Graduate Profile - Environmental Science

Environmental Science: Field Officer in environment and waste management in Sri Lanka (Australian Youth Ambassador for Development)

Edward Banks

Eddie will spend twelve months working in Hikkaduwa, southwest Sri Lanka with the Arthacharya Foundation as a field officer in environment and waste management.

The Arthacharya Foundation is a non-governmental organisation with the main objective of alleviating poverty through micro enterprise initiatives and actively involving the local community in solid waste management and conservation of the natural environment.  The initial Hikkaduwa coastal zone waste management project was established three years ago.

The environmental impacts of tourism and the basic needs of the poorer community are the focus points of this project in Hikkaduwa.  The project will be facilitated through community education programs assisting a target group of about 1000 families. Eddie will be required to assist four other field officers to visit the homes of the people in the district and evaluate and report on the project outcomes, failures and successes.

Eddie is very excited to be involved in this project that addresses the needs of the local community with a broader aim towards the conservation of the natural environment and establishing sustainable development.

Eddie has a Bachelor of Environmental Science majoring in Hydrogeology from Flinders University and has recently finished Honours in Environmental Science with a project focussing on the storage and release mechanisms of salt from a saline lagoon on the lower River Murray Floodplains of South Australia.  He has skills as a university tutor, landscape designer and hands-on experience as a field hydrogeologist for CSIRO Land and Water and an environmental consulting firm. He is looking forward to learning from and contributing to the communities he will work with in Sri Lanka.

This profile is used with the permission of AusAID