Santiago Ramirez Said

I am a Colombian and Lebanese biologist, storyteller, and educator who works on interdisciplinary initiatives to address socio-environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, massive Sargassum landings, deforestation, and the refugee crisis. I have been a National Geographic Explorer since 2021, working on projects that involve (1) implementing photography and storytelling workshops for Indigenous Youth in Panama, (2) educational and technological co-design with coastal communities to re-purpose Sargassum seaweed in Colombia and Puerto Rico, and (2) leading drone and storytelling workshops for park rangers and youth conservation groups in Peru towards the conservation of the critically endangered yellow-tailed woolly monkey.

Currently, I work on a fascinating international collaboration between the University of Victoria (Canada), the University of Miami (U.S.), the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), and the UNAM University (Mexico). Our project is an NFRF- and FAPESP-funded project on the Atlantic Coasts of Mexico and Brazil. This project seeks to develop holistic AI monitoring algorithms for Sargassum seaweed, train local community collaborators in drone monitoring and remote sensing interpretation, better understand the health impacts of decomposing Sargassum on humans, explore the most cost-effective ways for communities to transform the seaweed into products of economic importance, and co-design challenge-based educational methodologies with local partners to increase local knowledge on Sargassum, its origin, and ways to mitigate its impacts.

January 2025