Awards - Jacqueline and Larry Armony
The Euan P. McFarlane Environmental Leadership Award
Ian Lambie Honored For Work In Trinidad: 1999
At a major reception and award dinner held before environmentalists from across the Caribbean, United Nations Development Program Resident Representative Hans Geisler read the following tribute from the McFarlane Award certificate in Port of Spain, Trinidad, in November of 1999:
"I have known Ian Lambie ever since the 1960s," says Ed Towle, chair of Island Resources Foundation, "and he is truly one of the giants of the Caribbean environmental movement. It is an honor and a pleasure to present him with the 1999 Euan P. McFarlane Environmental Leadership Award."The $1,000 cash prize has been given annually since 1988 by Island Resources to individuals who have shown resourcefulness, initiative, and leadership in promoting conservation in the region.
Lambie, 66, was nominated for the prestigious honor by Trinidad's Asa Wright Nature Centre and Lodge (last year's ISLANDS Ecotourism Award winner), where he has worked for almost a quarter of a century.
But while his nomination cited the managerial skills and compassionate nature he's demonstrated at Asa Wright, the praises went back to 1956, when Lambie became a member of the Trinidad Field Naturalists‚ Club. "Membership increased substantially during the 20 years Lambie held office in the club," says Richard Quamina, of the Asa Wright center, "as did its interests and activities. Environmental conservation became a prime focus." Lambie became an advocate for environmental education and wise resource use. "
"It was Lambie, with two other club leaders, who in 1965 first alerted the public to the plight of nesting sea turtles on the beaches of Trinidad and Tobago," states Quamina. "He also was in the vanguard of the environmentalists demanding that the Shell Oil Company reroute a barge transporting liquified petroleum gas through the Caroni Swamp, an important wetland and home of the scarlet ibis.
But perhaps Lambie's greatest victory as an environmental champion has been the way in which he has always wielded his power quietly. He is the gentle giant of the Caribbean environmental movement."
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