Mr. Ainsley A. Henry’s career in environmental research and management extends more than 20 years and has mostly been in Jamaica. He holds a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) degree in Environmental Management and a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Botany/Zoology (Double Major) from the University of the West Indies (Mona campus) along with multiple certifications in related fields.
Prior to joining the Forestry Department, he served as Programme Manager for the highly successful, Climate Investment Fund/Inter-American Development Bank funded “Investment Plan for the Caribbean Regional Track of the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience (PPCR)” being implemented through the Mona Office for Research and Innovation at the UWI, Mona Campus. This programme is being executed across six Caribbean countries, namely Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Earlier in his career, he worked with both the Natural Resources Conservation Authority and the National Environment and Planning Agency (Government of Jamaica), in a variety of posts including as an Environmental Officer, a Manager and a Director.
His interest and training in forestry dates to his undergraduate studies where he not only did forestry courses, but he also focused heavily on wetlands, including mangrove forests and this continued into his graduate studies on the St Thomas Great Morass. He’s also published a number of papers on the subject matter including An Assessment of the Mangrove Forest in the Great Morass of St. Thomas and co-authored Heritage Protection, Ecological Sustainability and Economic Development... An unsustainable Trio?: A Brief Study of the Development of Falmouth Within the Context of the Cruise Ship Pier”.
Mr. Henry has held several board appointments, both internationally, including Vice-chair of the Ad-Hoc Working Group on Administrative Reform of the Ramsar Convention; Co-coordinator of the Caribbean (Ramsar) Regional Initiative on Wetlands (CaRIWet) and locally, including Council Member of the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals (JIEP) and multiple boards and committees of the GOJ.
He is a Scientific Diver/Trainer with the Jamaica Coral Reef Monitoring Network (JCRMN), a member of the Sea Turtle Recovery Network (STRN Jamaica), a member of the University of the West Indies Sub-Aqua Club (US-AC) and a Justice of the Peace and member of the St Andrew Justices of the Peace and Lay Magistrates Association.
Mr. Henry is an avid hiker, amateur cyclist and photographer and a certified scuba diver.