

During our race, we saw two fin whales and two humpbacks. Specifically, a humpback mom and calf. Part of my role on this race boat was to determine how we could get the relevant data of the sightings logged somewhere despite whatever circumstances the sailors are facing. For the first sighting, we were too far away from any cell reception to log the sighting on the specified app. So, instead, we took pictures of the whales and, since I was on the helm, I took a picture of the chart plotter which had our latitude and longitude, and I made a note in the notes app of my phone what we had seen for that picture. I then logged that data to the whale report app once I reached shore.

Chart plotter to detail location of the whale sighting.
The humpback whales. We wanted to get photos of the dorsals for the national ID network.

For our next sighting, the fin whales, we were close enough to Nova Scotia that we had cell service again. So, my teammate was able to run below deck, grab her phone, run up and report the sighting in real time.

Since the race, I have written “sustainability reports” for Sailors for the Sea reporting my on-the-water findings. We have been talking amongst the SfS team about the best way to distribute this information to sailors. We have concluded that an interactive website with baseline best practices that people can learn more about specifics through a drop-down menu would be the best way to give a lot of detailed information. I am working on sharing “what if” situations, in an FAQ format, based on the on-the-water scenarios I’ve faced this summer so sailors can see more about how sustainability practices can be applied in real time. We also concluded we should create a short, one- to two-page document that sailors can print and put in their boat binder that is a checklist for sustainability best practices.

The website and materials are en route to going live. I’m really excited to see the fruits of all my work this summer come to fruition, and to see the ripples it will have in the offshore sailing community!

Sunrise over Nova Scotia shores

Entrevistas, Perspectivas, y Reflexiones

In the past few weeks since returning from Costa Rica, I have spent my days collecting my thoughts on the conference, conducting interviews (entrevistas) in Spanish with participants, and starting to write a formal paper. Apart from the hassle of scheduling the interviews and finding times that work across the multiple Central American time zones, I have thoroughly enjoyed the process. I use the same general structure for each interview, with questions meant to inspire reflection on the process of designating the Costa Rican Thermal Dome as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) and spark honest conversation surrounding the involvement of maritime authorities in the conservation of this biodiversity hotspot.

After each interview, I feel a range of emotions. Triumph–for having just conducted an interview in a language I only started seriously studying a year ago; fear–that maybe I misheard a response or mispronounced a word and made a fool of myself; and hope–that the person I talked to seemed genuinely interested in engaging in the work of protecting the Thermal Dome and its valuable marine resources. I record each interview (with permission) so that I can go back and accurately transcribe and translate the responses afterward. To date, I have conducted about 10 of these interviews, all in Spanish, with a few more to go.

So far, I have been incredibly inspired by the level of engagement by the local maritime authorities from El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Each person I have talked to has ranked the protection of the Thermal Dome as a medium-high or high priority for their national government and expressed interest in contributing to the designation of the Dome as a PSSA in whatever way they can. While most have acknowledged that there may be political barriers and resistance from the fishing industry or international shipping companies, they still feel a sense of optimism and a determination to unite with other countries to support the cause.

A super clear, totally not blurry screenshot from one of my interviews

I have also begun the process of writing my final product, a paper in which I hope to describe the main takeaways of the conference, its effectiveness in informing and involving local Central American maritime authorities in the PSSA designation process, and recommendations for the stakeholder involvement process in future PSSA designations on the high seas. While I still have a fair amount of writing to do before the paper is anywhere close to finished, I feel inspired by what I have so far.

I learned so much this summer. From how to properly utilize four-wheel drive to navigate dirt roads in Costa Rica, to how to engage in meaningful conversations in a language that is still new to me, I can honestly say that the skills I gained are ones I hope to use for the rest of my life, both professional and personal.

The Fellowship of the Sea

The Fellowship of the Ring is the start of an epic saga where a young hobbit finds himself on an adventure. This is a case of the beginning of “The Hero’s Journey,” a classic trope in which the protagonist sets off, sometimes reluctantly, on a quest where she faces challenges before returning back home. It is a cyclical journey, a journey of gaining knowledge – enlightenment, perhaps – and then ending back where it all started. Much like a young Frodo Baggins, I found myself at the beginning of the summer faced with an incredible opportunity to broaden my knowledge of the world. I took hold of it, and saying yes to the fellowship opportunity on the high seas, I had no idea of the experiences and learning in store for me. All I knew was, I was going on an adventure.

