Pedro Antonio Gelabert (born 1933 in

Arecibo, Puerto Rico Arecibo (; ) is a city and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta and Florida. It is about west of San Juan, the ...

), graduated from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Gelabert served as Secretary of the

Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico tasked with protecting, conserving, developing, and managing the natural and environmental resources in Puert ...

from 1993 to 1996 during the governorship of Pedro Rosselló, and as Chairman of the

Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board The Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board —Spanish: ''Junta de Calidad Ambiental de Puerto Rico'' (JCA)— is the principal environmental protection regulator in Puerto Rico. The Board is attached to the Office of the Governor of Puer ...

from 1977 to 1984 during the governorship of Carlos Romero Barceló. A geologist, Gelabert also served as Director of the Caribbean Office for the United States Environmental Protection Agency from 1985 to 1992. At the federal level, he has been a part of the United States delegation to the

Summit of the Americas The Summit of the Americas (SOA) is an international summit meeting that brings together the leaders of countries in the Organization of American States (OAS). Cuba was expelled from the OAS under pressure from the United States after the Cuban Re ...

, as well as the meetings to develop the Action Plan of the Wider Caribbean Region of the United Nations Environmental Program, or UNEP. On behalf of the United States of America, he was a signatory at the 1983

Cartagena Convention The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity is an international agreement on biosafety as a supplement to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) effective since 2003. The Biosafety Protocol seeks to prote ...

of the Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment for the Wider Caribbean Region. He is currently a member of the State Committee of Epscor-Puerto Rico.

Honors and Recognitions

During a 50-year-plus career helping protect the environment, Mr. Gelabert has received: -the Environmental Citizen of the Millennium Award by the

(1999) -the Environmental Award for Outstanding Service by the Institute of Engineers, Architects and Surveyors of the Dominican Republic (2002) -the

Dixy Lee Ray Dixy Lee Ray (September 3, 1914 – January 2, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 17th governor of Washington from 1977 to 1981. Variously described as idiosyncratic and "ridiculously smart," she was the state's first female gover ...

Award by the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

(2004) -the Gold Medal for Exceptional Service from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gelabert, Pedro A. 1933 births Living people Puerto Rican scientists People from Arecibo, Puerto Rico People of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Secretaries of Natural and Environmental Resources of Puerto Rico Tulane University alumni