Palau’s World Heritage-listed Rock Islands Southern Lagoon is one of the pilot sites of our Resilient Reefs Initiative – a global climate change program helping reefs and communities adapt to the impacts of climate change and local threats.
Conservation science is having a reckoning with “parachute science”. In the parachute science model, scientists drop into a foreign country with preconceived notions, seeking to validate their assumptions without genuine engagement with local people, ideas, epistemologies, methodologies, and knowledges, and leave without giving back to the place from which they extracted. This model lacks integrity and produces dubious results with little value to local populations and can even undermine local efforts.
The tiny tropical archipelago of Palau feels enormous responsibility for the health of the ocean. It now compels all who visit it to share this as well.
A recent study shows that the Maml population in Palau has declined despite the total ban on the harvesting, possessing, and selling of Maml (Napoleon Wrasse) and Kemedukl (Bumphead Parrotfish).
The Palau Council of Chiefs commended President Surangel Whipps Jr.
“Restoring coral reefs is an increasingly important strategy used to combat the impacts of climate change,” said author Dr. Yimnang Golbuu, CEO of PICRC.
The Hawksbill Sea turtle, or ngasech – in Palauan language, is an important turtle species in Palau, prized for its shell. Its shell has been money for Palauan women for centuries, but it has been listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN since 1996.
Deep-sea mining could have a "catastrophic" impact in the Pacific, the president of Palau told AFP, as companies forge ahead with plans to hoover up millions of tonnes of seabed in the hunt for valuable metals.
This week, the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) is hosting the Science & Monitoring Strategy Development Workshop with experts from around the world to further develop the science and monitoring strategy for the Palau National Marine Sanctuary (PNMS).
Researchers from the Palau International Coral Reef Center (PICRC) have returned from surveying the Palau National Marine Sanctuary (PNMS) using baited remote underwater videos (BRUVs).