In 2018 I will be travelling to the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park and I will be working with a team of scientists through the charitable Operation Wallacea- http://opwall.com/ - to help monitor endangered species and help the area achieve further protection. The Alejandro de Humboldt National Park is the only significant rainforest area in Cuba, and is a biodiversity hotspot for the entire Caribbean, with National Park and Biosphere Reserve status. In the 1990s the Cuban government planned their largest hydroelectric project in the park, damming Cuba’s largest river and flooding thousands of hectares of pristine forest. The aim of Opwall’s new collaboration with local Cuban conservationists would be to help ensure that growing tourism to the park is conducted sustainably with maximised benefits going to the local communities.

Over the course of the two week expedition, I will participate in the following surveys and activities alongside the team of Cuban scientists: reef fish surveys, coral surveys, coastal fish communities and recruitment, sharks and large carnivores, invasive lionfish dissection, and manatee surveys and capture.

Through this I not only wish to improve the environmental state of the Cuban Ecosystem but also gain key skills for life such as teamwork and researching, and experience for higher education.