VISITORS AND VOLUNTEERS IN 2001

VISITING SCIENTIST

Dr. Paulo César de Faccio Carvalho from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil has worked with the AGPC Grassland Group from 2 April to 2 July 2001 as a Visiting Scientist. His research area is the plant/animal interface and he teaches in the Faculdade de Agronomia at Porto Alegre, in Southern Brazil [Webpage http://www.ufrgs.br/agro/pfagrom/ ]. This region has 10.5M ha of natural grassland, which is the basis of the animal production system of the Campos ecological zone. This important natural resource is under threat due to economic (low revenues) and political pressure to become more intensive and to better utilize the area.

During his stay Prof Carvalho worked, together with FAO Officers, on alternative ways to preserve and to valorize this natural resource and also investigated constraints related to grassland production on a more global scale. Among the projects he worked on was a Country Pasture Resource Profile for Brazil.

VOLUNTEERS

Three young Scientists recently worked with the AGPC Grassland Group under the FAO Volunteer Programme.

Ms. Maryline Hervouet, from France, has worked for 3 months from 22 January to 22 April 2001. Maryline is a graduate of Paris-Nanterre University in international and European law and has a Masters in new technology law from the University of Toulouse. She has worked at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, gaining practical experience in European and comparative law, and in Rome as consultant on a European programme concerned with territorial development. Maryline has been working to improve and update the website of the Grassland Group with particular emphasis on the Grassland Index and Country Pasture Profiles and the redesign of parts of the webpage including developing a new Grassland Biodiversity page.

Mr. James Dariush Karimi, a graduate in Natural Sciences from the University of Rome, Italy has followed a postgraduate course in environmental protection and has trained as a multimedia programmer. He has worked for 4 months from 5 February to 5 June 2001 helping to locate pasture species links on the Internet and preparing a literature review on silage in the tropics.

Ms. Isabella Nobili, recently graduated in Forestry and Environmental Sciences from the University of Padua in Italy and prepared a thesis on the use of Prosopis spp. in arid lands for reforestation and rehabilitation of forest ecosystems. She has worked for 3 months, from 1 April to 31 May 2001, on the development of a specific website as part of AGPC’s future efforts to prepare a wider strategy on Prosopis, which will involve developing a network to coordinate integrated national plans for Prosopis management.