News Releases

UWI’s Environmental Law course leading the way

For Release Upon Receipt - June 11, 2015

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago. June 11, 2015 – Environmental activists, journalists, non-governmental organisations and any other individual or group with a deep interest in matters related to the environment will be given an opportunity to take part in a comprehensive course of study in environmental law.

The Faculty of Law of the St Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies (UWI) is offering the first in a series of intensive short courses created to provide a thorough understanding of a key area of the law. In August of this year, the Faculty will hold its Continuing Legal Education Course in Caribbean Environmental Law. The week-long course will be held in partnership with the Asa Wright Nature Centre (AWNC) and hosted at the Arima valley centre.

“The course will provide the foundational principles of Environmental Law,” said Ms Alicia Elias-Roberts, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law and one of the course facilitators. “We have structured it in this manner because it is not geared strictly towards attorneys. It is for people who have an interest in environmental matters.”

Elias-Roberts explained that although The UWI offered courses in Environmental Law to its students, the Faculty has limited space and thus persons with an interest in niche areas of law such as environmental law did not have access to educational services at this level – until now. The Continuing Legal Education course will also include case studies and highly interactive sessions. “The course will be very interactive,” Elias-Roberts said. “It will be intensive but fun. We are holding the course at the AWNC, one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most beautiful nature centres and we have already received interest from both local and regional persons. We expect it to be a great networking opportunity.”

In addition to Ms Elias-Roberts, who has her masters’ degree in Environment and Natural Resource Law, the course will be facilitated by Environment Law expert Christine Toppin-Allahar. Ms Toppin-Allahar is currently working with the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) on the redrafting of the Environmental Management Act. She is also a member of the AWNC board.

The new Law Faculty, officially instituted in 2012 at The UWI St. Augustine, has adopted an aggressive approach to outreach and education. The Caribbean Environmental Law is the first of a series of continuing legal education courses that the Faculty intends to offer to the public in an effort to further provide for the region’s educational needs. “We have plans for a number of specialist, week-long short courses in the pipeline in areas such as Administrative Law,” Elias-Roberts said. “It is part of our plan for greater public outreach.” This course also joins the list of a number of successful conferences and public lectures hosted by the Faculty in an attempt to reach out to the public and legal fraternity.

For further details on registration, please contact the Faculty at 662-2002 ext.82039 or 84019 or email Zennille.Swann@sta.uwi.edu.

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About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: www.uwi.edu

 

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

 

 

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