Diana McCaulay - 2005 McFarlane Award Honouree

Diana McCaulay

Wednesday,  February 1, 2006

Island Resources Foundation recently announced that the recipient of the 2005 Euan P McFarlane Award for Outstanding Environmental Leadership in the Insular Caribbean, is Diana McCaulay of Jamaica.

The Award includes a US$1,000 unrestricted grant, and is the only environmental award exclusively for residents of the Insular Caribbean.

Ms McCaulay joins an expanding roster of Caribbean environmentalists who have been similarly celebrated since 1987, when the Award was first established.

The award honours the work of Euan McFarlane of St Croix, who until his death in 1983 was actively involved in environmental causes in the Caribbean.

The late Laurance S Rockefeller had set up the endowment to establish the Award. Island Resources Foundation – a 33-year-old Caribbean NGO dedicated to sustainable environmental planning for small island development – administers the programme.

The Northern Jamaica Conservation Association nominated Ms McCaulay in recognition of her 15 years of leadership within the environmental conservation movement of Jamaica.

The Association’s nomination emphasized Ms McCaulay’s role in the founding and management of the Jamaica Environment Trust, the country’s most effective environmental NGO; promoting hand-on projects to clean up Jamaica’s waterways and beaches; supporting environmental education in the schools through teacher training and curriculum development; encouraging community education through outreach programmes and in the media; and serving as a tireless advocate for effective environmental regulation and enforcement in Jamaica.

Ms McCaulay and six other concerned Jamaicans established The Jamaica Environment Trust in 1991. 

“We were ordinary people, working mothers and fathers,” said Ms McCaulay.

“What we had in common was an appreciation for our beautiful island home and concern for our children’s health and future.”

In 1998, after several years as a volunteer environmentalist, Ms McCaulay left her job as an insurance executive to pursue a new career in environmental conservation. Building on her private-sector management skills, she served as the CEO of the Jamaica Environment
Trust, directing the organization during its formative years to its current position of leadership in the country.

Working through the Jamaica Environment Trust, Ms McCaulay played a leading role in the design and implementation of the largest environmental education programme for schools in the Caribbean – a scheme called the Schools’ Environment Programme.

She was also instrumental in establishing the Student Environment Network, whose members have addressed the Jamaican Parliament on environmental issues and assisted with community projects to clean up beaches and provide environmental education in children’s homes.

Ms McCaulay has written and co-authored numerous publications with environmental themes, including booklets and manuals for use in the schools and a handbook on Jamaican environmental law. As a columnist for Jamaican newspaper, the Daily Gleaner, she has helped to raise public awareness about environmental issues.

Diana McCaulay is past Chair (1997-1999) of the National Environmental Societies Trust – an umbrella group of Jamaican environmental non-government organizations (NGOs), and a past Director and Vice Chair (1995-2000) of the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica.

She has also served on the Jamaican Government’s environmental regulatory board and the Natural Resources Conservation Authority, from 2003 to 2005. During this period she was a staunch advocate for environmentally sustainable policy and planning decisions. She also chaired the National Environmental Education Committee from 2003-2005.

Formal announcement of the 2005 McFarlane Award to Diana McCaulay will be made at the Annual General Meeting of the Caribbean Conservation Association in Barbados, 1-3 February.

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