CANARI appoints new chairman

Dr Howard Nelson has been appointed the new chairman of the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI).

He was elected at CANARI’s annual general meeting in August and pledged support to fight the covid19 pandemic as part of his first order of business in his new role.

Nelson said, “It’s a real honour to serve as chair for this organisation that has done so much for conservation and human development in the Caribbean over the past 30 years.

“As our Caribbean community struggles with covid19, climate change and the biodiversity crisis, it will be organisations like CANARI that will help us find a uniquely Caribbean solution to these challenges.”

Nelson has been a part of the institution for the last five years.

He haas also held roles in the wider Caribbean, serving in many portfolios such as government, academia, inter-governmental agencies and non-profit organisations.

He served as a member of the Darwin Expert Committee of the UK Government’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ (IPBES) taskforce on knowledge and data, lecturer in conservation leadership at Fauna & Flora International, an affiliate lecturer at the department of geography at the University of Cambridge and a fellow at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge.

CANARI said, “The institute looks forward to the leadership of Dr Howard Nelson and other members of the CANARI partnership in supporting covid19 recovery pathways that are pro-poor, inclusive, environmentally sustainable, build resilience to climate change and natural disasters to deliver fair, equitable and just outcomes for Caribbean people.”

Nelson will be assisted by two new directors, Cletus Springer and Steve Bass, who both are versed in international sustainable development.

Springer, of St Lucia, has over 20 years in public service and is the director of the department of sustainable development at the Organisation of American States (OAS). Previously, he worked at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), St Lucia’s alternate governor of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Caricom's task force on climate change and development, UNEP’s scientific advisory group on water and the UNDP experts group on vulnerability and resilience in small island developing states.

Bass who has 38 years’ experience in international sustainable development is a senior associate at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). He is also the co-founder of the Green Economy Coalition, an honorary fellow of WWF-UK, a consultant to the World Bank on natural capital accounting and is on advisory boards of the sustainable Amazonas foundation, UN poverty environment initiative, and they Cambridge conservation initiative.

The new directors will be supported by outgoing chair Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada, Dr Michael Witter, Dessima Williams, Ericq Pierre and Lisa James. Nicole Leotaud, and Anna Cadiz-Hadeed, CANARI said.