Christell Chesney from the Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity (CSBD), University of Guyana (UG), has been selected as a 2017/2018 Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean (CLiC) Fellow. This fully funded and highly competitive selection process yielded candidates from 14 countries and Christell is the first fellow for CLiC from Guyana.
“I am extremely honored to be among those participating in this program,” said Christell Chesney. “CLiC will definitely help me to improve my skills in conservation planning and leadership. These particular skills will be used at the CSBD, UG, to guide students’ research as well as, to contribute to the conservation efforts, of the CSBD, through various workshops, courses, etc.”
The goal of the Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean (CLiC) fellows programme is to have an established, sustainable Caribbean leadership-training program enabling effective regional networking and action to achieve sustainable conservation.
“This program directly addresses a succession crevasse across the Caribbean and Latin America by empowering a new generation of wildlife and conservation leaders who as today’s young leaders do not have adequate access to opportunities to experience and practice conservation in areas such as development, communications or grassroots activities,” said Kelvin Alie, CLiC Director and Vice President of Conservation and Animal Welfare at IFAW.
Now in its second iteration, the strongly oversubscribed program funded in part by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) with the support of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW; www.ifaw.org), St. George’s University (SGU) and the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF), CLiC creates an opportunity for up-and-coming Caribbean conservation professionals to gain invaluable first-hand skills and experience working with proven conservation leaders.
In addition to three in-depth training sessions over an 18 – month period which commenced May 2017 and concludes October 2018, fellows are working in teams to design, implement and evaluate cutting-edge projects in biodiversity conservation in support of sustainable development in the Caribbean. Ms. Chesney’s team, CLiC Mangrove Guyana, comprises of team members; Guyanese; Govindra Punu, from Vector Control Services, Ministry of Health, Surinamese; Tanja Lieuw from Inter-American Development Bank and Haitian; Josué Céliscar from Foundation por la Protection de la Biodiversité Marine (FoProBiM).
This team is working closely with the Ms. Kene Moseley and her team at the Guyana Mangrove Restoration Project (GMRP-NAREI) to conserve the mangrove forest at Hope, East Coast, Demerara. The project includes biodiversity surveys, stakeholder interviews, clean up campaign and education and awareness programs. During their projects, these fellows also have access to a qualified training expert; Dr. Tsitsi Mcpherson, from the State University of New York College at Oneonta, who guides them on this journey and provides one-on-one mentoring, networking opportunities and career development. Ms. Chesney’s local supervisor is Director of the CSBD, Dr. Gyanpriya Maharaj (Centre for the Study of Biological Diversity, University of Guyana)
