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“Constructive dialogue is never a waste of time. One year ago I had a very cordial discussion with the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago in which we didn’t arrive at a consensus that reducing greenhouse gases was an ethical responsibility. Mere months later I was surprised and pleased to hear the Honourable Prime Minister adopt this argument at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, thus signaling a shift in Government policy.”

Professor John Agard

PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF LIFE SCIENCES
FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE
ST. AUGUSTINE CAMPUS, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Tel: (868) 662-2002 ext 2047 • Email: John.Agard@sta.uwi.edu

PROFILE

At the international level, Professor John Agard has served as a Lead Author on the Small Island Systems and Scenarios chapters in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) published in 2005. He also served as Coordinating Lead Author of the Scenarios Chapter of the 2007 UNEP Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-4). He is also Lead Author of the Small Islands Chapter of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published by Cambridge University Press. The MA authors shared the Zayed Prize for the Environment while the IPCC and Al Gore shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their contribution. Regionally, he is a co-leader with the Cropper Foundation of the Caribbean Sea Assessment (CARSEA), a sub-global assessment of the MA, published in 2007. In the local landscape, Professor Agard has been directly involved in applying science in the public domain via the creation of innovative environmental policy, laws and systems as Chairman of the Environmental Management Authority of Trinidad and Tobago. He has led in the formulation of Trinidad and Tobago’s National Environmental Policy and new environmental and natural resource management laws such as the Certificate of Environmental Clearance Rules 2001, the Noise Pollution Rules 2001, and the Water Pollution Rules 2001. This has also included his signing into law subsidiary legislation designating new Parks and Protected Areas such as the Environmentally Sensitive Area (Matura Natural Park) 2004, the ESA Nariva Swamp (Managed Resource Protected Area) 2006 and the ESA Aripo Savannahs (Strict Scientific Reserve) 2007.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Professor Agard is currently coordinating the restoration of the Nariva Wetland in Trinidad, a project sponsored by a grant from the World Bank Biocarbon Fund. The project is unique globally in having three components of greenhouse gas emission reductions while enhancing livelihoods for villagers in the surrounding communities and also enhancing biodiversity (a potential win-win-win-win-win situation). The project will (a) sequester carbon by reforestation/aforestation of 1200-plus hectares of wetlands that have been deforested by rice farmers, (b) reduce emissions from methane and nitrous oxide by restoring the hydrology and water flows to what existed before it was modified by farmers, (c) avoid deforestation of remaining forests. While leading the project, Professor Agard is in the field measuring greenhouse gas emissions.