And an adventure it was. Beginning with hopping on a plane to Switzerland, to Zooming with a Great Barrier Reef director in Australia, to SCUBA diving the north shore of Oahu, the fellowship took me to places I didn’t know I would visit, literally or virtually. Throughout the summer, I pursued my fellowship by conducting research through key-informant interviews with experts of large-scale marine protected areas (MPAs). My research inquires into the lessons learned from large-scale MPAs to help inform the future establishment of MPAs in the high seas. To narrow down this monumental undertaking, I chose three case studies to focus on: Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM) in Hawaii, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) in Australia, and the Ross Sea MPA (RSMPA) off Antarctica.

As I quickly learned, people are very busy, especially in the summer, but people are also very kind and willing to talk (even if it’s a month later than planned). In an effort to wrangle in some interviews, I decided to take myself to the interviewees by traveling to Oahu. There, I met with two fascinating women who previously worked as superintendent and director of the PMNM. It was also such a personal delight that I got to SCUBA dive through the lava tunnels off Shark’s Cove and meet up with a fellow OCRM student, Garrett Hambaro, to snorkel with sea turtles near Makaha Beach.

A double rainbow graced the skies over Shark’s Cove before I headed out for my first dive.
Diving through the lava tubes on the north shore was spectacular, and I got to see my favorite underwater creature – a pufferfish!
A magnificent sea turtle coming up to check us out.
The infamous Garrett showing me his new backyard on the west side of Oahu.

Back in Monterey, I set out to writing more emails, conducting more interviews, and transcribing my notes. I got to talk with the wonderful Jon Day, who played a quintessential role in the GBRMP’s zoning plan, and with Lauren Wenzel, who has a wealth of knowledge as the director for NOAA’s MPA Center, among others. The most emphatically expressed lesson-learned so far has been the importance of developing relationships among the co-managers and stakeholders of a MPA. At this point in my research, I am continuing to conduct my remaining interviews and have outlined my report. Along with this report, I will also be producing a one-pager as a condensed version of my findings to communicate easily to policymakers and others. My goal is to have both final products completed by early spring 2024.

What my non-traveling summer work looked like.

What is one of the most useful skills I acquired during this fellowship? The ability to manage time zones. CEST, UTC, PST, HST, GMT+10, you name it. This came especially in handy for co-managing the IUCN WCPA High Seas Specialist Group (HSSG). I found myself in a position, out of chance, circumstance, and that special Hero’s Journey vigor, to grow the HSSG alongside three other experts. What started as an introductory call turned into a full-blown collaboration to redefine and grow the specialist group. At the start, I felt a bit out of my depth, but with each meeting I learned exponentially and acquired the role of Coordinator for the HSSG, gathering people to the table and growing our membership so experts in the field can collaborate on pressing matters of the high seas.

Now just like Frodo, the fellowship has to end. I am right back where I started, school is starting up again soon and I will be in Monterey for the next few months just as I was before. But I have more experience and knowledge now. I have a project to continue pursuing and a final report to compile. Just as the Hero’s Journey cycles back around, I am about to start another journey, and I’m excited to see where this new adventure will take me.

An Ocean of Reflection

I started my CBE Fellowship at the Ocean Risks and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) by the end of May, and not with an online onboarding meeting. It was a trip to the UK! They invited me to their all-staff meeting and I was super excited to participate. This organization was founded in 2019 to build a bridge between two worlds. The world of real projects on the ground – or “on the ocean” projects I must say -, led by local governments, non-profits, and communities; and the world of finance, which to me feels like the “deep sea”. Beautiful, scary and intriguing, but that I definetely want to learn more about.

Read more: An Ocean of Reflection

ORRAA is registered in Washington DC, but with a global scope of action, and a strong team based in Europe. Lucky me that I started my CBE Fellowship just when the whole team was going to meet for the first time after the pandemic. I didn’t have summer expectations of the English beaches, but there I was, happily surprised by the sunny and warm beginning of the summer in Poole, on the southern coast of England. I was eager to learn as much as I could about the work of the organization and I was ready to embrace an ocean of new acronyms!

I often think about myself as an introvert, but my next reflections will be more intimate. I’ve experienced so many things during the last 2 months that I cannot decouple my academic and professional life from my personal life.

On my second morning in Poole, I received a call from Nico, my younger brother from Chile. He told me “el papá tiene cancer y está muy avanzado” (“Dad has cancer and it’s very advanced”). I got paralyzed, to be honest. “What am I doing so far away when my dad needs the most powerful hug I could ever give?”, I thought. 

