Environmental Services

The Company has managed or provided professional and technical services for various international agencies and a variety of National governments on the following projects (please note that references and contact information are available upon request):

 

• February to June 2020.  Retained by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Government of the Virgin Islands to develop and draft legislation to implement recommendations contained in recent review of agriculture and fisheries legislation while addressing priority issues of the new administration, in particular to establish the legislative framework for the newly merged Department of Agriculture and the Department of Fisheries while building resilience to climate change impacts affecting food security. Drafted the Virgin Islands Food Security and Food Sustainability Bill, and facilitated broad-based stakeholder consultation on the proposed legislation during social distancing restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

• September 2019 to March 2020. Retained by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour of the Government of the Virgin Islands to develop and draft legislation to implement recommendations contained in the Green Paper - Proposed Environmental Management and Climate Change Adaptation Bill, while addressing priority issues of the new administration, in particular to fully translate the Marine Estate Administration Policy into a legislative framework. Drafted the following: (a) Virgin Islands Environmental Management and Climate Resilience Bill, 2019; and (b) Virgin Islands Marine Estate Administration and Coastal Zone Management Bill, 2020.

 

• September 2019 to January 2020. Retained by the European Union to undertake the end of program evaluation of the EUR20 million Building Safety and Resilience in the Pacific (BSRP) program, which included detailed in-country evaluations in Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

 

• January 2019 to March 2020. Retained by the Green Climate Fund (GCF)/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the GCF Readiness Project. Dominica. as International NGO/CBO Climate Change Specialist to support the National Designated Authority (NDA) in building capacity in civil society in Dominica to access international climate change financing under the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

 

• May 2017 to February 2018.  Retained by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to support capacity building of the National Designated Authority (NDA) of the Governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and Grenada to increase access to international climate change financing including the accreditation of the National Implementing Entity (NIE) for the GCF. Supported the development of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness 2 Project (Demonstrating GCF Enhanced Direct Access in the Public, Private, and Civil Society Sectors) for Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Grenada.

 

• June 2016 to February 2017. Retained under the European Union (EU) funded Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) project on Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Land Management to support and assist the Government of Antigua and Barbuda with the development and drafting of Regulations to manage greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, build climate resilience and establish an environmental management system. Drafted the Paris Agreement Regulations 2017 that establishes the: (a) regulatory, administrative and financing framework; and (b) monitoring reporting and verification (MRV) framework, to implement the commitments of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and required to support direct access financing by the Green Climate Fund.

 

• August 2015 to February 2016. Retained by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) to undertake the feasibility assessment and preliminary design for the US$70 million (50 million pounds Sterling) climate and disaster resilient water, sanitation and hygiene program in Ethiopia and Nepal. Developed climate change models and vulnerability & risk assessments for the water sector in Nepal and Ethiopia. Developed and designed, through a broad-based consultative process, the following four components of the proposed project which is funded by the International Climate Funds (ICF):

i..     investment in water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure and management systems to build climate and disaster resilience in existing sector programmes in Nepal and Ethiopia;

ii.     roll-out of climate and disaster resilient health policy and planning guidance developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to 20 countries in Africa and Asia;

iii.    risk assessment and management of the impact of climate change and natural disasters on future water-related infectious diseases in Ethiopia and Nepal; and,

iv.    evaluation of the programme, including programmatic, process and impact elements.

 

• May to October 2015. Retained as International Expert (Climate Change Adaptation) by Expertise France (French international technical expertise agency within the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy) to support and assist the Government of Kiribati in the development, drafting and approval by Cabinet of the country’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Kiribati INDC defines priority measures required to implement the Kiribati Joint Implementation Plan on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management (KJIP) (2014), including institutional measures required to facilitate direct access to international climate change financing through the Green Climate Fund (GCF). The INDC planning process, which included a multi-criteria risk assessment and sector vulnerability assessments, assisted the Government of Kiribati in the identification of gaps in the adaptation and disaster risk reduction program outlined in the KJIP, and develop stakeholder consensus on the best manner to address these gaps.  

