World Environment Week to be held at AIT
In observance of the World Environment Day, AIT will celebrate the event starting from June 6 to June 10, 2003.
Activities on June 6. 2003 will kick off at 10:00 a.m, with a tree planting ceremony led by Prof. Mario T. Tabucanon, Provost
At 1:00 p.m., program starts with an opening remarks by Prof. Mario T. Tabucanon, Provost. A lecture themed 'Water - Two Billion People are Dying for It' by Dr. Johan Verink, former GTZ-seconded EEM faculty and freelance consultant in water treatment will follow at 1:05 p.m.; a presentation by the AIT community at 1:30 p.m. Debate will heat up at 2:30 p.m. and results and prize distribution for Debate and Essay Competition will be announced by Prof. Gothom Arya, Registrar at 3:10 p.m. The day will be capped at 7:30 p.m. when the screening of movie 'Water World and/or Erin Brockovich' is shown.
On June 10, 2003 a seminar at 10:00 a.m. will be opened by Prof. Jean Louis Armand, AIT President. The seminar - with the theme entitled 'The Small-scale Water Providers and Achieving the MDGs in Asia' - is organized by Student Union Environment Committee (SU_EC), AIT, in partnership with UNEP, GWP-SEATAC, ADB and WSP- World Bank
At 10:10 a.m. a global message will be addressed by Mr. Tim Higham, Regional Information Officer, UNEP, Bangkok. At 10:20 a children's performance will be presented at the Environment Club, AIT Community School. The seminar continues at 10:40 when Mr. Richard Pollard, WSP-EAP, World Bank delivers his speech on the subject 'Water and the Rural Poor.' Mr. Graham S. Jackson, Senior Project Engineer, Mekong Regional Department, Asian Development Bank delivers his speech at 10:55 on the subject 'Water and the Urban Poor.'
The seminar aims to bring together a diverse group of people to participate in a theme-based seminar to commemorate the World Environment Day. The seminar shall be interactive and will have three
invited speakers from leading regional organizations in Asia concerned with delivering water supply to the poor.
About the Speakers
Mr. Tim Higham is a Regional Information Officer. He is responsible for communicating UNEP's mission and program to its key contact groups. Through effective dialogue with inter-government and government agencies, other UN offices, the private sector, NGOs, youth and the media, UNEP helps catalyze and coordinate responses to the environmental challenges facing the Asia-Pacific region.
Tim Higham is a New Zealander, who has worked in Bangkok as UNEP's Regional Information Officer for three years. He has postgraduate qualifications in botany and journalism, and worked as a field ecologist then newspaper reporter for over ten years with Government agencies in New Zealand.
Prior to joining UNEP, he was the first Corporate Relations Manager for Environment Canterbury, the largest regional council in New Zealand. Mr. Higham has received several national journalism prizes, including the New Zealand Media Peace Award for writing on cultural affairs.
Mr. Graham S. Jackson is a Senior Project Engineer with the Mekong Regional Department, Asian Development Bank.
Mr. Jackson is a Chartered Professional Engineer with the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and is also a member of the Australian Water and Wastewater Association. He has over 25 years experience in the fields of water and waste management, covering all aspects of policy formulation, strategic planning, feasibility, financing and implementation. Around 13 years of this time, he has spent in developing countries, and over the last 7 years, Mr. Jackson has been with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) working on project development and sector studies in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Lao PDR, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam. He is currently based at the ADB's special projects administration mission in Bangkok
Mr. Richard Pollard is the Regional Team Leader for the World Bank Water and Sanitation Program's activities in East Asia and the Pacific. He manages, from the WSP-EAP regional office in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Program's operations in
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, and Vietnam along with intermittent technical assistance initiatives in other parts of the region. He has worked
in the water supply and sanitation sector for more than 20 years, primarily in rural water supply and sanitation project design and management, sector policy
reform, strategic planning, and community-based urban sanitation. Mr. Pollard's geographic experience includes Eastern and Southern Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. Resident in Indonesia since 1992, Mr. Pollard holds a M.Sc. degree in Water Resources Management from the University of Wisconsin, USA