Running by the ocean has always brought me peace and helped me to organize my thoughts and explore my feelings. Before starting the activities of that day, I went for a run to the beach, and it did bring me the clarity I needed. I decided that after the trip to England, I would go back to California, organize my personal life and work, and then would fly to Chile to support my dad in all that I could. I had a conversation with my supervisor at ORRAA, Ariane, and I proposed to work remotely from Chile. She fully supported it. Given that ORRAA is a 100% remote organization, I felt so lucky that I could do my work from wherever in the world and with the flexibility that I would need. 

This was the intense beginning of my summer. Full of reflection but also enthusiasm, sad and happy at the same time. I am currently in Chile, multitasking with my dad’s cancer treatment, my personal life, and the work I’m doing for ORRAA. It has been a good time to reconnect with my country and go out to the nature that inspires me to work in this field. Nature that also heals. Thanks to the support that I’ve received from my partner, friends, the MIIS community, Fulbright Chile, and ORRAA, it was never an option to quit my fellowship.

I am intellectually curious to learn and contribute to what ORRAA does. It is a unique NGO because is the only member-based organization that focuses on the interface of ocean and coastal resilience, and blue finance.  NGOs, philanthropic organizations, corporations, financial institutions, and prominent governments share a formal and voluntary platform to advance investments that support our oceans and coasts. I’m contributing to the following workstreams (and here I go with the acronyms!): the HQBCP&G, the TNFD framework, and the External Affairs ongoing functions.

The High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidelines (HQBCP&G) are a joint effort to create standards for blue carbon projects that are appropriate for the climate, biodiversity, and communities. I am supporting a consulting team in Australia to advance the adoption of these principles. 

The Task Force on Nature-Related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is a still-in-development framework anchored in Target 15 a) of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, that will allow the private sector to assess its nature-related dependencies, risks, and opportunities. I am working to guide ORRAA members to engage with this framework and strengthen it from the perspective of the ocean.

Within the External Affairs team, I am supporting the engagement of new members of the alliance (including Chile), consolidating a library of resources for the Sea Change Impact Finance Facility (SCIFF), and supporting the development of position briefs regarding critical issues such as seabed mining or ocean-related priorities for COP 28.

After these 2 months, I can only say that I feel extremely lucky despite what I’m going through, and I’m mobilized to continue learning and working hard. 

   

The High Seas of Switzerland

IUCN WCPA High Seas Specialist Group Research Fellow

This summer I am working with the future implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the high seas. So ~ naturally ~ I found myself up in the Swiss Alps.

I was asked to attend a workshop on the high seas at the IUCN Headquarters in Switzerland and jumped at the opportunity. After a cancelled flight and a bout of jet lag, I rode the SBB train from Nyon to Gland and found myself in a room amongst an international group of high seas experts and specialists. The workshop was centered on area-based management tools in areas beyond national jurisdiction (or ABMT in ABNJ). For two days, we discussed the joint proposal process for future ABMTs, how to ensure the engagement of all stakeholders in these proposals, and the eventual implementation of ABMTs in ABNJ. I quickly picked up the jargon, such as IFBs standing for “institutions, frameworks, and bodies,” and pretty soon I was speaking a vegetable soup of acronyms with the rest of the attendees.

Our workshop took place at the Holcim Think Tank on the top floor of IUCN HQ.
The conference room had beautiful views of the French Alps beyond Lake Geneva and a constant supply of coffee to keep everyone awake amidst the jet lag.

I was able to contribute to the workshop by working with the IUCN team as a notetaker for the workshop report they will be publishing. After engaging with presentations in the main room, we would break out into two different discussion groups to put our heads together answering key questions. For example, we debated on how the High Seas (BBNJ) Treaty should interact with other IFBs and if it should use its own language for ABMTs or adopt the language of other frameworks. After our discussions, I quickly condensed the notes and got the chance to present them to the larger group. Not only did I learn an exponential amount on the future landscape of the high seas when it comes to protected areas, but I was able to meet incredible people who I hope to work alongside in the future.

I presented alongside my colleague, Guillermo, in the High Seas Specialist Group.
We had our final dinner on the IUCN patio – Here I am with Aurelie and Clemente who work with the IUCN.

After the workshop ended, I got to travel around Switzerland for a bit of hiking and spent the night in different mountain huts (see below for some very Swiss photos). Since coming back, I have started interviewing managers of large-scale MPAs for my report and am headed to Oahu soon to meet some of these experts in person. I am incredibly grateful to have had this experience at IUCN in Switzerland and am looking forward to this next phase of interviews!

