DARWIN200 reaches Rio de Janeiro during two-year global voyage and conservation mission aboard tall ship Oosterschelde – and there’s still a chance to sign up to join the voyage crew to help sail the ship from port to port!

We’ve been helping sailors join in this phenomenal voyage since it set sail from the UK in August 2023.

DARWIN200, a two-year planetary conservation mission arrived in Rio de Janeiro at the weekend for a week of youth conservation leadership programmes and public events.

The historic tall ship is now docked at the quayside by the iconic Museu do Amanhã (Museum of Tomorrow) science museum in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

Public Event Schedule in Rio de Janeiro

11th November 2023 – Free Ticketed Public Event Museu do Amanhã 

On 11th November in Rio de Janeiro, 18:00-20:00, DARWIN200 will host a public event at Museu do Amanhã with special guest presentations from DARWIN200 Dr Sarah Darwin, , environmentalist and President of the Botanical Gardens of Rio Sérgio Besserman,  Prof of Ecology and Director of the Science Council of the Museum of Tomorrow Fábio Scarano and DARWIN200 Project Leader Stewart McPherson. 

Tickets are free. Visit the Museum’s website here for more information.

Museum of Tomorrow’s Chief Executive, Bruna Baffa says “We are living in the Ocean Decade and we still know little about it. Hosting the Darwin200 expedition at the Museum of Tomorrow allows us to put our audience in touch with essential issues such as environmental conservation and to encourage the search for solutions.“

12th November 2023 – Free Online Event Darwin Day

On 12th November the project will celebrate Darwin Day with a supercharged “World’s Most Exciting Classroom” event – a day of free online talks streamed live from DARWIN200 in the Atlantic Rainforest at the Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado. It will be primarily in English, but streamed with Portuguese subtitles.

During the morning events tune in to hear from a host of conservationists including Luis Paulo from the Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado who will talk through their incredible work saving the golden lion

tamarin from extinction. Plus each of the 5 Darwin Leaders who will present their project work and screen one of their completed films. Results from the biodiversity transect and coral reef survey will be shared with Q&A throughout.

In the afternoon we will ask the greatest minds in conservation a simple question: “What can we all do to change the world and make a better future for conservation of nature?” 

Beaming in to answer that question will be Dame Jane Goodall,  Sylvia Earle, Dr Sarah Darwin, NASA Astronaut Terry W. Virts, National Geographic Photographer Ami Vitale, marine biologist Fabien Cousteau (grandson of Jacques Cousteau) and DARWIN200 founder and project leader Stewart McPherson.

Full details at www.darwin200.com/darwinday 

DARWIN200 in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro is the fifth of 32 ports to be visited during DARWIN200, a 40,000+ nautical mile voyage and conservation mission. The DARWIN200 Global Voyage is retracing young Charles Darwin’s famous journey on HMS Beagle and aims to change the world for the better by empowering 200 next-gen leaders of conservation. 

In each port of the DARWIN200 global voyage, small groups of ‘Darwin Leaders’, selected from around the world for their outstanding achievements in conservation, join the tall ship for a week-long immersive conservation leadership training programme.

Two hundred in total will take part over the two-year expedition – hence the project name.

Working alongside local conservation experts, each Darwin Leader studies a species of animal, plant or an ecosystem, assesses its population status and how it has changed over the past two centuries, learns about conservation initiatives currently in place to protect it and develops their own ideas on how to better conserve the chosen species in the future. 

The intention is that each Darwin Leader will be empowered with new ideas, skills, and experience that will have a positive impact on the work they are already doing in their home countries and inspire their future careers in conservation.

Meet the Darwin Leaders in Rio

Five Darwin Leaders from France, India, Chile, Venezuela and Netherlands will join the tall ship in Rio de Janeiro.

They will be embedded with local conservation organisations and experts to study:

1. Darwin Leader: Juliet de Rozario, France 

Project Guyana dolphins of Sepetiba Bay (1.5 to 2 hours south of Rio) with Rodrigo Tardim, ECoMAR – Laboratorio de Ecologia e Conservação Marinha, UFRJ

2. Darwin Leader: Joseph Roy, India 

Project: Reintroduction of howler monkeys in Tijuca Forest (right in city centre) with Marcelo Rheingantz, Director of ReFauna and Professor at the Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação de Populações, Instituto de Biologia – Univ Federal do Rio de Janeiro

3. Darwin Leader: Camila Calderón Quirgas, Chile 

Project: Conservation of corals and reef fish of the islands of Rio (offshore) with Aline Aguiar, Project Technical Coordinator, Projeto Ilhas do Rio, Mar Adentro Institute, Rio de Janeiro

4. Darwin Leader: Karen Brewer-Carías,  Venezuela

Project: Conservation of golden lion tamarin (2 hours north west of Rio at AMLD in Silva Jardim) with Luis Paulo Marqes Ferraz, Executive Director of Associação Mico-Leão Dourado, Silva Jardim, RJ

5. Darwin Leader: Jessica Tax, Netherlands
   Project: Restoration of the Atlantic Rainforest (2 hours north west of Rio at AMLD in Silva Jardim) with Luis Paulo Marqes Ferraz, Executive Director of Associação Mico-Leão Dourado, Silva Jardim, RJ

Joseph Roy is one of the Darwin Leaders taking part in Rio de Janeiro. He is studying for a Master’s in Ecology at the University of Glasgow and The Scottish Centre for Ecology.

He says “I am originally from India and I’m passionate about the biodiversity of my country. During Darwin200 I’ll research the reintroduction of howler monkeys in Tijuca National Park, Brazil. This project excites me as it provides insights for my future work on reintroducing a macaque species in India”. 

Two of the Darwin Leader projects will take place at the Association of the Golden Lion Tamarin Center (a conservation centre replanting the Atlantic rainforest to expand this habitat).

Golden lion tamarin conservation efforts have been successful, growing the population from a one-time low of 200 animals to more than 2,000 today. 

Charles Darwin’s great-great-grand-daughter, Dr Sarah Darwin will join DARWIN200 Founder Stewart McPherson and a team of volunteers at the Association of the Golden Lion Tamarin Center, to plant 8,000 native trees at the centre while raising awareness and funds to support further replanting by the Association of the Golden Lion Tamarin.  

Sarah Darwin says “I am very supportive of this incredible project. Using Charles Darwin’s voyage on HMS Beagle as a framework to highlight environmental change as well as the beauty of nature is a timely and noble ambition. The excellent DARWIN200 team is developing novel methods to find and train two hundred young people to become Darwin Leaders. These young ambassadors will all have the potential and opportunity to become future leaders in the environmental movement.  Their knowledge and passion for nature will reach and inspire vast audiences worldwide through their actions, films and social media. The Darwin200 alumnae will form a new international  community of young people  and a network of support for the future.” 

Get Involved in DARWIN200

Sail the ship: The general public can sign up to sail the magnificent tall ship Oosterschelde between ports alongside adventure travellers and environmental researchers, who are tasked with steering, navigating and manning the ropes of the three-masted topsail schooner under the guidance of a professional crew.

See more information: https://www.anotherworldadventures.com/darwin200-a-global-voyage-in-the-footsteps-of-darwin/