CAROLINE MAIR-TOBY
Founder | Director
Caroline Mair-Toby is the founding Director for the Institute for Small Islands; an Attorney at Law, Mair and Company; and a Director at the Fondes Amandes Reforestation Community Project. Most recently, she was a legal advisor and negotiator with the Trinidad and Tobago delegation to COP27 Egypt 2022 and COP28 Dubai 2023. Caroline has been advising at the climate negotiations since 2011 with first FIELD and then LRI, facilitating legal and technical advice to Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and civil societies including Indigenous Peoples. She is working on climate justice and Indigenous rights issues around the world, including the Greater Caribbean (Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica), Kenya, Australia, Colombia. She read Caribbean, Indian and African postcolonial literature for her BA at the University of Pennsylvania; environmental and commercial law for her LLB at Queen Mary, University of London; and an environmental law and human rights for her LLM at City Law School, University of London (formerly the Inns of Court School of Law).
JUSTIN SOBION
Head | Rights of Nature and Biodiversity
Justin Sobion is a graduate of the Hugh Wooding Law School and was admitted to practise law in Trinidad and Tobago in 2002. In 2008, he was admitted to practise as a Barrister and a Solicitor in the Commonwealth of Dominica. He served as a Judge’s Research Assistant at the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago and as an Attorney at Law in private practice with J.D. Sellier & Co as well as in the Chambers of Reginald Armour S.C. As a diplomat, Justin functioned as the First Secretary to Trinidad and Tobago’s United Nations Mission in Geneva, and at the Office of the President of the UN Human Rights Council based in Geneva, Switzerland. He holds two Masters’ Degrees in International Law (Cape Town) and Environmental Law (Auckland) and is currently pursuing his PhD research at The University of Auckland, New Zealand. The focus of his research is on earth trusteeship, the rights of nature, and the legal responsibilities of states and citizens towards the planet. Based in New Zealand, Justin acts as the coordinator of the Earth Trusteeship Working Group which is a global think tank which promotes the concept of Earth trusteeship. He is also leading a Caribbean response to Vanuatu’s climate campaign for an Advisory Opinion at the International Court of Justice, in The Hague.
BRITNEY NURSE
Legal Assistant
Britney Gabrielle Nurse is an Attorney-at-Law called to the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago, with a passion for environmental law and climate activism. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, and recently attained her Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School. During her tenure as a student, she spearheaded the Caribbean Environmental Law Society whilst also pursuing her own personal grassroots movement called RenewTT. She has also consulted the Environmental Law department of the Legal Learners Group where she provided workshops on international environmental law, maritime law, and public international law.
ZAHRA BOXILL
Junior Marketing Director
Zahra Boxill is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, where she received her Bachelor of Laws. During her undergraduate studies, she undertook executive positions such as Public Relations Officer and Cultural, Entertainment and Activities Chairperson where she planned and executed a variety of events for all the halls across the university. Following this, she ventured to London to study for her Postgraduate Diploma in Management, with a concentration in marketing, at Birkbeck, University of London. While studying, she also worked on the Public Relations team at Shiseido Group UK Limited with NARS Cosmetics. Aside from her enthusiasm surrounding marketing and fuelling creativity, Zahra is passionate about human rights issues and a firm believer that, we as humans, are all responsible for the protection and development of the environment.
JOHANNE RYAN
Biodiversity Officer | Legal Assistant
Johanne Ryan is an Environmental Educator who worked for a decade at Asa Wright Nature Centre in Trinidad where she carried out conservation and education projects with a variety of stakeholders. She received an MSc.in Environmental Science and Management from the University of Trinidad and Tobago and a BSc. in Environmental and Natural Resource Management, and Biology from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. As someone who is passionate about the conservation of natural resources, Johanne thinks Stewart Udall put it best when he said “Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.” She believes that spending time in nature can improve our well-being and that everyone can find a spark within them to love the natural world.
RYAN O'CONNOR
Project Assistant | Podcast Manager
Ryan O’Connor is a graduate of Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, where he obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in English with a minor in Latin American/ Caribbean Studies. He began his work with the Institute in 2020 as an intern. Ryan's scholarly work was presented at the 2018 and 2019 Caribbean Studies Association Conferences in Cuba and Colombia respectively. He is very passionate about climate change and sustainability which has led him to volunteer his spare time at the Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project in Trinidad and Tobago. His other scholarly interests include postcolonialism, culture and literary analysis.
DANIELLE BART
Head | Business & Sustainable Development
Danielle Bart is an attorney with several years’ experience in private practice, counseling corporate, nonprofit, social service, advocacy, and individual clients through litigation, investigations, regulatory compliance, and policy matters.She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Carleton College, is trained in negotiation and facilitation, and has been a tutor for the Harvard Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program. Danielle also holds a Master’s Degree in Global & International Studies from the University of California, and worked at the former Center for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics, as well as the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. She is admitted to practice law in New York and Massachusetts.
