Joy Grant

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Audrey Joy Grant (born 1951 British Honduras) is a Belizean Senator and the head of the Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology, and Public Utilities. After beginning her career in economic development projects, she became an environmental conservationist and developed numerous projects throughout the Caribbean region to protect forests and marine life.

Biography

Audrey Joy Grant was born on 5 February 1951[1] in Belize City, British Honduras. After attending high school in Belize City, she worked for a year at Barclay’s Bank and then moved to Canada for university studies. She earned an undergraduate degree in commerce[2] and a Master of Business Administration in International Finance from the University of Alberta, Canada.[3] Grant moved to Barbados, where she worked on economic development projects for thirteen countries from throughout the Caribbean at the Caribbean Development Bank. After eight years, she relocated to Washington, DC and began working at the Belize Embassy.[2]

In 1989, Grant returned to Belize to spearhead a conservation project funded by the Massachusetts Audubon Society[4] with help from the Nature Conservancy and US scientists. The project, Programme for Belize was a co-founded by Grant and she became its first executive director[5] acquiring over 300,000 acres (4% of Belize's land mass) of tropical rain forest as reserve for the project.[3] At the time, conservation programs were in their infancy and she won two different sustainability certifications for her program of ecoforestry of Belizean mahogany.[2] After over a decade with Programme for Belize,[6] in 2001, Grant became Vice President and Managing Director of the Atlantic Conservation Region of the The Nature Conservancy. She oversaw conservation efforts in twenty of the eastern states of the US and 10 Central American and Caribbean countries,[1] and in 2003 launched an effort to create a program which encompassed the Caribbean marine basin from Cuba to Venezuela.[2] Leaving the Nature Conservancy in 2005, she began working as a senior director for the Natural Capital Project. In 2008,[1] she was appointed as Ambassador Exemplary and Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Belize, Brussels, Belgium;[7] Ambassador Designate to the Kingdom of Spain and to the Netherlands, Germany, and France; and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the European Commission, which she continued until 2012. Grant was appointed to the committee to design the United Nation's Green Climate Fund in 2011.[1]

In 2012, Grant was appointed as a Belizean Senator by Prime Minister Dean Barrow[8] and appointed as the first[3] Minister of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities.[9] The new ministry's goals were to develop a sustainable development plan[10] by integrating policy and regulatory laws on energy, science and technology into national decision making processes.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Nomination of Members of the Transitional Committee for the Design of the Green Climate Fund" (PDF). New York, New York: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 13 April 2011. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Knight, Deborah (11 March 2003). "A conservation pioneer from Belize joins forces with the Nature Conservancy". Seattle, Washington: Grist. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d "Senator, The Honourable Audrey Joy Grant". Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities. Belmopan, Belize: Government of Belize. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Programme for Belize". Halesworth, Suffolk, UK: World Land Trust. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  5. ^ Anne Sutherland (1 January 1998). The Making of Belize: Globalization in the Margins. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 103–. ISBN 978-0-89789-579-8.
  6. ^ "Programme for Belize celebrates tenth anniversary | Channel5Belize.com". channel5belize.com.
  7. ^ IBP, Inc (3 March 2012). Belgium Country Study Guide Volume 1 Strategic Information and Developments. Lulu.com. pp. 242–. ISBN 978-1-4387-7392-6.
  8. ^ "PM Names High Powered Senators To New Cabinet". Belize City, Belize: 7 News Belize. 13 March 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  9. ^ John Martino (2013). Worldwide Government Directory with Intergovernmental Organizations 2013. CQ Press. pp. 170–. ISBN 978-1-4522-9937-2.
  10. ^ "Belize Sustainable Energy Strategy". Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
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