BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The government of Barbados is mourning the death of the island’s special envoy on the environment , Dr Hugh Sealy.

“News of the passing of Dr Hugh Sealy, with whom I have maintained a very close friendship since the days we attended primary school together, has left me in a state of shock,” said Prime minister Mia Mottley in a statement on Saturday. 

“I have lost a true friend and trusted advisor, and Barbados, the region and small island developing states across the globe have lost one of their most passionate and qualified defenders when it comes to the environment and the impact of climate change on the earth’s ability to sustain its people.”

Mottley said that most Barbadians do not know and probably never will truly know the extent to which Sealy dedicated his training, expertise and energy to protect the country and the development of its people.

“In fact, when we won the Government and one of the most urgent challenges facing the country was the leaking South Coast Sewerage System, we asked Dr Sealy to return home from Grenada, where he was teaching at St George’s University, and assist us. He did so willingly, in the interest of his country.”

The prime minister said that for several years, Sealy advised governments on the protection and safe exploitation of scarce potable water resources. 

She recalled that he went  beyond the call of duty “to advise on how we should treat the run-off of rainwater from our lands into the sea, carrying with it pesticides and other pollutants onto the reefs, in the process destroying them.”

Sealy, who was born in Canada, maintained his Canadian citizenship — but according to Mottley “every ounce of his being was Barbadian — every thought from his mind was about making a better Barbados for Barbadians. Until his death, he was this government’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, but he also distinguished himself with his negotiating skills on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) nations in the most critical global climate-related discussions of recent times.”

“It is truly heartbreaking to think that someone with so much left to contribute to the betterment of mankind has let us so soon, but I am comforted that in just six decades on this earth he has contributed much more than his fair share. He did not shortchange his fellow man and for that, I will miss him immensely.”

“To his children, sisters, his students and colleagues at the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, consulting partners and grieving colleagues in the engineering profession, I extend heartfelt sympathy on behalf of the government and people of Barbados.”