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John Mussington of Barbuda Receives Euan McFarlane Environmental Leadership Award for 2014
Island Resources Foundation Announces the 2014 Winner
of the Euan McFarlane Award for Environmental Leadership is
John Mussington of Barbuda
John Mussington, educator, marine biologist, social entrepreneur, and prominent environmental advocate was named today as the 24th annual recipient of the Euan McFarlane Environmental Leadership Award by regional environmental non-governmental organization, Island Resources Foundation. The award includes a certificate of appreciation and a cash award of $1,000 provided from a trust established by the late Laurance S. Rockefeller and administered by Island Resources Foundation. The announcement says, “This award recognizes the lifelong dedication and energy that drive Mussington’s multifaceted approach to and impact on environmental sustainability in Barbuda, as educator, innovator and aggressive environmental advocate for natural and historic artifacts on the small (1800 residents) island of Barbuda in the Eastern Caribbean.”
In addition to his direct teaching of environmental sciences and sustainable live styles as principal of Sir McChesney George Secondary School, Mussington is the founding director of the innovative Barbuda Research Complex, comprising an island children’s museum, the Barbuda Archeological Research Center, and the demonstration Barbuda Aquaponics Facility. He is a relentless advocate for controlled, sustainable development on an island with fragile ecosystems and low beach profiles, besieged by multiple threats from the multiple effects of global climate change.
On being notified of Euan McFarlane Award, John replied:
I was pleasantly surprised and feel very much honoured to be listed among so many great Caribbean advocates. It is indeed very encouraging that the work is recognized and valued. It is particularly timely in light of the onslaught that my island faces to its traditional land tenure system and resource use. We are at the point where 25 years of international grant-funded conservation work justifying the value of international treaties such as RAMSAR and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) could all be set back. This could greatly harm our lobbying efforts as small island developing states in negotiations for critically needed relief from climate change consequences.
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