Environment industry has twins

The Australian environment industry has entered a new era with the birth of EcoForum, a company with a mission to foster the development of the contamination remediation sector, and the Australian Land & Groundwater Association (AL&GA), an association to cover this previously under-represented sector.

The pair have forged an alliance with the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment & Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE) to stage the first Industry Summit for the sector together with the Contamination CleanUp 07 Conference and EcoForum Exhibition in Adelaide from 24"“27 June 2007.

Paul Howlett, EcoForum managing director, said the parties behind the new alliance had seen a gap in the market for events and other activities such as conferences, forums, networking and exhibitions that would bring people, companies and associations from this industry together.

"When Professor Ravi Naidu from CRC CARE asked us to run an Industry Summit and exhibition alongside his conference, we jumped at the chance," Howlett said.

"The association is about bringing together people with like interests to network, build capacity, exchange ideas and further the science and technology surrounding the prevention, removal and remediation of the pollution of air, land and water."

Whilst the Contamination CleanUp 07 Conference will explore the science and engineering related to contaminated site assessment and remediation, the focus of the Industry Summit will be on the policies, structuring, regulation, risk management, insurance, financing and acquisition issues that impede or make the industry operate.

"The Industry Summit will be the first time industry, regulators, scientists and community organisations from across the nation meet to discuss the challenges and opportunities that environmental contamination presents," CRC CARE managing director Professor Ravi Naidu commented.

"Every person and country in the world is exposed to contamination from past industrial practices, in the soil and water where they live or the air they breathe.

"This is highlighted in the cases of high lead levels found in children in the Mt Isa and Port Pirie areas and the wide-spread human respiratory problems caused by fossil fuel combustion. The challenge is to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions to clean up polluted environments, to make them safe for human habitation, work and consumption, and to protect the function of the ecosystems which support life."