ARCHIVED MEDIA RELEASE
PA/11/2004 2 April 2004
Australia builds Bhutan's capacity to prevent and fight forest fires
The Australian Government is funding two Australian fire fighting experts to help the Royal Government's forestry department strengthen its capacity to fight forest fires.
Australia's Ambassador to Bhutan, Ms Penny Wensley AO, said "Australia is pleased to share its knowledge and expertise in forest fire control with Bhutan. Australia has a comprehensive approach to fire management developed from a long history of fighting forest fires in remote areas of the country."
The Australian experts, Mr Russell Taylor, Manager of Community Education, and Mr Bradley Davis, a Community Safety Officer with the Rural Fire Service (RFS), arrived in Bhutan in mid-March 2004 for a month-long assignment with the Royal Government's Department of Forestry.
The Australian team will build on earlier work on fire fighting in Bhutan by the RFS. This will include strengthening the fire fighting capability of the Forestry Department by enhancing fire prevention strategies.
The RFS operates in the Australian State of New South Wales. It comprises 2,400 brigades and a total volunteer membership of approximately 70,000. It is responsible for fire fighting in more than 1,200 towns and villages in the State. In addition, its members are often called on to attend road accidents, assist in search and rescue operations and storm and flood recovery.
The Australians will train Bhutanese forestry officers in fire fighting techniques and assist in developing procedures for using fire as an effective and proactive environmental management tool. They will investigate the potential for developing a pilot project for village forest fire prevention. Raising community awareness of fire through school curriculum development, media training and public presentations will be an important part of their work. In addition, Australia will provide 200 "McLeod tools" - specialised firefighting equipment for back-burning and creating fire breaks.
This A$30,000 package of assistance is part of Australia's development cooperation program with Bhutan. In addition to the fire fighting activity, this year Australia will provide Bhutan with scholarships for students to study in Australia (A$1 million) and support the school feeding program of the World Food Program (A$1 million). Australia is also contributing A$100,000 to the Bhutan Health Trust Fund.
For more information contact: Mr Kerry Groves, First Secretary, Development Cooperation, Australian High Commission, New Delhi; Phone: 9810408110; 26888 223, extn 561.