National Trust Director Receives UNEP Award
Director of the Saint Lucia National Trust, Mr. Bishnu Tulsie has been awarded by the United Nations Environment Programme for his outstanding contribution to global environmental protection. The award ceremony was part of the 20th Anniversary celebrations of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, held in Montreal, Canada in September, 2007. To mark this occasion, the Ozone Secretariat established an international panel to select persons from around the world who have made outstanding contributions towards ozone layer and global environmental protection. Mr, Tulsie was selected by the panel to receive the Implementers Award which recognizes the extraordinary contributions by national ozone units or individuals, whose work has helped to make Protocol's phase out goals a reality.
During Mr. Tulsie's tenure within the Sustainable Development and Environment Section of the Ministry of planning, ozone layer protection was placed at the forefront of Government's environmental goals. He guided Saint Lucia through the implementation of programmes to achieve the phase out targets of the Protocol. To date, Saint Lucia has achieved a 92% reduction in its consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), placing Saint Lucia ahead of the 2010 phase out.
Mr. Tulsie's contributions extended beyond Saint Lucia. As the island's chief negotiator he participated in several international Meetings of Parties to the Montreal Protocol and the Vienna Convention. He was the vice president of the Bureau of the Thirteenth Meeting of the Conference of Parties in Sri Lanka, served on the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund and co chaired an ad hoc group established to reviewed the non compliance procedure of the Protocol. He also helped to develop a training manual which is used world wide in training customs officers to enforce trade controls for ozone layer protection. Mr. Tulsie was a lead author for a report on Protecting the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System, which was jointly published by the Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change and the Technology and Economic Assessment Panel. He also provided support to all CARICOM governments to help meet their Protocol obligations. This support included the development of national strategies to meet the Protocol phase out schedules, the development of regulations to give effect to trade controls for ozone layer protection and training of trainers for enforcing the regulations. In 2006 Mr. Tulsie was award the Minister of the Environment Ozone Award for his outstanding national contributions to Ozone Layer Protection.
In Photograph: Mr. Tulsie receiving his award from Mr. Marco Gonzalez, Executive Secretary of the Ozone Secretariat.
