UT honours our own Carol James

The University of Trinidad and Tobago recently bestowed the title of Honorary Distinguished Fellow upon our Dr. Carol James. The BellBird, and all of our staff and Friends of Asa Wright, congratulate Board Member and Immediate Past Chairman Carol on this well deserved Honorary Degree.
A snapshot of her life’s work and the Citation for the Award, conferred at the Presentation of Graduates 2010 of UTT, was read to the large audience by Public Orator Dr. Natalie Persadie.
Carol has had a long and distinguished career in most areas of conservation in our country even as an amateur naturalist while still a young student at Bishop Anstey High School. She began her career by choosing to work with the Forestry Division instead of embarking on an academic career and soon headed the Wildlife Section of this Division. She became a hands-on practitioner of her profession, surprising colleagues by insisting that they all get out into the field, “the field” being the rainforests and wetlands of Trinidad and Tobago. Her activism is credited with saving much of the country’s biodiversity, particularly theLeatherback Turtles nesting on our East and North Coasts, and the critically endangered, uniquely Trinidadian bird – the Pawi. She was appointed the world’s first Senior Sustainable Development Advisorby the UNDP in 1993, following decisions taken at the landmark Rio Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, and continued to serve on many international conservation and sustainable Institutes and Committees, working with governments in the Caribbean, Africa and the South Pacific.
Carol joined the Board of Asa Wright in 1991, became Vice Chair in 2002, and was elected Chairman in 2004, serving two terms until November 2010. She still serves on our Board as Chairman of the Sustainable Development & Outreach Committee, and also on the Board of the Guardian Life Wildlife Trust. Her interest in balanced national development also focuses on youth and she is a member of the Board of Bishop Anstey/ Trinity College East which has pioneered, for the past ten years, a new gendered approach to education.
She continues to lecture and write articles directed at the raising of public consciousness and education on the environment. Congratulations, Dr. Carol James — We are all very proud of you!* *The BellBird acknowledges the Citation of Dr. James’ Award of the UTT Graduation programme from which this synopsis is partly taken.
January 2011