Director, Centre for Environmental Mgmt
The University of the West Indies Council has appointed Dr. David C. Smith as Director of The Centre for Environmental Management (CEM). His appointment takes effect from September 01, 2017. He replaces Professor Dale Webber.
Dr Smith is the current Coordinator of the Institute for Sustainable Development, under which the CEM is administered. He is an ecologist with almost 30 years’ experience in academia, civil society, the private sector and the United Nations. His areas of interest include establishing a climate of Sustainable Development in the Caribbean, building resilience among Small Island Developing States, Conservation, Energy, Climate Change, Environmental Financing, Communication and Disaster Risk Reduction. He is a Senior Fellow of the Synergos Institute.
Before joining the University of the West Indies, Dr Smith was the United Nations Assistant Resident Representative (Programme) in the Jamaica Office of UNDP where he was responsible for the Environment and Disaster Management programmme in the Jamaica, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands. Other responsibilities included Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Point and Disaster Focal Point, Office of the Coordinator on Humanitarian Affairs/United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (OCHA/UNDAC) and Focal Point and Deputy Chair for the UN Technical team on emergencies for Jamaica.
Dr Smith is the present Coordinator of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDSN) Caribbean. He is a member of the Independent Group of Scientists who prepared the UN Global Sustainable Development Report published in 2019.
Dr Smith has also served in both advisory and policy development roles on a number of local, regional and International organizations. He has authored several publication and technical reports.
He is a former Executive Director of the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT). During his tenure at JCDT, he managed a debt-for-nature swap and helped to establish the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica and the Jamaica National Parks Trust Fund. He has also worked on verification of Carbon emission reductions, several Environmental Assessments and was instrumental in the design and implementation of a Green Globe certified Environmental Management System in a major resort hotel in Jamaica. Dr Smith provided oversight to the development of Jamaica’s Protected Areas System Plan and contributed to the National Forestry Management Plan. He has also contributed to small business management and the design of environmental financing mechanisms in Jamaica, Uganda, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