The first mountain hut I stayed in, nestled under a glacier outside of Grindelwald.
The quintessential Swiss photo featuring a cow with a swinging bell, little yellow flowers, and incredibly stunning views.
The second mountain hut I spent the night at, all the way at the top of Alpstein in the Appenzell Alps.

Sailing for the Sea with Sailors for the Sea

So far, my CBE fellowship with Sailors for the Sea Powered by Oceana (SfS) has been nothing less than amazing. I am working remotely with the team in Newport, Rhode Island, USA, on developing sustainability best practices for sailors and boaters who go offshore.

While I’ve been working remotely, my project has been very hands-on. I’ve been collaborating with the SfS team via video calls to discuss sustainability challenges for offshore sailors. I have been working with SfS on drafting a best practices document for offshore mariners to use while preparing for their crossings and while in transit. The document addresses concerns such as black water disposal, gray water disposal, provisioning to minimize plastic and trash, garbage disposal guidance, recycling and composting practices in different ports, managing oil and fuel leaks, etc.

As an offshore sailor myself, I’ve witnessed the struggles of being sustainable while offshore. I’ve found that while sailors have a deep love for the ocean and a desire to protect it, the strain of being offshore makes it difficult to always adhere to strong sustainability practices. While racing offshore, sailors are often hungry (living off freeze dried food) and exhausted (running on almost no sleep.) We’re battling the elements and survival comes first. When you’re in a situation like that, you won’t pause to think about how to dispose of the apple you just ate, you’ll just throw it overboard. If your boat is filling with water because you’re in heavy seas, you’re not going to think about how to properly dispose of your bilge water, you’ll just throw it overboard.

We want to create sustainability standards that are realistic, effective, and achievable for offshore sailors. If the sustainability standards are too difficult to reasonably adhere to while in the actual situation, there’s always the chance that sailors won’t even bother to try.

In order to make sustainability best practices realistic, we need to evaluate how they actually work in the field. We need to understand what difficulties offshore sailors are facing and what roadblocks exist so we can preempt problems and create effective standards. So, in June, I was captain of a boat in the Annapolis to Newport race and we used the boat as a research platform to evaluate the effectiveness of the first round of our draft of the sustainability best practices.

At the helm during the Annapolis to Newport race with the Sailors for the Sea flag.

We were an all-women, primarily youth team called Leading the Change! Our goal was to be competitive while being as sustainable as we could possibly be based off the sustainability best practices guidelines we’ve been developing at Sailors for the Sea. We provisioned our boat sustainably, buying in bulk to minimize single-use packaging, using silicone bags instead of Ziplocs, minimizing the amount of trash that came on the boat so we could have space to dispose of everything sustainably. We reported which practices were simple and which were difficult to adhere to during the actual race, among other things.

We also wanted to see if offshore sailors could contribute to our understandings of the ocean. We’re trying to determine the best channels for sailors to report marine mammal sightings safely and efficiently, so we can add those channels to the best practices document. We also wanted to determine strategies to document marine debris we see offshore.

The race didn’t go as planned. There was a bad gale sitting just outside the Chesapeake Bay. My team raced 100 nautical miles down the Chesapeake Bay, then I made the call to retire from the race out of safety concerns for the worsening weather conditions. However, it was enough to achieve a lot of sustainability “lessons learned” that I have been working through with Sailors for the Sea to ameliorate our sustainability best practices document. We are currently working on the next draft. We are also working on determining methods to present “what if scenarios” that I have faced in the field to other sailors so they can think and plan accordingly.

I’ve also been informally interviewing sailors on the boats and at the ports to see how they view sustainability, and what challenges they face in being sustainable. One interesting finding I’ve uncovered so far is that there appears to be a myth about aluminum disposal while offshore – many sailors are operating under a shared belief that it’s legal and unharmful to throw aluminum (tinfoil or cans) overboard while offshore. Part of what I’m working on at this moment is researching the laws on this front and the environmental consequences of aluminum in the ocean to raise awareness and educate sailors to the realities of the situation.

I love my work so far and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity. Everyone at Sailors for the Sea has been warm and welcoming. I see the enthusiasm sailors have for wanting to be sustainable, and their fierce desire for guidance on that front. So, I’m excited to see the results of all our work this summer.

