Coral Restoration Technique - Badge
Name
Issuer
Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca.
Issued since 23 February 2017.
Description
The owner of this Badge attended the Maldivian Coral Reef Restoration workshop atthe MaRHE Center (Marine Research and High Education Center) of the University of Milano-Bicocca, in Magoodhoo, Faafu Atoll in the Republic of Maldives. The workshop consists of a 10-day training on Coral Restoration techniques for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of damaged coral reefs, destroyed or completely disappeared. The full time 80 hour workshop programme includes: a series of lectures and field activities. The latter, in turn, will be divided between the open water dives (about fifteen in total) and the construction of facilities for corals nursing. All activities carried out at sea by scuba diving (SCUBA), will be conducted by international researchers with expertise on tropical marine ecosystems (go to the full programme syllabus 2017 ). By participating in the Maldivian Coral Reef Restoration workshop, the owner of this Badge acquired skills both in protection and conservation of tropical marine environments (with particular reference to the Coral Restoration: planning, construction and maintenance of suitable coral nursery facilities for physical reconstruction of parts of coral reefs) and theoretical skills (knowledge) related to biology and ecology of coral reefs, aimed at a thorough understanding of their health conditions. The owner of this badge is a
Badge Criteria
The owner of the Coral Restoration Technique Badge has acquired the knowledge, skills and competencies described by Badge, participating in at least 90% of activities both practical and theoretical, provided by the workshop. The prerequisites required for registration are: diving license (minimum OPEN WATER DIVER PADI or equivalent) with a total 20 logged dives; or: 15 logged dives in total, of which 5 are to be performed in the 6 months prior to the workshop. The workshop is open to both University students and to the public, is held in English language.
Skills
The owner of this Badge has acquired the following ABILITIES: to build mid water coral nursery; to create coral cuttings and be able to feed the nursery; to prepare the corals farming structures in team work; out-plant corals onto a degraded reef site; to identify corals at the species level; to assess the health condition of transplanted and not transplanted corals; to organize, prepare and run a dive perfectly and safely; to use different instruments during a dive; and the following COMPETENCE: Ability to develop a project for rehabilitation of coral reefs through: self-evaluation and planning of measures to be taken for the restoration of damaged areas (technical expertise); use of techniques and strategies best suited to improve the species composition and coral cover of damaged sites, preserving the donor sites with the ultimate aim to preserve and conserve these habitats (scientific work on field); ability to disseminate/popularize the results of their work to a broad spectrum of people: from students to potential customers (drafting environmental reports). In addition, the owner of this Badge has acquired the following SOFT SKILLS: teamwork; ability to deal with problems, individually or in groups; ability to find solutions by themselves and in sharing. The writing of a final project is also useful to create awareness of the abilities and skills achieved. The owner of this Badge has finally acquired the following KNOWLEDGE: complexity of coral reefs with a focus on the dominant benthic organims: corals; fundamental relationship between the presence of the corals and the associated fish fauna; importance of the protection of the corals and the associated fauna,with particular reference to resources that can be provided to countries owning this ecosystem; importance of the conservation of the corals and the associated fauna, in order to reduce the biodiversity loss of this fragile ecosystem.
Tags
Marineresourcesconservation, Corals, Marinesciences