Summer 2016 Alumni Newsletter
  

Dear Alumni of the ELP... DavidZilberman
I am really excited as we approach our 16th summer program. Every year we modify the program to incorporate some of the new knowledge we obtain and new direction of 
research being developed at Berkeley.  This year, we will have more emphasis on supply chain, innovation and the environment. Supply chain sounds like a technical term, but it really means the organizational structure through which new products or services are being distributed and move from the origin to the final user. We may speak of a supply chain for tomatoes, wine, or environmental services. As you know, I have been doing a lot research on innovation, especially with water and Integrated Pest Management. I realized that once you have an innovation, the next step is to design a great supply chain. 
In This Issue:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ELP Alumni Updates
Salem Afeworki (ELP 2014) was awarded the Emergent Leadership Award 2016 from Urban Land Institute (ULI) in the Engineering category. Each year the Young Leaders Group of the ULI Orange County/Inland Empire (California, USA) district council celebrates young leaders with the Emergent Leadership Awards. The awards were established to recognize exemplary motivated, dedicated, and inventive emerging real estate professionals who have demonstrated dedication to bettering themselves and their industry in the previous year. The YLG feel it is important to highlight the most outstanding local emerging leaders whose contributions to their company and ULI make it clear that they lead by example. 

Congratulations Salem!
International Economic Tools for Conservation

Recruitment for Conservation Strategy Fund's annual International  Economic Tools for Conservation course  is in full swing. This year's course will be held  July 25th - August 5th, 2016  at the University of California Berkeley as part of our new partnership with the College of Natural Resources' International and Executive programs (IEP).

We would greatly appreciate it if you could share this opportunity with your network. 

CSF's Economic Tools courses are regarded as the premier training event in applied economics for environmental professionals from around the world. During the two-week session, participants learn to use economics to be more successful in their work, and experience a transformational shift in how they view environmental issues. 98% of course graduates say the course changed the way they approach conservation issues, and 100% say they would recommend it to a colleague. 



Please con tact  niki@conservation-strategy.org  if you have any questions or would like additional information.  MioOwens
A Busy Summer for the IEP
by Mio Katayama Owens
 
The 2016 ELP is just around the corner. My team and I are tying all the loose ends of the program as I type this: confirming speakers, instructors and panelists; checking the venues and equipment; and finalizing the field trip itineraries. When the new cohort arrives in Berkeley later this week, we will be ready for a big adventure together. For those of you who participated in the program and those that are interested in learning about where we are, I thought I'd share some of the highlights of this year's program. 
Beahrs ELP: More Than Just a Job
by Megan Otsuka
 
Ever since I turned 16, the legal working age in the US, I've had a job. Whether that was folding clothes at a retail store, tutoring and nannying children in my neighborhood, or selling pies at a local cafe, I was always busy. When I was making the transition into my freshman year at UC Berkeley, multiple people advised me not to get a job. The college schedule, they told me, would be so much work and I should just focus on studying. I listened for the first month. But with all my extra free time, I soon got bored.
by Dr. Noureddin Driouech (ELP 2012), Italy
My experience with the ELP program has resulted in career advancement to a highly responsible and technically challenging position. The caliber of fellow and worldwide participants in the program far exceeded my expectations. The program was a great platform gathering representatives of international institutions, organizations, academia, universities, agencies and NGOs. Faculty, researchers, agronomists, agri-food experts, forestry and wildlife biologists, conservation scientists, policy makers, managers, executive directors, economists and social scientists, practitioners, entrepreneurs and almost every other discipline in-between, come together to create an eclectic group that yields thought-provoking discussions, debate and an incredible network of colleagues and genuine friends.
Empowering the Nigerian Girl-child
by Binta Iliyasu (ELP 2015), Nigeria
I returned from ELP 2015 with great enthusiasm and determination to make a difference. I am taking on the challenge in Northern Nigeria, advocating for female youth education and women's participation in Agricultural Research and Development.

I began by conducting a Role Modelling Event at the Government Girls Secondary School Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria. I used my story to share my personal career journey as a Hausa girl, just like those at the Government Girls Secondary School.
Malnutrition: an endless battle in Madagascar
by Hervet Randriamady (ELP 2015), Madagascar
 
Malnutrition has always been a major public health concern in Madagascar. This month (May 2016), the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highlighted it during his speech  to the members of the Malagasy parliament. He commented on how, alarmingly, malnutrition costs the country more than a billion and a half dollars each year - while also saying that "the human toll is immeasurable". According to the World Food Program, Madagascar is ranked fourth worldwide for having the highest rate of chronic malnutrition, which impacts roughly 50% of all children under five.
by Salem Afeworki (ELP 2014), Chile
Applying sustainability in infrastructure projects is the most important yet the least understood concern of our time. In the United States, transportation is the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after buildings and it is clear that the impact of climate change will bring more stresses on infrastructure in the near future.
by Claudia Havranek (ELP 2014), UK
With less than a month to go before the EU referendum in the UK, the impacts of the UK leaving the EU are being widely debated. The UK is gripped with a feverish obsession to dissect every aspect of EU membership, however it is likely that BREXIT (the UK leaving the EU) will have global implications. One area which would be significantly affected is the environment.
by Denis Sonwa (ELP 2010), Cameroon
As leadership transfers from the US to the EU, what lies ahead for the Congo Basin Forest Partnership?

During the first term of the U.S. leadership of the newly created Congo Basin Forest Partnership  (CBFP) from 2003 to 2005, the foundations were set for the institutions to play an important role in the management of forests and natural resources in Central Africa.

Established by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in Johannesburg in 2002, the CBFP has worked for more than a decade to create strong institutions and policies in Central Africa in order to address climate change impacts and threats to biodiversity.
by Bernis Cunningham (ELP 2015), Nicaragua
One of the main environmental problems of Nicaragua in this moment is deforestation. This problem is inflicted by the uncontrolled advance of extensive livestock farming, unsustainable agriculture and population growth. Nicaragua's economy revolves around agriculture and cattle raising. The extractive economic model and the population growth of recent years is causing the destruction of the last natural reserves of the country
by Huyen Do Thi Thanh (ELP 2014), Vietnam
Wildlife At Risk (WAR), cooperating with Dong Nai Culture Nature Reserve, organized a training course entitled "Environmental Educations for National Parks and Protected Areas of Vietnam" that lasted for six days from October 5 th to 10 th , 2015. The state-of-the-art training course aimed to raise the capacity of environmental educators on educating teachers and students, tourists, local communities, leaders and the public in general on nature conservation. The course provided a great forum for sharing environmental education (EE) experiences among National Parks (NP) and Protected Areas (PA). In addition, the training course provided financial support to three participants to implement their excellent EE initiatives at their NPs and PAs. The training course was funded by the Buck Kingman Initiative from the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley. 
Redevelopment of environmental damage calculation methods
by Erdenbayasgalan Ganjuurjav (ELP 2009), Mongolia
While participating in the ELP, I gathered a lot of experiences which laid the foundation for the objective of my work in 2014-2016: to improve and amend the environmental damage and compensation assessment methods for landscape projects in Mongolia. 

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