A NEW centre placing Murdoch firmly in the world environment arena was launched by Deputy Premier Hendy Cowan recently.

The Western Australian Centre of Excellence on Environmental Technology (ETC) will aim to educate and inform the public about waste management, renewable energy sources and approaches to sustainable living.

ETC Director, Associate Professor Goen Ho, said the centre’s role was to carry out research, development and commercialisation of small scale environmental technology systems applicable to urban, rural and remote areas worldwide.

“It will be the primary international centre for industry-focused research and development into environmental technology systems in the Asia-Pacific Region,” he said.

A Foundation Stone was laid at the site by Dr Steve Halls - the Director of the United Nations Environment Program International Environmental Technology Centre (UNEP IETC) - based in Osaka, Japan.

Vice Chancellor Steven Schwartz said at the opening that Murdoch’s Environmental Technology Centre and UNEP had already achieved a great deal in promoting environ-mentally sound technologies.

“It is a beneficial international partnership that we want to continue,” said Professor Schwartz.
Dr Halls said that one of the major thrusts of the UNEP IETC is to share information and products globally through regional countries.

“Hard engineering projects are not always the best solution for countries, and providing support systems, training programs and methods of information exchange are essential,” said Dr Halls.

“One of the most important steps to stopping environmental problems is to eradicate poverty and promote education.

“The world’s population is predicted to increase 50 percent up to 9 billion over the next 25 years. 1.5 billion of these new people will be in the Asia Pacific region, increasing the pressure for new houses, freshwater, energy and waste disposal.”

The UNEP IETC will be developing regional centres in Latin America, Africa, West Asia and in the Asia-Pacific region – including two demonstration sites for new technologies.

Dr Halls said that the ETC based at Murdoch had already developed cost effective technologies that could be easily adopted by users.

“This is very encouraging and perhaps will help provide options to stop technology dumping, where old technologies are given to developing countries without checking the environmental impacts.”

Remote Area Development Group (RADG) Professional Officer Martin Anda added that the ETC was strongly supported by WA’s expanding environment industry and had already established a strong network within the international environmental technology field.