We are delighted to announce a new joint venture is shortly to be finalised with our partners the Protected Areas Collaboration for Learning & Research (PAC) and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy.
The collaboration brings together organisations, experts and practitioners dedicated to growing tertiary and vocational education, research and peer-to-peer learning for enhanced natural and cultural heritage protection, stewardship and effective conservation management and capacity development for protected areas in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.
Dr. Rosalie Chapple, the Institute’s Education program leader, facilitated the partnership agreement for BMWHI.
“The Protected Areas Collaboration advances the mission of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute to deliver strategic and responsive programs that build capacity and leadership in conservation.
These programs will approach conservation challenges as problems to solve together, in respectful and inclusive ways, recognising the importance of different types of knowledge and learning approaches.
Importantly, the Collaboration is based on partnerships that can broaden and deepen our collective understanding and help drive innovation in protected area conservation regionally.”
Rosalie will play a key role in the ongoing development of the joint venture, working with the Collaboration to develop new short courses relevant to protected area management, based on findings of her March 2019 report on Protected Area Short Courses in Australia, Asia and the Pacific: training issues, needs and recommendations.
Courses being scoped include: an Australian leadership program that focuses on inclusive collaborative partnerships for whole-of-landscape management; building cross-cultural knowledge exchange that is based on ethical and equitable integration of Indigenous knowledge systems with western scientific approaches to conservation; and, supporting the establishment and management of protected areas in Melanesia, based on successful delivery of a program in 2020 in Papua new Guinea.
Rosalie and PAC would love to hear from you if you want to be involved in any way, or have any proposals for short courses or about the initiatives above. Please contact Rosalie Chapple at r.chapple@bmwhi.org.au
Call for regional representatives
The transition to the joint venture has created an opportunity for PAC to rejuvenate its governance structure and arrangements. In doing this, we thank those people who have served on the previous Steering Group and its academic Academic Programs Committee and Stakeholders Advisory Committee, who are acknowledged on the PAC Governance webpage.
A new governing Executive Council is being established along with two revitalised committees: an Academic Programs Committee and a Protected Areas Practitioners Committee.
This is where you come in.
PAC is seeking broad regional representation for our Executive Council and committee membership from across Asia, the Pacific and Australia.
PAC is looking for capable and committed experts and practitioners in protected area management who are willing and able to commit to attending meetings and to meaningfully contribute to advancing the collaboration’s purpose.
Applications for membership to either committee, or the Executive Council close midnight AEST 1st November 2020.
Please visit https://www.palrc.com/governance - to learn more and download the expression of interest form.
If you would like to nominate another person for chair or membership please notify and encourage that person, and also advise info@palrc.com