Port of Spain, September 2, 2020 – The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) welcomes Dr Howard Nelson as the new Chair of its Board of Directors. Elected at CANARI’s Annual General Meeting held in August 2020, he confirmed the Institute’s commitment to being part of the COVID-19 recovery in the Caribbean. 

Dr Howard Nelson has served on CANARI’s Board for the past five years.  In stepping into this new role, he expressed that, “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 COVID-19, climate change and the biodiversity crisis, it will be organisations like CANARI that will help us find a uniquely Caribbean solution to these challenges.”

Howard is a Trinbagonian wildlife biologist and forester, who has worked in the Caribbean for 32 years in roles for government, academia, inter-governmental agencies and non-profit organisations such as CANARI, BirdsCaribbean and the Asa Wright Nature Centre. His specialities include wildlife, forest and protected areas policy, planning and management, sustainable wildlife use, endangered species conservation, ecotourism and conservation training. He currently serves as a member of the Darwin Expert Committee of the UK Government’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and is a member of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services’ (IPBES) taskforce on knowledge and data. Currently based in the UK, he is the 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.

Also appointed at the AGM were two new Directors, Cletus Springer and Steve Bass, who both bring rich international sustainable development experience to leadership of the Institute.

A national of Saint Lucia, Cletus Springer had 20 years of public service in Saint Lucia and with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) before joining the Organisation of American States (OAS) where he has been Director of the Department of Sustainable Development since 2008. He
has extensive experience in international policy, including serving as Saint Lucia’s Alternate Governor of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Cletus is also a member of the CARICOM 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.

Steve Bass has 38 years’ experience in international and national policy for sustainable development and forest management, including supporting CANARI’s work on green economy and participatory forest management in the Caribbean. He is currently Senior Associate at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). Steve is co-founder of the Green Economy Coalition, Honorary Fellow of WWF-UK, consultant to the World Bank on Natural Capital Accounting, and is on advisory boards of the Sustainable Amazonas Foundation, UN Poverty Environment Initiative, and Cambridge Conservation Initiative.

In addition to Dr Howard Nelson, Steve Bass and Cletus Springer, other elected Directors currently on CANARI’s Board are Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada (outgoing Chair), Dr Michael Witter, Dessima Williams, Ericq Pierre and Lisa James. Nicole Leotaud, CANARI’s Executive Director serves as Managing Partner and Anna Cadiz-Hadeed serves as Staff Partner.

The Institute looks forward to the leadership of Dr Howard Nelson and other members of the CANARI Partnership in supporting COVID-19 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.
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About CANARI: The Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI) is a regional technical non-profit organisation which has been working in the islands of the Caribbean for over 30 years. Our mission is to promote and facilitate stakeholder participation in the stewardship of natural resources in the Caribbean. Our work focuses on Biodiversity and Ecosystems, Equity, Participatory Governance and Resilience. See here for more information on CANARI: http://www.canari.org/.