R&E Ocean Community Conservation Foundation partners with the IMarEST

R&E Ocean Community Conservation Foundation (R&E) has partnered with the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST), the world’s largest international marine professional body, to help promote ocean education on sustainable marine mammal watching programmes and improve understanding of issues relating to marine mammals.

R&E provides education and awareness to the general public and scientific and local communities in Colombia to encourage responsible marine mammal watching practices. Working with the Colombian government and other NGOs, they provide training and workshops covering biology, policies and regulations and best practice guidance for tourism practice. Their approach blends marine conservation with strong community development to protect local biodiversity and empower remote communities.

In addition to education, the Foundation conducts projects in the Antarctic, amongst other locations, publishing research on the impact of vessel presence on humpback whales.  The partnership between R&E and IMarEST will help to further our understanding of noise pollution and marine mammal acoustics, as their research team contribute their expertise to the IMarEST’s Marine Mammals Special Interest Group.

The IMarEST’s NGO Partnership scheme is open to all non-governmental organisations operating in the marine science and conservation sector and supports capacity building and professional development through access to complimentary membership benefits, knowledge-sharing, online promotion and free membership for volunteers. They are designed to help support the work of NGOs to positively contribute towards the delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (in particular SDG14 Life Below Water).

To find out more on the benefits of an NGO Partnership, please visit the Marine Partners web page or contact marinepartners@imarest.org.