“Manatee Man” Gets Graduate Scholarship

Jamal Galves, popularly known in Belize as “Manatee Man,” is the recipient of the 2021 WCS Christensen Conservation Leaders Scholarship.  Galves, whose career as a conservationist began when he was only eleven years old, is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Coastal Science and Policy at the University of California, Santa Cruz.  Nicole Auil Gomez nominated him because of his “labor of love” to safeguard Belize’s manatees.  Galves is the second of two Belizean scholarship recipients for this globally competitive opportunity; Denise Garcia received a WCS scholarship in 2016.  The program builds leadership capacity for wildlife conservation on a global scale by providing support to young conservation professionals to obtain master’s degrees or PhDs at top-flight international academic institutions.