会议时间：3月21-22日

报告人：Allan David SCHWARZ, Mezimbite Forest Centre

报告摘要：

Contained in this single little bowl is a story. 
It is the story of threatened forests.
It is the story of dispossessed forest people. 
It is the story of how through the design of heirloom products, and the system by which they are made on site. 

The story of learning new skills, in crafting beautiful and useful objects and how those are linked with the management of the trees and forest from which it is derived. Of collecting seeds and running nurseries and planting and caring for trees and most of all the new wealth that is created by with and for the forest peoples. 

Mozambique is the centre of the Miombo Biome, home to some of the most sought after specialized noble hardwoods on the planet. It is currently being destroyed by a combination of slash and burn agriculture, fuelwood collection and irresponsible logging with little benefit for the local communities. However it is not a hopeless situation and this paper demonstrates how the forest can be used sustainably and profitably,(with lots of pictures and lots of scientific measures and statistics) retaining a steady supply of precious commodities such as musical instrument components for a discerning market.

The Paper is based on twenty years experience at Mezimbite Forest Centre (www.mezimbite.net) its successes and failures in conserving Miombo woodland.

Speaker Biography

Dr. Allan David SCHWARZ
Director and Founder of Mezimbite Forest Centre

Allan Schwarz Started a Cabinet Making apprenticeship in 1968, qualified as a professional Architect from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1979, and opened a practice in Johannesburg the following year. Political pressures led Allan to America in 1986, where he joined the Centre for Advanced Visual Studies to teach a course called “Design with Nature” at MIT, at the same time as pursuing further post graduate studies. He continued to Practice Architecture, specializing in environmentally sensitive projects, and developing new ways of measuring environmental effects of design. In the early nineties he decided with positive political changes to return to Africa. Mezimbite Forest Centre was established in 1994 as a place where the use of forest products, mainly wood, by local forest communities become the incentive to restore and conserve the Miombo Woodland. The first indigenous specie nurseries in the country were built there and Mezimbite continues to be the biggest planter of indigenous trees in the Miombo Biome. Allan was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 2000 for his work in Development and Environment. His latest completed building is the definitive green, community built Environmental Education Centre for Gorongosa National Park.

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