 

• March to September 2015.  British Virgin Islands. Retained under the European Union (EU) funded Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) project on Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Land Management to support and assist the Government of the Virgin Islands in the development and drafting of integrated legislation for environmental management, climate change and ecosystem management.

 

• July 2014 to June 2015. Retained by the European Union (EU) and the Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to assist the Government of Palau in the development and adoption, through a broad-based consultative process, of a climate change and disaster management policy that is to provide clear national guidance for decision making and actions that will build the resilience of Palau to climate change and disasters as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions and articulate Palau’s position on climate change and disaster risk reduction across all sectors and at all levels (community, state, national. international).

 

• November 2012 to January 2013. Retained by the Nova Scotia Department of Economic Development to plan, coordinate and facilitate the Trade Mission led by the Government of Nova Scotia (Canada) to the Eighteenth Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP18), convened in Doha, Qatar from the 27th November to the 7th December 2013.

 

• June 2012 to May 2013. Climate Change Policy Specialist retained by the Government of the British Virgin Islands and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC) to provide technical guidance and support to the High-Level Technical Working Group established by Cabinet to develop and legally establish a sustainable financing mechanism (Climate Change Trust Fund) to support the implementation of the BVI Climate Change Policy, a 10-year strategy for low carbon, climate resilient development in the British Virgin Islands. Developed the broad-based consultative process to design the architecture for the Climate Change Trust Fund which includes the following elements: (a) Establishing the Trust Fund administrative structure/governance and operations; (b) Identifying Capitalization for the Trust Fund; (c) Establishing Trust Fund mechanisms for revenue collection and management; (d) Instilling Effective Governance for the Trust Fund; (e) Supporting Efficient Implementing Arrangements for the Trust Fund including uses of Trust fund monies; (f) Facilitating Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for the Trust Fund; (g) identifying technically viable adaptation options to be funded by the Trust Fund.

 

• November 2011 to June 2012. Retained by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide services of Climate Change Adaptation Specialist (Staff Consultant) to assist Pacific Regional Agencies in the development of the US$10 million Pacific region Strategic Program on Climate Resilience (SPCR) funded through the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) under the Climate Investment Fund (CIF).

 

• August 2011 to June 2012. Retained by World Bank as Team Leader/Climate Change Mainstreaming Specialist to lead technical team retained to assist the Government of Dominica in the development of its US$65 million Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR) funded through the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) under the Climate Investment Fund (CIF).

 

• July 2011 to June 2012. Retained by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as Climate Change Mainstreaming Specialist as part of technical team retained to assist the Governments of Papua New Guinea and Tonga in the development of their US$40 million Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR) funded through the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) under the Climate Investment Fund (CIF).

 

• February – October 2011. Retained by the Government of the Cook Islands to guide and coordinate the formulation of the Cook Islands Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Policy on a project funded by the Government of Italy. The development of this policy, through broad-based stakeholder consultation, includes a vulnerability assessment to evaluate/prioritize climate change and disaster risks/impacts on key social, environmental and economic elements, a comprehensive review and evaluation of existing disaster and adaptation-related legislation/institutional structures, the identification of potential opportunities for adaptation and building resilience to disaster and climate change risks, and a comprehensive public awareness and outreach program to support the development of the policy. The policy is being developed in coordination with the formulation of the Joint National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change (JNAP) (supported by UNDP) and the establishment of a mechanism (Trust Fund) for sustainable financing of the Policy and JNAP. Guided and facilitated the establishment of a Joint Team to coordinate the formulation of the Cook Islands Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management Policy through broad-based stakeholder consultation. Providing technical support to the Ministry of Finance in the evaluation of appropriate sustainable financing mechanism, and the establishment of a Climate Change Trust Fund.  Leading consultations and negotiations with the Tourism Sector to establish market based climate change financing mechanisms that will be used by the tourism industry to fund technology conversion to climate resilient, low carbon and energy efficient facilities utilizing imported renewable energy technologies and services.

