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GRANTEE PROJECT RECOGNIZED BY INTERNATIONAL AWARD
Conceived by Maria José Abuabara and advanced through the Foundation’s leadership, the project has earned international distinction. A powerful validation of visionary cooperation between countries, science and philanthropy
By Alexander More, PhD. Chair of the Board of Directors, Daniels Philanthropies
02/25/2026
In 2025, Daniels Philanthropies proudly supported a bold, innovative initiative at the intersection of marine science, sustainability, and international partnership: the San Andrés–Marine Mosaic project.
Today, we are honored to celebrate its global recognition. In January 2026, the project was awarded the Excellence Award (Blue Category) at FITUR, a premier global event that recognizes the best innovations at the intersection of sustainablity and tourism.
This distinction affirms not only the scientific progress achieved, but also the power of visionary leadership and cross-sector collaboration, strategies pioneered by the project's co-lead, Maria José Abuabara. The award recognized the project’s pioneering use of environmental RNA (eRNA) technology, which scientists used to show not only which species were present, but also how they were responding to climate and environmental stress in real time. In an era of accelerating climate change, such tools are transformative. They allow conservationists, policymakers, and communities to intervene earlier, design smarter protections, and align human activities such as tourism with stewardship with science, rather than exploitation.
María José Abuabara speaking at The Explorers Club during the 2025 New York Climate Week. Photo: Moy Photography
At the origin of this breakthrough stood an equally ambitious idea: that science, tourism, philanthropy, diplomacy, and local communities could work together as a unified engine for ecological and economic regeneration. That idea was championed from the outset by María José Abuabara, former Executive Director of Tourism at ProColombia USA. With more than two decades of experience building cross-border public–private coalitions, Abuabara has long understood that true sustainable practicies require credibility, institutional alignment, incentives, and shared purpose.
Over the last twenty years, Abuabara has helped strengthen Colombia’s positioning in the U.S. market and built a broad network of U.S.-based partners across aviation, travel specialists, tour operations, conservation organizations, and academic institutions. This ecosystem-building experience was especially relevant to the Marine Mosaic initiative, which required trusted coordination across sectors that do not typically operate in a unified framework.
It was this rare blend of business acumen, philanthropic values, conservation commitment, and diplomatic fluency that helped make the project possible. Abuabara demonstrated her ability to integrate sustainability, science, and community-based tourism into strategic destination planning. She co-led the Marine Mosaic project, recognized as a Flag project by The Explorers Club.
NAUTILUS – manufactured by Marine Mosaic – the technology used to sample eRNA and eDNA in the Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, Colombia. Photo: Sammy Martínes.
The project created a replicable and scalable model in which local communities, environmental authorities, international scientists, and philanthropic partners collaborated in a UNESCO-listed site to generate new knowledge and support shared stewardship outcomes for local and international stakeholders. Scientific leadership for the expedition’s eRNA fieldwork and biomonitoring design was led by the project’s principal scientists.
In parallel, Abuabara served as strategic co-lead and architect of the Scientific Tourism operating model, integrating biomonitoring into destination planning and governance, convening cross-sector partners (environmental authorities, communities, philanthropy, and tourism institutions), and translating scientific outputs into a replicable framework for stewardship-aligned decision-making. For Daniels Philanthropies, supporting this work was a natural extension of our mission to advance science-driven solutions for sustainable resource management.
It was a recognition of Abuabara’s unique leadership that led us to appoint her to our board of directors, reflecting our belief that the future of sustainable solutions lies in integrated platforms, where business strategy, diplomatic relationships, scientific rigor, and community empowerment reinforce one another. Her experience navigating multilateral policy dialogues, industry coalitions, and crisis recovery efforts equips our foundation with valuable insight as we expand partnerships across the Americas.
At a time when U.S. philanthropy must operate globally while delivering measurable impact in the United States, Abuabara brings not only relationships and credibility, but also a proven approach for aligning economic vitality with ecological resilience.
The FITUR award confirms what we believed from the beginning: that when science, community, and philanthropy converge with purpose, sustainable partnerships become more than a sector, they become part of the solution.