| As
international efforts continue to rebuild lives
and livelihoods in Sri Lanka in the wake of
the 2004 tsunami disaster, the need becomes
urgent for educational programmes and awareness-raising
activities on issues of sustainable development,
health, equity, and the environment. The Biopolitics
International Organisation (B.I.O.) has undertaken
such an initiative, supported by the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of Greece – Hellenic
Aid, with the goal of widening participation
and education for the people of Galle, one of
the areas that suffered most from this unprecedented
catastrophe.
Sri
Lanka has always been close to my heart, as
I had the joy and privilege of being elected
Honorary President for Life, along with Nelson
Mandela and Michael Gorbachev, by the United
Nations Association (UNA) of Sri Lanka in 1993.
It is therefore with great enthusiasm that this
initiative was undertaken in cooperation with
the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) Sri
Lanka and TVE Asia Pacific. The project involves
the development of course material in English
and Sinhala, to inform and train teachers, professionals,
and persons involved in educational resources,
on a range of environmental concerns and their
links to health, agriculture, and the eradication
of poverty. In addition, local awareness-raising
activities were held in the Galle district by
representatives of B.I.O. and CEE Sri Lanka,
in order to promote the above issues and to
assist underprivileged groups and tsunami victims
in implementing the principles of sustainable
development and working towards meeting the
Millennium Development Goals.
The
educational material featured in this CD-Rom
involves three courses on the following subjects:
-
Health and the Environment
- Environmental Dimensions in Agriculture, Forestry
and Food Production
- Environmental Quality, Equity and the Eradication
of Poverty
The
courses address specific environmental problems
faced by countries under development and Sri
Lanka in particular, and suggest ways of improving
environmental conditions and quality of life
through projects for the implementation of sustainable
development. The courses also focus on how the
tsunami has affected lives and livelihoods in
Sri Lanka, and presents possible solutions and
actions for improving public health, enhancing
equity and agricultural production, and making
progress toward the eradication of extreme poverty
and hunger. Each course is divided into chapters,
and includes brief questions and answers to
help the reader evaluate their understanding
of the material.
I
would like to take this opportunity to thank
Helen Papadimitriou, Lori Konstantopoulos, Ernest
Vovakis, and Christopher Dimopoulos for researching
and editing the course material, Charlotte Dawson
for travelling to Sri Lanka and coordinating
the workshops in Galle, as well as Thanassis
Kontogiannis and Sophia Galani for their assistance
with the design of the project’s website
and this CD-Rom.
For
their valuable cooperation and for providing
insight and support locally, I am grateful to
Shivani Jain, Coordinator of CEE Sri Lanka,
to all the CEE Sri Lanka staff who were involved
in the project, and to Nalaka Gunawardene, Director
and CEO of TVE Asia Pacific and Member of the
Board of CEE Sri Lanka. I would also like to
express my gratitude to H.E. Rodney Perera,
Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Rome, for his support
of this initiative.
This project has been co-funded by the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of Greece – Hellenic
Aid. For their support and advice, I would like
to thank the Head of Hellenic Aid Directorate
2, Prodromos Markoulakis, and George Filippeos,
Head of the Hellenic Aid Special Mission in
Colombo of the Embassy of Greece in New Delhi.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude
to the sponsors who lent their support for the
work of B.I.O. in 2006 and 2007: the Greek Ministry
of Labour and Social Security; Kitty P. Kyriacopoulos;
the European Commission’s Leonardo da
Vinci Programme; the General Secretariat of
Greeks Abroad; KLEOS S.A.; the Hellenic Telecommunications
Organisation.
Dr.
Agni Vlavianos Arvanitis
B.I.O. President and Founder
Honorary President, UNA Sri Lanka
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