Anguilla’s Director of Environment, Karim V. D. Hodge, is the 24th recipient of the 2011 Euan P. McFarlane Award for Outstanding Environmental Leadership in the insularCaribbean. His selection was announced in a press release by Vice President of Island Resources Foundation, Judith Ann Towle, who is also chairperson of the McFarlane Award Committee.
Ms. Towle said Island Resources Foundation was proud to provide this recognition of Mr. Hodge’s service to the environment.
He was nominated by Rhon Connor, Environment Officer, who provided a comprehensive summary of Mr. Hodge’s conservation leadership inAnguilla, dating back to his activities at the Albena lake-Hodge Comprehensive School. The information also included his eight years working as a member of staff of the Anguilla National Trust and his Government service over the past nine years.
Mr. Hodge has been instrumental in building the Environmental Department which he heads, and in exercising a key role in formulating and representingAnguilla’s position as regards the major multilateral environment agreements. These comprise the United Nations’ Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), the RANSAR Convention and the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD).
Regionally, Mr. Hodge has advocated a strengthened environmental commitment for Anguilla to the St. George’sDeclaration of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. He has been a participant in the formulation of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Environmental Charter, and the United Kingdom White Paper on Partnership for Progress and Prosperity in the Overseas Territories.
In his nomination, Mr. Connor especially noted Mr. Hodge’s “relentless effort and perseverance in developing the Department of Environment from a ‘one-man department’, to one with a full complement of qualified and trained staff for achieving its overall mandate of effective environmental management and biodiversity conservation inAnguilla.”
Mr. Hodge is the first Anguillian to receive the award since it was first presented, in 1988, as specified by Laurance S. Rockefeller to commemorate the environmental service of Euan McFarlane to the insular Caribbean.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment inAnguilla, and in particular, the department’s staff, joined in conveying congratulations and best wishes to Mr. Hodge. “This is truly an inspiring moment for all within the Ministry as the department continues to grow from strength to strength,” a release stated this week.
