Trini wins prestigious UNEP award

Trinidadian Dr Marissa Gowrie has been awarded a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Policy and Implementation Leadership award.

Gowrie, deputy environmental manager/national ozone officer at the Planning and Development Ministry, was one of 15 recipients out of a total of 197 parties in the world to win.

Gowrie, the only winner from this country, has, for over ten years, been dedicated to the phasing out of ozone-depleting substances in this country.

The award recognised extraordinary contributions from governments, party delegates, groups or individuals who worked in the development and implementation of the Montreal Protocol.

The Vienna Convention, adopted in 1985, established a framework for measures to protect human health and the environment against adverse effects resulting from changes to the ozone layer.

In 1987, the protocol established a mechanism and deadlines for the controlled phasing-out of the global production and use of ozone-depleting substances such as the refrigerant HCFCs, the fumigant methyl bromide and the fire suppressant halon.

Government acceded to the Vienna Convention and its protocol in August 1989, the first to do so in the Caribbean region. In this regard, TT was obligated to implement all phase-out obligations under the protocol, for which Gowrie, through her work, has been recognised as a world leader in this regard.