Schnabel ready to dive into the Micronesia Challenge

The University of Guam Center for Island Sustainability and Sea Grant welcomes Clémentine Turgeon Schnabel, who brings a wealth of experience to the team and will be working on the regional Micronesian Challenge as the project coordinator for Guam. She will be working closely with Fran Castro and Vangie Lujan to coordinate conservation projects in Guam. She will also be working on the recently awarded US Fish & Wildlife Foundation grant of 1.5 million for watershed restoration with GROW planting trees in order to establish carbon credits for eligible companies.

With a background in international relations and sustainable development focusing on social issues and the environment, her experiences working with NGOs in the Philippines and India demonstrate her adventurous spirit and commitment to making a difference for people and the planet.

Originally from the island of Tahiti, she is grateful to be living in the islands once again. “Guam feels really like home, there are many similarities between Guam and Tahiti,” she enthused. Her husband’s family connections with Guam brought them to the island that they will now call home. She is hoping her connection with French Polynesia will allow for a cross pollination of sustainability practices between Guam and Tahiti.

Meeting her husband-to-be while studying in China, they married and moved to his hometown, Manila. There she worked with the Life Project 4 Youth Foundation in creating partnerships between businesses and traditionally excluded youth to bring more opportunities for professional inclusion for youth living in poverty. Advocating for youth who have access to few resources and connecting them with educational centers in their environs that allowed them to learn basic professional and technical skills and find work was very gratifying for Schnabel.

She believes the strengths she has acquired from working in small entrepreneurial and multicultural environments where it was important to think quickly to find innovative solutions to address issues will benefit her work with the Micronesian Challenge and other projects.

The UOG CIS and SG team continues to attract talented individuals with a commitment to making a difference for the environment.