Austrian scholar keen to assist post-graduate studies

Prof Breuste of Zulzburg University of Austria has expressed his willingness to assist in the Postgraduate teaching of Landscape Ecology under the Postgraduate Institute of Humanities & Social Science (PIHSS), University of Peradeniya (UoP).

Prof Breuste Jurgen and a research group from Salzburg University of Austria visited the University of Peradeniya on the invitation of Dr Lalitha Dissanayake (Senior Lecturer- Dept of Geography) on behalf of the PIHSS and the Dept of Geography, UoP, on their summer excursion to Sri Lanka recently.

Prof Breuste is a scholar and Heads the Working Group for Urban & Landscape Ecology at the Geography-Geology Dept at the Paris- Lodron- University, Salzburg, Austria, University Lecturer for Urban Ecology at Technical University Dresden, Germany, Hon. Prof for Urban Ecology at Capital Normal University, College of Resources, Environment & Tourism, Beijing, China, Prof for Urban Ecology at East China Normal University, Dept of Environmental Sciences, Shanghai, China and Prof honoris causa of the University of Bucharest, Romania. He is the founding Presidents of SURE ( Society for Urban Ecology) since 2009 and International Association for Landscape Ecology, German Branch (1999-2005). He was also a corresponding member of the Academy for Spatial Research & Planning, URBIO (Urban Biodiversity Network).

During his visit, Prof Breuste delivered a special lecture on “Importance and Challenges of Urban Nature Reserves in Global Pe r s p e c t ive and Local Interpretation,” for the students of the Posgraduate Institute of Humanities & Social Science who are following a course on Landscape Ecology in the Udawattekelle Forest Reserve in Kandy.

In his lecture, he further emphasised on the importance of ground level studies. Interaction of human and nature is the basic concept of the landscape ecology wherever people live. The interaction may be more extreme in urban areas because the natural cover is less. Natural cover is destroyed mainly for infrastructure development. Natural surroundings are imperative to live a healthy life. Nature evolves from a natural process not influenced by or interfered with by humankind, while the concept of ecology comes from a statistical aspect like Geographic Information system and Remote Sensing data. Basically, Remote Sensing images show only the canopy, not ground level like grassland and arable land.

The most important part of the landscape is what happens at ground level, rather than at tree-top level, because land use changes over time due to evolving technology. In Sri Lanka, there are only settlers with the various kinds of land use, using different machines and irrigation systems.

Dr Lalitha Dissanayake and Dr Nalani Hennayake introduced the "Memorandum of Understanding" between UoP and the University of Salzburg, followed by a discussion on the Education processes of the 2 universities.

Finally, they had a joint excursion to Galle, and were joined by Dr Taruna Bansal and Dr Kulsum Fathima from India.