A group of Australian led by Mr. Dave Darlington and his wife Pat Darlington visited the Institute yesterday. Mr. Dave who served numerous years in developing and managing protected area in Australia has been recently retired from the post of the Director for the New South Wales (NSW) National Parks and Wildlife Services, Southern Region. Mrs. Pat had also served number of years as the education officer in the Kosciuszko National Park.

Mr. and Mrs. Darlington who are committed nature conservationists have been visiting Bhutan since early 2000 to support protected area management in Bhutan. They have initiated and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Department of Forests and Park Services, Bhutan and the Kosciuszko National Park in 2001 with the aim to collaborate and support each other to strengthen the nature conservation programmes in the two countries. Then in 2007, an agreement of friendship and cooperation emphasizing on some specific collaborative programmes such as environmental education and ecotourism was signed.

At UWICE, the Director, Mr. Nawang Norbu gave a presentation highlighting some programmes and achievements of the Institute. This is the largest Australian group that the Institute has hosted so far.