{{short description|Belizean biologist}} {{Infobox person | name = Janet Gibson | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | monuments = | other_names = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Biologist and zoologist | years_active = | employer = | organization = Belize Wildlife Conservation Society | agent = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | television = | spouse = | partner = | children = | father = | relatives = | awards = Goldman Environmental Prize (1990) }} '''Janet Patricia Gibson''' is a biologist and zoologist from Belize. She was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1990 for her efforts on conservation of the marine ecosystems along the Belizean coast, in particular the barrier reef system. The Belize Barrier Reef was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 1996, through efforts of Gibson and others. She is the current director of the Belize Wildlife Conservation Society.
==Biography== thumb|Hol Chan Marine Reserve Janet Gibson was born in Belize and educated in the United States{{sfn|Woodard|2001|p=142}} as a biologist and zoologist. In the mid-1980s she began working as a volunteer for the Belize Audubon Society. Between 1985 and 1987, she worked to establish the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, campaigning with citizens, businesses, fishermen, and the government of Belize for a protected reserve and educating them on the need for the project. She developed a management plan, worked to secure financing and drove the project forward.<ref name=goldman>{{cite web |url=http://goldmanprize.org/node/104 |title=Janet Gibson |publisher=Goldman Environmental Prize |access-date=9 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426082230/http://www.goldmanprize.org/node/104 |archive-date=26 April 2009 }}</ref> Her efforts were successful and the official sanctuary was established in 1987<ref name="Ambergris Caye">{{cite web|last1=Auxillou|first1=Ray|title=Hol Chan Marine Reserve|url=http://ambergriscaye.com/holchan/index.html|publisher=Ambergris Caye|access-date=6 September 2015|location=San Pedro Town, Belize}}</ref> and was the first reserve of its kind in Central America.<ref name=goldman /> The reserve covers around three square miles and is a protected zone, allowing fish which had previously been depleted to regenerate and providing a variety of fish for divers to encounter.<ref name="Ambergris Caye" /> In 1990 she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts of conservation of the barrier reef system.<ref name=goldman />
In 1988, she prepared the ''Glover's Reef Atoll Draft Management Plan''<ref name="Encyclopedia of Earth">{{cite web|editor1-last=Clough|editor1-first=Langdon D.|author1=United Nations Environment Programme-World Conservation Monitoring Centre|title=Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, Belize|url=http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/150471/|website=Encyclopedia of Earth|access-date=6 September 2015|date=22 June 2009}}</ref> and began efforts to secure reserve status for Glover's Reef as well.<ref name=goldman /> In 1990, she helped establish a Coastal Zone Management Unit as part of the Fisheries department.<ref name="Coastal Zone Management Project">{{cite web|last1=Wells|first1=Sue|title=Coastal Zone Management Project|url=http://ambergriscaye.com/reefbriefs/briefs8.html|publisher=Ambergris Caye|access-date=6 September 2015|location=San Pedro, Belize}}</ref> Gibson joined the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and in 1993, their efforts, along with other organizations' support gained a designation as a protected reserve for Belize.<ref name="Glover's Reef">{{cite web|title=WCS at the forefront of Marine Conservation in Belize|url=http://programs.wcs.org/gloversreef/AboutGloversReef.aspx|publisher=Wildlife Conservation Society|access-date=6 September 2015|location=Belize City, Belize}}</ref> Gibson and others working in environmental protection began to realize that individual protection was insufficient as without a management approach that protected the entire barrier zone, external forces, like algae blooms spawned from fruit plantation waste, overfishing in other areas causing collateral damage, or sedimentation caused by development, were having detrimental impacts.{{sfn|Woodard|2001|pp=142-143}} Working with water management agencies, forestry representatives, other environmental groups and citizens, in 1993 a plan was adopted to formalize protection of the reef as a natural World Heritage Site in a serial nomination. After several years of planning and work, the designation was granted by UNESCO in November 1996.<ref name=UNESCO>{{cite journal|last1=Gibson|first1=Janet|title=The Belize Barrier Reef: a World Heritage Site}} produced in {{cite journal|editor1-last=Pauly|editor1-first=D|title=Too Precious to Drill: the Marine Biodiversity of Belize|journal=Palomares, M.L.D.|date=2011|volume=19|issue=6|pages=8–13|publisher=Fisheries Centre Research Reports|location=University of British Columbia|issn=1198-6727}}</ref> Gibson is the director of the Belize Wildlife Conservation Society<ref name=goldman /> and has published numerous scientific works.