A Trip to Costa Rica: Sloths, Sunshine, and Shipping

Three weeks ago, I arrived in San José, Costa Rica, with a backpack full of bug repellant, SPF 50 sunscreen, my SCUBA mask, and a feeling of excitement at the possibility of engaging in a professionally rewarding experience in a beautiful place. In the weeks leading up to the trip, I spent my time doing the background research necessary to travel solo down Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, stopping at coastal towns along the way. My google searches consisted of things like: What are the traffic laws in Costa Rica? How do I ask to fill my car with gas? and Where is the best place to see a sloth? Meanwhile, I was preparing to write a qualitative research paper on the involvement of the shipping sector in the designation of a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) in a biodiversity hotspot off the coast called the “Thermal Dome.” I conducted a literature review, wrote interview questions, and spent weeks thinking about my methodology and data analysis.

The first two weeks of my trip were spent traveling around and enjoying all of Costa Rica’s natural beauty. I stayed at eco-hostels, explored local national parks, met other travelers from around the world, and perfected my concise explanation of “what I was doing in Costa Rica.” Safe to say my reasoning for being there strayed from the average response of “I’m just here to surf” or “I’m just backpacking around Central and South America because…why not?” During those first weeks, I was tested in more ways than one. Driving solo in a foreign country proved intimidating at first, but I soon learned that stop signs are merely a suggestion (as are speed limits), four-wheel-drive is an absolute necessity, and if needed there is always someone willing to help point you in the right direction. My spanish-speaking abilities were tested as well, and I found myself extremely grateful for the months of spanish classes taken at Middlebury College and MIIS.

Dominical Beach

While I had visited Costa Rica in high school, I was still in complete awe of the biodiversity I experienced over those two weeks. I saw sloths (multiple!), monkeys, intimidatingly-large spiders, giant fluorescent butterflies, sea turtles, caimans, toucans, and scarlet macaws. I witnessed firsthand how conscious and appreciative Costa Ricans are toward their wildlife, and how it is considered the country’s greatest resource both for the tourism it generates and its inherent value. On a whale-watching tour, I spoke to the tour guide about the importance of cetaceans in the area and how he has dedicated his life to their protection. My last weekend before returning to San José, I joined a SCUBA trip to Caño Island and within 15 minutes spotted multiple species of tropical fish, an octopus, and several hawksbill turtles. The divemaster explained in detail how to dive without disturbing the wildlife, and once again I could sense why Costa Rica is a world leader in ecotourism and environmental protection.

A three-toed sloth having a snack

At the beginning of my third and final week, I returned to San José and started preparing for the main event of my trip, a conference hosted by MarViva, the organization I am working for. The goal of the conference was to invite stakeholders in the shipping sector from different countries in the region and involve them in the process of designating the Thermal Dome as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) under the jurisdiction of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Representatives from the ministries of transportation from Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala attended the conference to discuss the designation process, provide insight into the shipping sector in their respective country, and discuss the importance of prioritizing environmental protection for a biologically significant area such as the Thermal Dome. By the end of the day, each representative had committed to supporting the initiative of designating the Thermal Dome as a PSSA and spreading awareness of its importance within their countries. While the process could take years, it was clear that this was a necessary first step.

Now back in California, the work of combing through direct observations and transcripts from the conference, interviewing participants, and sending out questionnaires has begun. I will eventually be analyzing all of this data to assess the success of the conference when involving stakeholders in the designation of a PSSA in the Thermal Dome, and these insights will (hopefully) provide guidance for future PSSA designation. Feeling rejuvenated by the Costa Rican sunshine and only partly covered in mosquito bites, I am looking forward to continuing this project.

NbS: Nature-based Solutions alternatively, Notta-bad Summer

Ha noi means between rivers. That was clear when crossing over the bridge from Noi Bai International Airport into the capital of Viet Nam, Hanoi. While the location name of my fellowship was clear, the work I would be doing was less well-defined.

The Terms of Reference outlining the details of the project I would be working on were broad, though intentionally, as the project was just beginning. After a few days of UN onboarding modules, I got settled into a scoping project for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to submit to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) 8.

Read more: NbS: Nature-based Solutions alternatively, Notta-bad Summer

GEF finances projects aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change. The UNDP’s GEF8 proposal is looking to harness nature-based solutions (NbS) in the Mekong Delta. These NbS use “soft” or “green” infrastructure to leverage the power of healthy ecosystems to protect people and safeguard a stable and biodiverse future. It has been fun having the time to deep dive and focus on a project that has the potential to become a reality; accessing the tradeoffs and feasibility of different “blue carbon,” coastal and ocean ecosystems, such as mangroves, corals, seagrasses, and mudflats which are all endemic to the region and then synthesizing that information into reports. The proposal feels like the perfect intersection of my Environmental Science bachelors, my International Environmental Policy masters, and past research. In addition to the work, everyone is incredibly welcoming and supportive. It has also been exciting that, in Viet Nam, all of the various UN agencies are in the same office, so stepping into the elevator one can speak (briefly) to someone from UNICEF, UNESCO, FOA, etc. Being in this amalgam has allowed me to participate in UN-wide learning programs, webinars, and events.

