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Heroes of Reparatory Justice and Nobel Laureates

Professor Anthony Chen, Professor Leonard Nurse & Professor John Agard

“...in spite of all the mitigation and adaptation measures we implement, our fate still lies in the hands of the developed, industrialized north and other high emitters” (MyvueNews, 2018, para.

The Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former Vice President of the United States of America, Al Gore in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 2007. The three lecturers from The University of the West Indies (UWI) - Professor Anthony Chen, Dr. Leonard Nurse, and Professor John Agard—were recognized for their critical contributions to the IPCC's work. Specifically, they were part of the Working Groups of AR4, the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report.

Societal Impact

Their scientific contributions were essential in generating information “…to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change. This highlights their foundational role in the scientific basis for climate action.

Reparations Hero and Societal Impact

The work of Chen, Nurse and Agard supports reparations work as their advocacy directly address the disproportionate impact of climate change on Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The IPCC report they contributed to specifically stressed that SIDS will "…bear the brunt of the temperature fallout".

Policy and Security

Chen, Agard and Nurse elevated climate science from an academic sphere to a matter of regional policy and human security – making it of global importance. With the Nobel Prize, there was an attempt to create a "sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world’s future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind".

Journey to the Nobel Peace Prize

  • Members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
  • Prof. Chen founded the Climate Studies Group at The UWI Mona
  • Worked on the physical science basis of climate change with an emphasis on its implications with the rise in sea levels and the increased hurricanes in the Caribbean
  • Dr. Nurse’s work highlighted the vulnerabilities of coastal regions, based on human activity, especially for Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
  • Dr. Nurse’s research surrounded the challenges faced by the Caribbean and other small islands
  • Prof. Agard led the research and publication for IPCC’s Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) for the IPCC
  • Prof. Agard’s work demonstrated that the degradation of ecosystems and loss of flora and fauna magnify the impact of climate change on SIDS
  • IPCC AR4 proposed concrete pathways to action, e.g. cutting emissions, target less than 2 degrees Celsius
  • Focus on actionable policy and the protection of vulnerable nations makes their work particularly relevant to the theme of societal impact and justice.