FLORIDA – Haitian national and Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) Project Manager, Anderson Jean has been chosen as the 2022 Bright Award Winner through Stanford Law School, California.
The Bright Award is given annually to an individual who has “made significant contributions in the environmental preservation and sustainability area.” The winner is selected each year from one of ten rotating regions worldwide based on recommendations from regional consultants and a nominating committee comprised of Stanford Law School faculty, students, and others. Jean will formally receive the award in a ceremony in May 2023, which marks the tenth year of Stanford’s prestigious environmental prize.
Jean works for EPIC as the Haiti Project Manager for the Black-capped Petrel Conservation Program. He is also the co-founder of the leading Haitian conservation organization Action pour la Sauvegarde de l’Ecologie en Haiti (ACSEH) which translates loosely to “actions saving Haitian ecology.” Jean’s work focuses on the endangered Black-capped Petrel seabird that is only known to nest on the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola. Its numbers have been drastically reduced over the past 50 years, with current numbers at less than 2,000 individuals. To combat the threats which have caused the decline of the species, several conservation efforts have been implemented.
Jean, and other partners, were on the team that first confirmed the continuing presence of Black-capped Petrels on Hispaniola in 2006. He followed up on that work by studying the nesting success of Black-capped Petrels in La Visite National Park from 2018 to the present. More recently, Jean co-authored a children’s activity book about Black-capped Petrels in Kreyol, and he regularly visits classrooms to teach children about Petrels and their role in the watershed. Jean also works alongside sustainable agricultural groups in Haiti to offset the human impacts to forests. He has collaborated with numerous other partner organizations in creating a conservation strategy in areas where humans and petrels overlap on Hispaniola.
In a recent interview with Stanford about winning the award, Jean said “My dream is to make people understand the biological richness of this country…and how we can make things better for Haiti.”
Conservation in Haiti is a collaborative effort and international partners have worked together including ACSEH (Haiti), EPIC (USA), Societe Audubon Haiti (Haiti), Grupo Jaragua (Dominican Republic), American Bird Conservancy (USA), BirdsCaribbean (USA), Philadelphia Zoo (USA) and Soulcraft Allstars Films (USA).
