Beahrs international program trains professionals in sustainable development

workshop on global warming and carbon A sequestration offered recently by the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program in Berkeley could fundamentally change the way Charles Yamoah of Ghana approaches the problem of soil degradation in Africa. ”Organic carbon is more productive than fertilizer alone,” says Yamoah, most recently a soil scientist with the International Fertilizer Development Center. ”Those are the techniques we need to use in Africa to keep the land productive.” Based at UC Berkeley’s Center for Sustainable Resource Development in the College of Natural Resources, the Beahrs program was founded in 2000 with seed money from Carolyn and Richard Beahrs, UC Berkeley alumni now based in New York City. ”They were interested in putting science to work in solving global environmental problems and promoting interdisciplinary approaches and leadership,” says Robin Marsh, co-director of the program with David Zilberman, UC Berkeley agricultural economist. The heart of the program is a 3-week intensive summer certificate course in sustainable environmental management, which seeks to provide highlevel training for mid-career academics and environmental professionals from around the world; facilitate cross-learning among global peers; and offer opportunities for UC faculty to learn from the “onthe-ground” experiences of participants. About 75 people completed the course in 2001 and 2002. The majority of course participants develop a ”leadership change contract,” which outlines how they will implement the new ideas they have acquired. Furthermore, a new small grants initiative, funded by the Goldman Fund and Packard Foundation, will provide $5,000 to $10,000 grants to assist participants with implementing their plans together with UC Berkeley collaborators. For example, Yamoah and Oscar Arruda d’Alva, executive director of the Instituto Sertao in Brazil, began discussions this hummer about joining forces to develop community-based programs for combating desertification. ”The program has taken me out of my reality and enabled me to make contact with other people working on environmental issues,” Arruda says. Likewise, participants from Kenya and Uganda teamed up with a fellow program alumnus from Finland to form a nonprofit The Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program brings environmental professionals from around the world to UC Berkeley for a 3-week summer course. Participants are encouraged to form ongoing, collaborative working relationships with each other and UC faculty.