By Ishmael Dumbuya
Early life and Education
Dr. Saa Henry Kabuta is an indigene of Kono District in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Dr. Kabuta holds a Bachelor of Science degree with honors (B.Sc. hons) from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, a Master of Science degree (M.Sc.) from University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands and a PhD from the University of Phoenix, Arizona, United States Of America.
Dr. Kabuta is a Scientist, who is hard-working, goal-oriented, a critical thinker, tolerant, affable, professional and result-oriented.
Career
Dr. Kabuta is an environmental scientist. He is currently a senior adviser and specialist in The Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment where he has worked for more than 20 years. His interest in Environment includes the assessment of risks and impacts from climate change and anthropogenic activities on ecosystem structures and functions.
These considerations make him one of the leading experts in the assessment of climate change related impacts on human community structures and related socio-economic elements, including changes in water quality and quantity, alterations in the supporting elements for sustainable nature conservation options while fostering the development of sustainable human and natural resources and services in the main areas of energy production, food production, water, and infrastructure for communications and transportation.
Dr. Saa Henry Kabuta is chairman of the Foundation for the Development of Sierra Leone (FDSL) and the coordinator for the Kono Descendants Development Association (KDDA) project called EIWEA (Environment Infrastructure, Water, Energy and Agriculture).
Dr. Kabuta’s expertise in Water policy development and climate change issues in the Netherlands is marked by the successful program leadership to develop Ecological Indicators for the assessment of the effects diverse Management and Policies measures for the North Sea ecosystem. He served on the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP-expert team) to develop indicators to assess the level of application of the underlying principles of the Biodiversity Convention as part of the management efforts for Coastal Zones across the world.
His expertise in environmental and social sciences contributed to Dr. Kabuta’s ability to efficiently and effectively coordinate and to manage critical knowledge for the successful implementation of the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (EU-MSFD) in the Netherlands (2010-2016). Relevant efforts to avoid and or to mitigate the possible risks and impacts of the EU-MSFD policy based on the prevailing national policies and international agreements were described with subsequent measures for mitigation.
His Work
Dr. Kabuta worked at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management in the Netherlands as Senior Expert and Adviser/Specialist. He was the Chair and Head of Delegations to EU-JRC, OSPAR, JTG OSPAR-HELCOM, Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). He was a senior expert at Water Framework Directive(WFD) , Ballast Water, Sediment Management convention (BWM), Trilateral Wadden Sea Strategy for Alien species management , Joint HELCOM/OSPAR Task Group for exemptions from BWM convention and Ecological effect management of Wind Mills at Sea.
He also was the Head of Delegations, Chair of relevant expert groups (Ballast water, Biofouling, EU-MSFD (D2), Trilateral Wadden Sea Alien species Expert Group between 2012 -2016.
He also worked at, Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment Occupation Rijkswaterstaat, the Netherlands as a Senior Expert and Adviser/Specialist on water quality and Environmental management. Between 2008-2011, he worked as Senior expert and advisor/specialist in Marine Water quality management, the Netherlands, and between 2007-2008, as Advisor /Specialist and Project leadership. Between 1984 – 1986, he served as the Head of Departmnet in the Fisheries Pilot Project Tombo, Ministry of Marine Resources, Sierra Leone.
And finally, he worked at the University of Amsterdam, Tropical Institute of Medicine in the Netherlands between 1990 –1996 as Research Assisstant in Medical Microbiology.
Integrity
Based on his work and expertise, Dr. Kabuta is a very seasoned expert and has worked in several international capacities, and demonstrated utmost professionalism, and possesses over 3 decades of experience in Marine, Scientific and administrative work.