 

• December 2008 to October 2011. Technical Coordinator retained by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC) under the “Enhancing Capacity for Adaptation to Climate Change (ECACC)” project to assist 5 British Caribbean Territories (Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Caiman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands) in the formulation of their National Climate Change Policy and Action Plan. The development of these adaptation and mitigation  policies in each Caribbean British Territory includes a vulnerability assessment to evaluate climate change impacts on key social, environmental and economic elements, and incorporate a comprehensive review and evaluation of existing mitigation/adaptation-related legislation and institutional structures, their application and enforcement, and the identification of potential opportunities for improvement. The resulting Issues Paper serves as the basis for the development, through a broad-based consultative process, of the National Climate Change Policy and Action Plan in each British Caribbean Overseas Territory.

 

• May to November 2010. Retained by the Asian Development Bank/World Bank to provide services of Team Leader (Climate Change Adaptation Specialist) to assist the government of Nepal, through broad-based stakeholder consultation, in the development of the US$110 million Strategic Program for Climate Resilience to be funded under the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) which is part of the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF). The preparation of Nepal’s SPCR - a national program and priorities for enhancing climate resilience - requires a process of scoping, reviewing, analysis and integration of possible ongoing plans and programs. The assignment involves coordinating, at the national, district and local levels, a series of Risk Assessments, Adaptive Capacity Assessments, Cost-Benefit Analysis, and Climate Resilience Assessments, and the identification of a range of feasible options for building climate resilience in accordance with the PPCR objectives and design elements.

 

• February to March 2010. Retained by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Government of Dominica to provide services of International Adviser to support the development of Organic Dominica, a 10-year investment program based on the vision of transforming Dominica into an environmentally sound Organic Island and health and wellness destination, thereby creating the enabling environment for sustainable development within the context of a re-energized green economy. Coordinated and facilitated the convening of a National Consultation to develop the 10 year US$150 million investment program.

 

• December 2009 to August 2010. Retained by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF Cook Islands) to provide services of Climate Change Specialist under the Asian Development Bank’s Protecting Island Biodiversity and Traditional Culture in Pacific Island Communities through Community-Based Climate Change Risk Assessment project funded under the Small Grants Activities (SGA) program. Providing technical assistance to undertake a community climate change risk assessment and adaptation planning/management through incorporation of ecosystem approaches more explicitly addressing the natural resource assets of the community. 

 

• May 2009 to September 2009.  Retained by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide services of Team Leader to support the Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM) in the  preparation of detailed project document, for the US$7 million “Regional Project for Implementing National Biosafety Frameworks  in the Caribbean Sub-Region” funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), that will establish national and regional capacity to implement biosafety, biosecurity and biotechnology frameworks under the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

 

• January 2008 to June 2009. Retained by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center to develop the US$1.25 million “Caribbean Carbon Neutral Tourism Project” funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) under the Sustainable Energy and Climate Change Initiative (SECCI) that is to assist the Caribbean region in responding to climate change by enhancing its climate resilience. The project seeks to devise ways of attracting new sources of financing for: (i) the scaling-up of low carbon investments in the tourism sector; and (ii) reducing the sector’s vulnerability to climate change. The four countries that will be used as pilot sites for the Project are: The Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Belize, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. The Project will finance: (a) an assessment of the carbon footprint of the tourism sector and evaluation of appropriate renewable energy and low carbon approaches/technologies to reduce its footprint; (b) identification/development of financial mechanisms to establish carbon neutrality for the tourism sector in the Caribbean; (c) preparation of the program to access Climate Investment Fund (CIF) funding for integrating climate resilience within the tourism sector.

