Jairo Mora Sandoval Bravery Award
The Jairo Mora Sandoval Bravery Award is an initiative from the Marine Program of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB Marine) and honors the late marine conservationist Jairo Mora Sandoval and his commitment to marine conservation. The Award is presented biennially at the Marine Program's International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC) for bravery associated with an outstanding contribution to the field of marine conservation, with particular emphasis on responsible and educated scientific endeavor, public engagement and conservation activism.
Jairo Mora Sandoval was a marine conservationist from Costa Rica who dedicated his life to protecting sea turtles. Jairo grew up in Gandoca, an isolated Caribbean community of farmers located inside the National Refuge of Wildlife. He encountered sea turtles for the first time at the age of 8, when his school class took part in the release of young sea turtles. It was love at first sight. As a teenager he became a volunteer for a local organization working on sea turtle conservation in the community of Gandoca and he was later hired to continue his conservation efforts. In 2013 he was brutally murdered by poachers. He was 26 years old.
Announcements
Call for Nominations for the 2020 Jairo Award!
The SCB Marine Program seeks nominations for the Jairo Mora Sandoval Award for Bravery in Pursuit of Conservation. The deadline to apply is 8 May 2020. More...
Read About Past Jairo Award Winners
Learn about the first two winners of the Jairo Award: Patima Tungpuchayakul (2018) and Jairo Mora Sandoval - Fernanda (2016). More...
Jairo Award Photography
The Jairo Award Committee would like to thank the award-winning National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry for providing some amazing images for this project. You can learn more about him and his work here: www.brianskerry.com