World authority in commercializing non-timber products to lead RRU centre
For immediate release – Sept. 18, 2007
Victoria, B.C. – The Centre for Non-Timber Resources at Royal Roads University has named as its new director Brian Belcher, a world authority in the non-timber resource sector.
Dr. Belcher comes to Royal Roads from the Centre for International Forestry Research in Bogor, Indonesia where he was a principal scientist for a decade. In Indonesia, Belcher led an influential comparative analysis of more than 60 cases of non-timber forest product commercialization in 25 countries.
A forest policy economist with a background in environmental science, Belcher was also the principal economist with the International Development Research Centre in New Delhi, India from 1993 to 1997.
“This is the kind of academic and practical experience we are seeking among our researchers,” says Dr. Mary Bernard, RRU’s associate vice-president of research. “The centre has proven the value of this kind of applied research in helping to sustain resource-based rural economies. That is why we are so pleased that Dr. Belcher has been recruited to lead the centre at a time when rural economies are struggling to survive in an economic environment that is proving to be unsustainable.”
Belcher started his new position at the centre on Monday, Sept. 17.
The Centre for Non Timber Resources supports sustainable use of non-timber forest resources in the temperate and boreal regions of the world in an effort to protect and enhance subsistence, cultural, recreational and commercial use and to protect valuable ecosystems for future generations. The principal focus of the centre is on the wise use of non-timber forest resources to diversify and sustain rural and resource-dependent economies.
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