Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation

EARLY IN 2022, THE FOUNDATION'S SCIENCE TEAM JOINED THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI'S AIRCRAFT CENTER FOR EARTH STUDIES TO MAP THE REEFS OF LANAI, HAWAII USING DRONE TECHNOLOGY. KSLOF CONTINUES TO WORK WITH THE PACIFIC BLUE FOUNDATION TO AUTOMATE THE ANALYSIS OF CORAL TRANSECT PHOTOS. NASA FULLY INCORPORATED MAPPING DATA INTO THEIR NEURAL NETWORK, HELPING TO MAKE THEIR CORAL REEF MAPS MORE ACCURATE. KSLOF SUPPORTED CONSERVATION EFFORTS IN SAUDI ARABIA WITH NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR WILDLIFE. OUR PARTNERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI UTILIZED THE GLOBAL REEF EXPEDITION FIELD DATASET TO BUILD A MODEL THAT CAN PREDICT CORAL COVER AND OTHER METRICS OF CORAL REEF HEALTH USING OPEN-SOURCE SATELLITE DATA. WE COLLABORATED WITH OUR PARTNERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI ON A PROJECT THAT USES SEDIMENT SAMPLES COLLECTED ON THE GLOBAL REEF EXPEDITION TO ASSESS THE LONG-TERM HEALTH OF CORAL REEFS.

THE KSLOF'S COMMITMENT TO OCEAN CONSERVATION AND EDUCATION IS EVIDENT THROUGH VARIOUS INITIATIVES. THE ANNUAL SCIENCE WITHOUT BORDERS CHALLENGE IS AN INTERNATIONAL ART CONTEST PROMOTING OCEAN CONSERVATION. THIS YEAR'S THEME, "RIDGE TO REEF," ENCOURAGED PARTICIPANTS TO SHOWCASE CORAL REEF PRESERVATION ACTIONS FROM LAND TO SEA. KSLOF ALSO RESUMED THE JAMAICA AWARENESS OF MANGROVES IN NATURE (J.A.M.I.N.) PROGRAM AND SUCCESSFULLY FULFILLED THE MANGROVE DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION, AWARENESS, AND LIVELIHOODS (MANGROVE DEALS) GRANT. THEY'VE EXPANDED EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES, INCLUDING LAUNCHING TWO NEW UNITS WITHIN THE CORAL REEF ECOLOGY CURRICULUM, THANKS TO SUPPORT FROM THE MURRAY FOUNDATION. COLLABORATING WITH K2 STUDIOS, THEY CREATED A MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATOR'S GUIDE. A GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY FACILITATED CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT ADDRESSING THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON MARINE NOISE POLLUTION AND SPERM WHALES.

IN 2022, KSLOF MADE GREAT STRIDES TO ADVANCE OUR MISSION TO PROTECT AND CONSERVE THE OCEANS. A PIVOTAL MOMENT WAS OUR PARTICIPATION IN THE INTERNATIONAL CORAL REEF SYMPOSIUM (ICRS), WHERE WE SHARED OUR FINDINGS FROM THE GLOBAL REEF EXPEDITION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL CORAL REEF COMMUNITY. WE ALSO FORMED NEW PARTNERSHIPS WITH LIKE-MINDED ORGANIZATIONS, WORKING ACROSS BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES TO IMPROVE THE HEALTH OF OUR OCEANS. THIS INCLUDED RAISING AWARENESS OF THE ROLE OF MARINE SCIENCE IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BY SPEAKING AT THE GLOBAL DIWAN'S BLUE AND GREEN SECURITY FORUM IN FRANCE, PARTICIPATING IN UNESCO'S SECOND FOUNDATIONS DIALOGUE MEETING IN MOROCCO, AND ENDORSING THE BOUKNADEL STATEMENT AT THE UN OCEAN CONFERENCE IN PORTUGAL. WE ALSO PARTNERED WITH THE INTERNATIONAL MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MARINE BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES (IMBRSEA) PROGRAM TO LAUNCH A NEW INTERNSHIP PROGRAM TO HELP STUDENTS GAIN REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE IN MARINE SCIENCE COMMUNICATIONS.