Climate change – scaremongering or an unfortunate reality? Interview with Wendel Trio, Director of the Climate Action Network Europe (CAN Europe)

By Hannah Schartmann. A warm welcome, Wendel Trio. What are your tasks at the Climate Action Network Europe? I have been the Director of CAN Europe since September 2011. My main tasks include strategy development, political representation, developing the network and fundraising. I also coordinate and manage the secretariat. Can you tell me a bit…

Portuguese NGO ‘Ocean Alive’ – Video Story

The marine biologist, Raquel Gaião Silva, made a video about a portuguese NGO named Ocean Alive that is making the difference when it comes to Climate Action. The video shows their involvement with the local fishing community and their fantastic role in protecting the seagrass meadows. Are you curious about it? Take a look! Seagrass…

Marine biologist Jan Verbeek about the challenges in marine conservation

By Nuri Max Steinmann. Jan Verbeek is a marine biologist and scientific diver I met during the Erasmus Mundus master’s programme in marine biodiversity and conservation in Portugal. Since leaving Germany about 10 years ago, he spent the large majority of his time studying and working in the UK where he started his journey as…

For Dr Louise Gentle, conservation is more than preservation

By Kaitlyn Elverson. Dr Louise Gentle is a well-loved wildlife conservation lecturer at the Brackenhurst Campus at Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, UK. Her research and work at NTU has stretched over many topics, from why Wombats poop cubes to Yellowhammers, but for this interview, I asked Louise some things that targeted the bigger picture…

Interview with Cristina Otero Sabio – Marine biologist, photographer and artist

By Nuri Max Steinmann. Cristina Otero Sabio is a marine biologist, photographer and artist with a special affection for marine mammals. While working for the whale watching company Turmares in Tarifa, Spain, she started a photo-ID study to identify the killer whales that visit the Strait of Gibraltar every year in order to learn more…

Smoking kills – not only you

By Leona Ritter von Stein. The problem of plastic pollution in the marine environment has become quite popular over the last few years, thanks to many great people out there, who have opened their eyes and hearts, and raised their voices to increase awareness. NGOs, private initiatives and even politics have taken action and reached…

Interview with Raquel Gaião Silva – Winner of the GBIF’s 2018 Young Researchers’ Award

By Nuri Max Steinmann. Raquel Gaião Silva is a recent MSc graduate in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Portugal and just won the 2018 Young Researchers’ Award, which is assigned by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). She was awarded for her thesis project about the impact of climate change on the distribution of marine…

Sciaena – Oceans | Conservation | Awareness

By Nicolas Blanc. Science is sometimes seen with a certain degree of skepticism by the general public. Scientists often lack the tools (or willingness) to properly communicate about their research outside conferences and peer-reviewed papers, which leads to an increasingly isolated scientific community, and to no real contact between the general public and science. Furthermore,…

FishAct – Working For The Oceans

By Valeska Diemel. FishAct is an international organisation that works to end illegal overfishing. Our approach brings together people and the benefits of modern technology to protect the oceans through enforcement of environmental regulations.  FishAct was founded in Amsterdam in 2010 by a group of young conservationists who set out to build a grassroots marine…