The Missing Link - Resource Coordinators

KIM FORDE - ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANT

Kim Forde is the Director of The Missing Link - Resource Coordinators based in Kuranda, Queensland. Kim has delivered a range of environmental training across Queensland over the past 10 years, focusing on local government and industry – not just at the management level, but at the operational level, with significant success. Some of those programs included the following:

• In 1998, Kim delivered training to 550 Council personnel comprising roads engineers and maintenance crews on the application of the Department of Main Roads' "Code of Practice for Maintenance in the Wet Tropics". The Code, which Kim assisted to write, and the training package, which she produced and delivered to support it, aided local governments to understand the implications of their legal requirements under the Wet Tropics Management Plan 1998. Kim then aided by providing practical advice (and real site examples) of how it should be applied. Kim has recently been contracted by Wet Tropics Management Authority (2006-7) to review its permit requirements and develop and deliver another round of training to local governments across the Far North Queensland region which abuts the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

• In 2000, Kim developed and implemented a similar Code of Practice for the Electricity industry in the Wet Tropics region. This was presented to all staff and contractors working more than 1 week for each of the power generation GOC's in the region. Over a 5 year period this included some 300 participants. As a result of this training the number of significant environmental breaches of Wet Tropics legislation and permits from this industry group fell from an average 8 per year down to less than 2.

• Kim has recently developed a custom-designed mechanism for auditing local tourism businesses to quantify their environmental footprint with the intent of offsetting that footprint through environmental activities like tree planting and supporting other community desired outcomes. The Daintree Discovery Centre (a local tourism facility) was the first local business to apply this audit in May 2007 and have verbally offered their support for our program