==Selected works== *{{cite book|last1=Gibson|first1=Janet|title=The coral reef|date=1986|publisher=Reef Preservation Fund|location=Belize|oclc=713021823}} *{{cite book|last1=Gibson|first1=J. P.|last2=Price|first2=Andrew|last3=Young|first3=E. R.|last4=World Conservation Monitoring Centre|title=Guidelines for Developing a Coastal Zone Management Plan for Belize: The GIS Database|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=86-LUYsUm5UC|date=1993|publisher=IUCN|isbn=978-2-8317-0156-1}} *{{cite journal|last1=Gibson|first1=Janet|last2=McField|first2=Melanie D.|last3=Wells|first3=Sue|title=Coral reef management in Belize: an approach through Integrated Coastal Zone Management|journal=Ocean & Coastal Management|date=1998|volume=39|issue=3|pages=229–244|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222496609|publisher=ElSevier Science Ltd.|doi=10.1016/s0964-5691(98)00007-6}} *{{cite journal|last1=Gibson|first1=Janet|last2=Lizama|first2=Dominique|last3=Pomeroy |first3=Robert |title=Establishing a Socioeconomic Monitoring Program for Glover's Reef Atoll, Belize|date=2005|url=http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/cermes/docs/technical_reports/mcconney_2006_corecomp_governance_co_management_ce.aspx|publisher=Wildlife Conservation Society|location=Belize City, Belize}} *{{cite journal|last1=Gibson|first1=Janet |display-authors=etal |title=A Simple, Cost-Effective Method for Involving Stakeholders in Spatial Assessments of Threats to Biodiversity|journal=Human Dimensions of Wildlife|volume=11|pages=43–54|date=2006|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261557781|publisher=Routledge Taylor & Francis Group|doi=10.1080/10871200500470993|s2cid=145511983 }} *{{cite journal|last1=Gibson|first1=Janet P. |display-authors=etal |title=Fishing down a Caribbean food web relaxes trophic cascades|journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series|volume=445|pages=13–24|date=2012|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237145261|publisher=Marine Spatial Ecology Lab|location=University of Exeter, Exeter, UK|doi=10.3354/meps09450|bibcode=2012MEPS..445...13M |doi-access=free|hdl=1834/36173|hdl-access=free}} *{{cite journal|last1=Babcock|first1=Elizabeth A.|last2=Coleman|first2=Robin|last3=Karnauskas|first3=Mandy|last4=Gibson|first4=Janet| title=Length–based indicators of fishery and ecosystem status: Glover's Reef Marine Reserve, Belize|journal=Fisheries Research|date=2013|volume=147|pages=434–445|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260407341|publisher=ElSevier Science Ltd.|doi=10.1016/j.fishres.2013.03.011}} *{{cite magazine|last1=Groosman|first1=Britt|last2=Gibson|first2=Janet|title=European Union Fisheries Ban Ignores Belize Conservation Success Story|url=http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2014/03/14/european-union-fisheries-ban-ignores-belize-conservation-success-story/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026164314/http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2014/03/14/european-union-fisheries-ban-ignores-belize-conservation-success-story/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 26, 2014|access-date=6 September 2015|magazine=National Geographic|date=14 March 2014}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *{{cite book|last=Woodard|first=Colin|title=Ocean's End: Travels Through Endangered Seas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsVeUi_XbF4C&pg=PA142|date=2001|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-01571-9}}
==External links== *{{Commonscatinline|Janet Gibson}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Janet}} Category:Belizean biologists Category:Belizean environmentalists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Belizean women Category:Women biologists Category:20th-century zoologists Category:20th-century women biologists Category:21st-century biologists Category:Women zoologists Category:Goldman Environmental Prize awardees