 

• October 2008 – April 2009. Retained to provide services of Climate Change Specialist by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to assist the ADB’s South Asia Regional Department (SARD) in the development, through regional and country consultation, of a Climate Change Implementation Plan (CCIP) for South Asia Developing Member Countries DMCs (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.). The South Asia Climate Change Implementation Plan (CCIP) serves to identify ADB’s climate change investments (including capital investments)  and to continuously develop and update the Bank’s three-year project pipeline from 2009 to 2011 comprising of loans, technical assistances (TAs), and grants to be incorporated into the Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for each country and South Asia regional CPS. The CCIP also serves to identify opportunities for accessing additional climate change funding mechanisms in support of South Asia DMCs respective climate change programs. Assisted ADB and the Government of Nepal in start-up activities for the US$50 million Pilot program on Climate Resilience (PPCR) funded through the US$6 billion Climate Investment Funds (CIF).

 

• July 2008 – September 2008.  Retained by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide services of Climate Change Specialist to support the Government of Nepal in identifying prospective opportunities to address climate change risk management and adaptation. Served as a resource person during the National Fact-Finding Workshop, assisting stakeholders to design project outputs and activities that strengthen Nepal's adaptive response and risk resilience to climate change impacts. Advised the ADB on possible climate change adaptation pilots, that ADB may consider financing through its climate adaptation funding mechanisms. Undertook an assessment of Nepal’s current and planned adaptation efforts, in addition to climate change adaptation program being undertaken by NGOs, and other donors, and developed a ADB CRMA Road Map for climate change adaptation in alignment with ADB’s country partnership strategy (CPS) and Nepal’s NAPA and other adaptation policy and planning instruments.

 

• February 2007 - May 2007. Retained by Environment Canada and the Government of Nova Scotia to facilitate the development of a climate change risk management strategic framework for the Province of Nova Scotia.  Facilitated consultations with federal, provincial and municipal levels of government and other stakeholders to -

  1. identify regional and sectoral climate change risk management  priorities;

  2. identify intended federal/provincial/municipal climate change risk management actions in areas of respective  responsibility, and actions to be taken with other levels of government and those who will need to adapt;

  3. identify appropriate framework to address climate change risks affecting the province of Nova Scotia.

 

• January 2005 – September 2006 Retained by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide services of Project Manager, Legal and Institutional Strengthening Specialist, and Legal Draftsman for the "Legal and Institutional Strengthening of Environmental Management" project in the Cook Islands. The project was designed to assist the Cook Islands in the development and drafting of priority environmental legislation, including legal frameworks to implement requirements under various international environmental conventions including the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, the  Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Basel Convention on the Trans-Boundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal; the Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region  (Waigani Convention);  the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs); and the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. Undertook a comprehensive policy, legal and institutional review to develop an appropriate policy and regulatory structure for sustainable environmental management. 

 

• June 2005 – September 2006.  Retained on the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded International Waters Program (IWP) to undertake the following in the Cook Islands:

(a)     Develop an inventory of environmental and natural resources (marine and terrestrial) management legislation, policy and institutions;

(b)     Review and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of existing environmental and natural resources (marine and terrestrial) management legislation, policy and institutions;

(c)     Identify gaps and deficiencies in the legal, policy and institutional framework for integrated coastal and freshwater resource management;

(d)     Develop, through a broad-based consultative process, a comprehensive legal, policy and institutional framework for integrated coastal and freshwater resource management that would address priority gaps and deficiencies;

(e)     Develop and draft, through a broad-based consultative process, comprehensive legislation for integrated coastal and freshwater resource management that would address priority gaps and deficiencies.

Undertook a comprehensive policy, legal and institutional review to develop an appropriate policy and regulatory structure for the sustainable management of all water resources.

