Jamal Galves, an incoming master’s degree student who is popularly known in Belize as 'Manatee Man', has been awarded a Wildlife Conservation Society 2021 Conservation Leaders Scholarship.
Galves will work toward a master’s degree in Coastal Science and Policy. He received the 2021 WCS Christensen Conservation Leaders Scholarship provided by the WCS Graduate Scholarship Program.
Galvez said his studies will be “directly connected to my interests as a guardian of the manatee population and the ecosystems that are vital to their survival in Belize."
He said he sees the scholarship as an opportunity to widen his conservationist knowledge and network in order to better “safeguard Belize’s coastal ecosystems for the benefit of wildlife and human livelihoods”.
The Coastal Science and Policy master’s program educates its candidates on “critical threats to social and ecological systems, respond to complex problems with effective, practical alternatives, and to confront institutions with innovative, interdisciplinary solutions.”
