[CDU eNews] - MAKING A PROFIT WHILE SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT

[Peter.Hurt at cdu.edu.au]

Make a profit and save the environment, too

Students, many from overseas, are learning how to make a profit while
saving the environment in a new short course at Charles Darwin University.

The course is being held at the university's School for Environmental
Research in cooperation with the Centre for International Forestry Research
(CIFOR).

A free public seminar sponsored by CDU, CIFOR and AusAID will also be held
this month featuring four experts - two local and two international - in
this field.

Professor Bruce Campbell, director of the School for Environmental Studies,
said today: "With poverty and environmental degradation squarely on the
world political agenda, there is a great need for programs designed to help
people live in a sustainable way in their environment.

"Some believe that a zero human impact approach is the only way to protect
forests and other natural places, but in many countries around the world,
people are dependent on the resources that these provide and this approach
does not work.

"This course will teach the best ways to build sustainable businesses based
on natural resources that produce win-win situations for both people and
the environment."

Twenty-five people from six countries have registered for the course,
Conservation and Business: Natural Resource Based Enterprises and Local
Livelihoods, which began yesterday (Monday) and runs until May 20. It is
being taken by Dr Tony Cunningham of People and Plants International.

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Crawford
Fund funded scholarships for five students from Indonesia, Cambodia and
East Timor, all of whom work directly with communities to improve
livelihoods.

The course is one of three new short courses coordinated by Professor
Campbell this year. One was held in Ethiopia last month. A third will be
held in Brisbane in August, as part of the International Union of Forestry
Organisation 2005 World Congress. Topics being addressed in all three
courses include joint management of natural resources and grassroots
approaches to conservation and development.

Guest speakers at the public seminar, on May 17 and 18, will be Jenne de
Beer of Non Timber Forest Product Network, Southeast Asia and Gus Le Breton
of Phytotrade Africa, who have both assisted communities around the globe
in developing successful businesses.  Australian experts Grahame Webb of
Wildlife Management International and Dr Peter Whitehead of the Department
of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, will present local issues and
success stories.

Professor Campbell and Dr Cunningham are available for interview
The guest speakers will be available for interview from 16 May.


Peter Hurt
Media Manager
Charles Darwin University
Tel: 08 8946 6019 or 0438 466 439

CRICOS Provider No: 00300K