Wave of Change and Iberostar Foundation Announce Scholarships for Rebuilding Coral Reefs

Wave of Change and the Iberostar Foundation are pleased to announce four new scholarships for spurring work towards Rebuilding Coral Reefs at a maximum of $5,000 each for a total of $20,000. The categories for the four individual scholarships offered are:

• Techniques for achieving coastal protection, increased fish biomass or enhanced biodiversity in reef restoration
• Work on reef restoration conducted in Latin America (Mesoamerican Reef or Caribbean Basin)
• Building resilience in restoration efforts in the face of global climate change
• Advancing solutions for scaling restoration practices

The scholarships are a reinforcement of our commitment to the oceans and to having all Iberostar properties in improving ecological health alongside profitable tourism by 2030. In order to achieve this goal, we need rigorous, science-based and expert-informed approaches to our actions in coastal health. These scholarships will support researchers and practitioners by financing original research projects intended to advance scientific knowledge in the global community for restoring coral reefs. 

The first grant, Goals of Reef Restoration, is intended to support restoration work that maximizes the coral community’s collective understanding of how to perform restoration that quantitatively increases coastal protection, quantitatively increases fish biomass and/or develops methods for increasing interspecific diversity in restoration programs. This grant has no geographic limitations. 

The Reef Restoration in Latin America & the Caribbean Basin grant will support restoration work that is conducted in areas of the Mesoamerican reef of Caribbean basin that have limited access to resources. The work can include programs for outreach, programs in research, programs focused on marine protection and simultaneous reef restoration, or projects focused on establishing new efforts of restoration in the region. 

The third grant, Confronting Global Warming, will assist with rapid assays of existing variability in tolerance of stressors expected from global warming, measurement of tradeoffs in traits associated with resilience to stressors expected from global warming and/or assessment of diversity of extant populations for traits associated with resilience to global warming. This grant has no geographic limitations. 

The final grant, Solutions for Scaling, should include projects that employ community education and involvement in the quantifiable scaling of restoration projects, technology for scaling restoration efforts in water or on land, multi-sectoral collaboration on solutions for scaling and/or projects that innovate novel funding mechanisms or expand the financial resources available for restoration efforts. There is no geographic limitation for the work conducted in this grant. 

Applications are open from August 7, 2020 to November 6, 2020 at 6:00pm. For more information on how to apply, email info@waveofchange.com!