[TimorLesteStudies] Seminar on Deforestation now available

[Jennifer Drysdale]

You can now access the links to Bob Wasson's seminar (Abstract below) 
on Deforestation in Timor-Leste (from last week) on the East Timor 
Studies website:
http://www.etstudies-aust.org/Seminars.html

Deforestation and catchment response in Timor-Leste: convergence of 
community views and science, or delusion?

A Seminar by
Professor Robert Wasson, CDU

Abstract
The government of Timor Leste is concerned that deforestation and 
upland erosion is negatively affecting the rivers and coastal 
resources of this mountainous country.  Set within the bounds of this 
upland-lowland debate, consultation with focus groups in four centres 
within the catchment of the Laclo River resulted in a generally 
consistent set of concerns and explanations from the local 
people.  Many of these descriptions and explanations of change in 
this catchment are consonant with scientific understanding from the 
Western tradition.  Some scientific findings are not mirrored in the 
knowledge of local people, and the spiritual account of landforms and 
catastrophic floods is usually excluded from the scientific studies. 
The comparison of local and scientific understanding in the Laclo 
catchment will be analysed within the ongoing debate about whether or 
not traditional / indigenous / local knowledge is different from 
scientific / universal knowledge.


Narciso Almeida de Carvalho, MAFF; Francisco Inicio MAFF; Alexio 
Leonita Amaral MAFF; Andrew McWilliam, ANU; Frank Tirendi AIMS; 
Professor Robert Wasson. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Charles 
Darwin University.

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Please consider the environment before printing this email
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Jenny Drysdale
PhD Student
Moderator, Timor-Leste Studies Association List
Environment Officer
The Fenner School of Environment and Society*
Australian National University (ANU)
Room 4.13, 4th Floor
WK Hancock Building [43]
Biology Place
Canberra   ACT   0200

Mobile 0407 230 772
Phone 02 6125 1651
Fax 02 6125 0757
Email Jennifer.Drysdale at anu.edu.au
Personal Website http://cres.anu.edu.au/~jenster
East Timor Studies www.etstudies-aust.org

*formerly Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies