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60 under 60 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

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“I can still vividly recall the wee hours of the morning of September 10th 1978, when our first daughter, Claire, was born. I telephoned everyone I could think of and forced them to listen to the good news. Some were not initially amused at being awakened from their deep slumber….but they understood the reason for my joy. I was equally delighted at the birth of our second daughter, Camille, but by then I had learned my lesson….I waited for a more “civilized” hour before sharing the news. Many wonderful things have happened in my life, and I do not wish to rank them. However, I recently took great delight at the news that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which had invited me to be one of its lead authors and researchers for the last 15 years, was a Nobel Prize recipient.”

Dr. Leonard Nurse

SENIOR LECTURER
CENTRE FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES (CERMES)
FACULTY OF PURE AND APPLIED SCIENCES
CAVE HILL CAMPUS, BARBADOS
Tel: (246) 417-4344/4316 • Email: Leonard.Nurse@cavehill.uwi.edu

PROFILE

Dr. Leonard Nurse’s longstanding relationship with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shot him into the media spotlight, when the IPCC was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel peace Prize for its contribution to climate change research. Dr. Nurse has been a member of the IPCC’s research and author team for four global assessment reports. In 2007, he was selected as Coordinating Lead Author by the IPCC for the chapter “Small Island States” in the fourth assessment report, titled Climate Change 2007. For his contributions Dr. Nurse received the Companion of Honour of Barbados. He was also the recipient of Barbados Centennial Honours (BCH), January 2001 and the Governor-General’s Award for the Environment, February 2001. Dr. Nurse, in addition to his commitment at UWI, functions in various professional capacities. He is appointed Barbados’ Special Envoy for the Environment (1999–present); is a member of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Consulting Group for Capacity Building (August 2004–present); a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) of the World Bank (2002–present); and a council member, Bellairs Research Institute of McGill University (1991–present). He was also Vice-Chairman, Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, Sub-Commission for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (IOCARIBE), 1995-2002. Prior to his appointment at Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), Dr. Nurse held the posts of Director, Coastal Zone Management Unit, Barbados, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Government of Barbados. Dr. Nurse’s academic qualifications include a BSc (First-Class Hons. UWI, Mona, 1975); MSc (Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada, 1979); PhD (McGill, 1987).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Nurse is particularly concerned about the impacts of potential climate change and climate variability, with special focus on small island states; evaluation of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, and their applicability to small islands; human impact on coastal dynamics and beach systems; methodologies for predicting coastal erosion and accretion rates in tropical low-energy environments.