DR ISIS SEMAJ-HALL
Head | Culture, Heritage and the Arts
Dr. Isis Semaj-Hall is a decolonial feminist and cultural analyst. Born in Jamaica and raised in New York City, Semaj-Hall earned her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MA and PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park. In real and digital spaces she bridges academic training with an intention to use words to open minds and eliminate access walls and glass ceilings. She is a co-founder and editor of "PREE: Caribbean Writing," the author of the “write pon di riddim” blog, and a digital disruptor using social media as a space for cultural and political debate. She has written essays and commentaries on a wide range of topics including identity, remix theory, Ishawna, dub, and dancehall. Since 2016 she has been a lecturer in the Department of Literatures in English at the University of the West Indies, Mona (Jamaica) where she explores gender, the creative digital, Caribbean literature, and popular culture.
DR. SHARDA PATESAR
Creative Director | Researcher
Dr. Sharda Patasar is a freelance musician, writer and researcher. Her main academic interests cover folk music cultures, religion and religious iconography. Her most notable work has been the study of the Ganesh Festival in Trinidad, published in the Journal of Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas (Brill, 2016) and Pichkaaree music published in the essay collection Shabd Aur Sangeet: Unravelling Song Texts in India (Three Essays Collective/Flame University, India, 2019). She has written columns on arts and culture for the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday and other local magazines. In 2020 she was selected as one of eighteen international writers to work on an online collaborative fiction project funded by Kulturbryggan, a Swedish Arts Council. Her work can be found on the online archive at https://bbu.world/ under her pseudonym Shruthi.
As a musician, she has given concerts at home and abroad. Her main musical work has been experimental in nature and she has worked collaboratively with various artists and writers to render music that converses with sound, light and words. She has also composed music for local films most notable among them Coolie Pink and Green (2009) and Voices of a Century: Interviews with East Indian Centenarians (2018). Her most recent work where she served as Co-Director/Producer was a documentary short, Sacred Spaces: Ganga Dhaara (2020) which was screened at the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival 2020. The film also earned Special Mention at the Global Shorts International Film Competition 2021.
DONNA BAGNALL
Indigenous Rights Lawyer
Donna Bagnall is a lawyer of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and is a qualified Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) with The Tax Institute (TTI). She was a Board member and Councillor of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) from 2018 to 2022.
She holds a Master of Sustainability and Climate Policy from Curtin University, Western Australia. Her Masters dissertation was on the intersection of native title law and Equity (rights and remedies) to create pathways for First Nations’ economic development on Country and multispecies justice. She also holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons I) and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Queensland, and postgraduate Accounting qualifications from the University of NSW.
Donna has both First Nations (Boolumbahtee/Manning River, Biripi Country) and ‘First Fleet’ ancestry, and she treasures Earth, our only home. Boolumbahtee means ‘place where the brolgas played’ in the Biripi peoples’ language. Donna is a strategic systems-thinker focused on addressing the planetary-scale polycrisis we are facing, with Earth on the brink of multiple inter-connected tipping points. Through her sustainability studies and work, she has become a ‘specialist generalist’ (a polymath) so as to view systems holistically, to draw connections, and to identify solutions at the intersection of multiple fields of knowledge. She is especially passionate about innovative climate change litigation and customary river law and does volunteer work on these topics.
Donna has co-authored several papers and articles with Professor Anne Poelina on the Martuwarra wild river’s right to life as an Ancestral Being (the Rainbow Serpent) under First Law of the traditional custodians in the Kimberley, WA. She has also co-authored a book with other First Nations Elders on legal plurality of First Law with western law in Australia to be published by Springer Nature USA in 2024.
Donna has 25 years’ experience as a specialist tax adviser in Big 4 professional services firms, and in technical, policy and advocacy roles. She has a special interest in green fiscal policy, including environmental taxes, market-based responses to mitigate climate change, and measures to encourage innovation, clean technology and sustainable development.
CHRISTIANNE ZAKOUR
Creative Director | Researcher
Christianne Zakour is a specialist in loss and damage and climate peace and security with extensive experience campaigning on behalf of small island developing states with a grassroots focus, and a writer on environmental matters. Christianne is an ambassador for the Caribbean Climate Justice Project, Caribbean representative for the Loss and Damage Youth Grantmaking Council, a project assistant with the Institute for Small Islands, and deputy Caribbean front coordinator for Worlds Youth For Climate Justice. Christianne holds an MSc. in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Sustainable Development from the University of the West Indies.