Coral Cay Conservation
Coral Cay Conservation is a nonprofit organization that works to protect and sustain tropical rainforests and coral reefs. Currently, they have projects running in Tobago, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Their work focuses on information gathering in order to better educate local populations on how to make their ecosystems sustainable. Assessment of the marine and rainforest ecosystems goes hand in hand with environmental education and awareness. Their target audiences for the education projects are comprised of a wide demographic of local schoolchildren, village community leaders, resort guests, dive instructors and tourism guides. Further, a scholarship exists to fund local volunteers so they can take an active role in learning about and sustaining the local ecosystems they depend on for their livelihood. Stakeholders and project partners are also included in the education phase so they better understand the importance of the work being done, and how their funds are being used.
Working with a combination of local people, NGOs and local governments, Coral Cay has been able to create habitat maps and designate protected marine environments to ensure effective conservation. On the international level, Coral Cay is dedicated to promoting their projects' work and outcomes in the media and other forums in order to garner funding and awareness of the state of these ecosystems and their need for conservation.
What can we do? In order to run these projects successfully, Coral Cay relies heavily on volunteers. Visiting their website (http://www.coralcay.org/), you can view the various projects underway and the volunteer opportunities associated with each. The marine projects need volunteers to survey reefs and collect data to be used in reef health assessments. Rainforest volunteers survey plant and animal life, as well as contribute to developing alternative livelihood schemes for the peoples of the rainforest. All volunteers are welcome to get involved in the local community with education projects, clean up programs, or just having fun with the children of the community.
Volunteer projects can be long-term, or, if short on time, you can sign up for Coral Cay's mini-expeditions of two or three weeks.
As I don't have a lot of spare time, I signed up for the two week mini-expedition on their marine project in Tobago. I leave tomorrow. I cannot express how excited I am to be a part of this organization, working on a project that I find extremely important. Not to mention that I'll be getting out of the cold, warming myself on a Caribbean island for the next two weeks while participating in a valuable experience- both for the environment and for myself.
There will be no internet access from the volunteer compound, but while gone, I will be keeping a daily journal of our activities. Upon my return, I will be posting the record of each day, so you can have a day-to-day breakdown of what a volunteer project such as this actually entails.
In the meantime, I have arranged for a few articles to post in my absence so be sure to check in with The Eco-Traveler over the next couple of weeks. And I look forward to reporting on the project when I get back!