 

• August 2005 – September 2006. Retained by the World Bank and Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre as Technical Coordinator for the preparation of the PDF-B application, detailed project document, and project operations manual  for the US$5.5 million “Special Program on Adaptation to Climate Change (SPACC)” funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), that will establish climate change adaptation measures to address impacts on biodiversity and land degradation in Dominica, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

 

• March 2005 – December 2005.  Retained to provide technical assistance to the Government of Dominica in the development of their National Capacity Self Assessment (NCSA) on a project funded by the Global Environment Facility and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The project is designed to assist Dominica in undertaking a self-assessment of national capacities to implement several international environmental agreements, including: (a) the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; (b) the Kyoto Protocol; (c) the Convention on Biodiversity;  (d) the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety; (e) the United Nations Convention on Desertification and Land Degradation;  and (f) the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

 

• May 2005 – August 2005. Retained to provide technical assistance to the Government of Grenada in the review and evaluation of the country’s National Biosafety Framework on a project funded by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The key elements of this project involve the technical review of Grenada’s draft biosafety legislation and institutional framework to determine compliance with the requirements of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety.

 

• March 2005 – July 2005. Retained by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) to develop a Guide for Danish overseas missions to provide for the integration and mainstreaming of climate change considerations (mitigation and adaptation) into Danish foreign assistance programs and projects, in accordance the 2004 European Union (EU) Policy Directive.

 

• January 2004 – March 2005. Retained as part of the technical team contracted by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to undertake a comprehensive review and evaluation of the legal, policy and institutional framework for environmental management in select Eastern Caribbean States (Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines) in order to assessment national capacities to implement the St. George’s Declaration of Principles for Environmental Sustainability in the OECS  and the Barbados Program of Action.

 

• September 2003 – October 2004.  Retained by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) to provide an overview of important environment and natural resource issues in Trinidad and Tobago, and make recommendations for policies and programs to further environment and natural resource management for sustainable development consistent with the country’s objective of reaching developed country status by 2020. The project included the following elements:

  1. Review of the environmental situation in Trinidad and in Tobago, including an evaluation of the legal and institutional framework as well as institutional capacity for environmental management;

  2. Identification of the existing environmental and social liabilities and propose remedial policies and programs with a clear identification of the costs and responsibilities to execute;

  3. Propose alternative environmental management systems including, but not limited to, the use of auditing;

  4. Analysis of existing action plan and contingency plans to mitigate the impacts of environmental disasters and define the roles and responsibilities of the institutions involved.

 

• September 2003 – September 2004. Provided technical assistance to the Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Office of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to develop guidelines for Natural Hazards Impact Assessments (NHIA) that provide for the integration of climate change into the Bank’s environmental impact assessment process.

 

• October 2001 – October 2004.  Co-Principal of the Executing Agency for US$2 million Adapting to Climate Change (ACCC) project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) under the Canadian Climate Change Development Fund (CCCDF). The project supported the development of integrated planning and management strategies for cost-effective response and adaptation to the impacts of global climate change in twelve participating Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago).

 

• January 2003 – June 2003. Retained by the World Bank to develop a guide on “Mainstreaming Economic Valuations” for integration into the Caribbean climate change adaptation program – “Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change” - funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

 

• March 2002 – March 2003. Retained by the World Bank to develop and implement the Management Information System (MIS) for the Regional Project Implementation Unit established to manage the “Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change” (MACC) project in the Caribbean region, and provide training to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat personnel on World Bank project management, financial management and project reporting procedures. 

 

• June 2001- March 2002. -Retained by Environment Canada (Canadian Environmental Protection Agency) to develop guidelines and undertake a training program for the use of alternate dispute resolution (ADR) process in the management of federal contaminated sites. Undertook comprehensive review of contaminated site management legislation, policies and procedures in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Principal author of Best Practice Guidelines for Federal Departments and Agencies on Dispute Resolution Processes for the Management of Federal Contaminated Lands (Treasury Board of Canada/Environment Canada).

 

• March 2002. Retained by Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) to undertake review of countries in sub-Saharan Africa to identify candidate city for support under the “Sustainable Cities Initiative” (SCI).  Evaluated political, economic, social, human rights, trade and environmental conditions in 42 countries in Africa and the Indian Ocean regions.