I haven’t had too much free time; people here work late! But I’ve explored a bit of Hanoi’s food scene, become obsessed with <3 coconut coffee <3, and last weekend took a trip up to the northern region of Sa Pa. I stayed in a homestay and the two sisters (Mau and Sou) took me trekking through the rice paddies where we saw water buffalo, views of other villages, and some agroforestry with green tea!

All in all the CBE fellowship with the UNDP working on NbS has felt surreal. I’m so grateful that I have this opportunity and look forward to what I will learn the rest of summer. 

Eleanor Bent: Protecting a High-Seas Biodiversity Hotspot

MarViva
Working remotely from Pacific Grove, California, USA and in-person with teams in El Salvador and Costa Rica
June 1st – August 1st, 2023

Eleanor will join the SARGADOM Project at MarViva this summer in the Costa Rican office. She will further Marviva’s efforts to implement conservation and sustainable management actions for the Thermal Dome, a marine biodiversity hotspot in the high seas —by completing a research project on shipping routes in the context of the new high seas treaty. Her project will consist of interviewing members of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and Comisión Centroamericana de Transporte Marítimo (COCATRAM) to determine perceptions and understanding of how the high seas treaty will influence maritime shipping activities, as well as how these organizations plan to adapt their activities and collaborate. Eleanor will travel to El Salvador and Costa Rica in mid-June to identify stakeholders in both organizations, begin the interview process, and meet with members of Marviva. At the end of her internship, Eleanor will write a research paper summarizing her findings and submit it to be published in a peer-reviewed academic journal.

Hannah Ditty: Blue Carbon and Nature-based Solutions in the Mekong Delta

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Hanoi, Vietnam
June 5th – September 1st, 2023

Coastal ecosystems – mangroves, coral reefs, seagrasses, and tidal marshes – are some of the most productive on Earth. In recent years, their significant role in sequestering and storing ‘blue carbon’ is also increasingly being recognized by policymakers. In addition to mitigation benefits, these coastal ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems are home to a wealth of biodiversity and provide communities with essential ecosystem services, such as coastal protection from storms and land erosion, and nursery grounds for fish. As such, they provide a full spectrum of mitigation, adaptation, and protection benefits. The conservation, protection, restoration, and sustainable management of these important ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems are therefore valuable climate actions, which can be achieved from the application of nature-based solutions (NbS).

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Maya Hoffman: Sailors for the Sea

Sailors for the Sea
Working remotely from Monterey, California, USA with team in Newport, Rhode Island, USA
June 8th – August 24th, 2023

Maya will be working with Sailors for the Sea Powered by Oceana to develop and test sustainability best practices for offshore sailors, including racers, delivery crews, and cruisers. She will be speaking with sailors to determine effective and realistic sustainability practices that will be achievable for sailors, regardless of boat differences, offshore conditions, and port capabilities. She will help sailors test these practices on the water to ultimately develop an official guidance document for boaters everywhere.

Maya is an accomplished sailor herself, check out her “Skippers Corner” blog on the Sailors for the Sea website: https://www.sailorsforthesea.org/blog/skippers-corner-team-leading-change

Libby Mohn: High Seas Marine Protected Areas

High Seas Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA)
Working remotely from Monterey, California, USA with teams in San Diego, California & Gland, Switzerland
In-person team meeting in Gland, Switzerland
June 12th – August 11th, 2023

Libby Mohn will be working with the IUCN WCPA’s High Seas Specialist Group (HSSG) this summer to write a report on high seas marine protected areas (MPAs). The purpose of this report will be to aggregate lessons learned from big ocean MPA managers to inform the future establishment of MPAs in the high seas. To complete this, Libby will interview experts in the field regarding three specific case study areas: the Ross Sea MPA in Antarctic waters, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and the Papahānaumokuākea MPA off the coast of Hawaii. Ultimately, the report will focus on the implementation stage of large-scale MPAs (LSMPAs) to help the IUCN WCPA roll out support for MPAs in the high seas and ensure their effectiveness in these large spaces lacking logical governance structures.