For Earthwatchers

People from all walks of life are being encouraged to make their holiday a time to give something back to the world by going on an Earthwatch expedition.

Earthwatch expeditions put travellers alongside leading scientists and give them a fast education in research techniques and the background and progress of the project they choose.

Expeditions range from unearthing Mayan history in Mexico to tracking down snow leopards in Nepal or scuba diving in the Bahamas to understand the decline in reef coral.

In this International Year of the Volunteer, the Earthwatch Institute Research Program Guide is a hefty magazine filled with expedition options throughout the world, including a project in Kaikoura, New Zealand.

This project aims to assess the interaction between tourism operations and dusky dolphins, with a view to describing the potential disturbance to dolphins by humans. Volunteers help to record the behaviour and movement patterns of dolphins. Dates for joining the expedition run through May and June.

Contact: earth@earthwatch.org

Earthwatch Institute in Melbourne, (00613) 9682 6828, or fax (00613) 9686 3652.