Michael Atchia

Michael Atchia
Dr. Michael Atchia at the Fourth International Conference on Environmental Education
Born	14 November 1938 Mauritius
Occupation	UN-retiree, former Chief and Programme Director with the United Nations Environment Programme; presently Secretary- General and Founder member of AFICS-M (Association of Former International Civil Servants from Mauritius)
Salary	last UN salary was at D-1,Step VII level.
Spouse	Paula Atchia, author of Mansfield Letters, a novel, sequel to Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.
Children	Three
Website
www.michael-atchia.info
Notes author of 100 newspapar articles for the newspaper L' Express(of Mauritius), appearing under the title "LIVE'N'LEARN". Articles may be accessed from the website of lexpress.mu opening archives and searching Michael Atchia.

Michael Atchia is a Mauritian academician. He is the former Chief and Programme Director with the United Nations Environment Programme.

Introduction

Michael Atchia is an academic and a pioneering specialist in the field of Sustainable Development As the former Chief and Programme Director with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) his international career reflects significant contributions in the fields of Educational Reform, International and Regional Environmental Project Management and Conflict Resolution, Environmental Education and Curriculum Development. As International Consultant he has undertaken numerous consultancies in more than 50 countries and has worked with organizations such as UNESCO, World Health Organization, UNDP, ILO, GTZ/DSE of Germany and the British Council.

Academic Profile

Educational Qualifications

Michael Atchia obtained his first B.Sc. degree in 1961 in Calcutta, India with distinctions in Zoology and Botany and his second B.Sc. degree in 1963 in London. The same year (1963) he obtained his teacher qualification with the Ministry of Science Education, United Kingdom as well as post-graduate Certificates in Microbiology from Chelsea College of Science and Technology in London.

His Masters degree (M.Sc.) was obtained in 1972 from the University of Salford in the United Kingdom in the subject of Environmental Resources and his Doctorate degree (Ph.D) was obtained from the same University in 1978 with his thesis focusing on Concepts in Environmental Education.

Employment Profile

Fields of Expertise

List of Publications

(a) THESIS on Marine Fish Farming in Mauritius (M.Sc Thesis) in the field of Environmental Resources, University of Salford, U.K., 1972

(b) THESIS on Environmental Education (Ph.D. Thesis) University of Salford, 1978

(c) PAPERS 60 academic papers, published by various Journals

on science, biology, environment, science education, pedagogy, peace and environment, sustainable development (list available).

(d) TEXT BOOK on Integrated Science for Form I, written as member of a curriculum team of five(Atchia, Davis, Dyall, Nicolas,Sinyantoo), Institute of Education, Mauritius, 1976

(e) TEXT BOOK on Integrated Science Form II, Institute of Education, Mauritius, 1977

(f) TEXT BOOK on Integrated Science – Biology, Form III, (authors: Michael Atchia and Claude Michel), 1978

(g) TEXT BOOK on Integrated Science Experiments (Macmillan, 1982).

(h) Environmental Science, Teacher’s guide for Mauritius primary schools, as Editor of books I, II & III, 1983. [3 books]

(i) Readers on environment and health(The Egret Series), as Series Editor and writer, for children aged 9–14 mainly in Africa (Egret Series, Macmillan UK, Publishers). [12 books]

(j) Research into Community-based Biological Education,

published by IUBS, 1982.

(k) Environmental education in Africa published by African Curriculum Organisation (ACO), Ibadan 1982 (Editor, M. Atchia & Yoloye).

(l) Sea-Fishes of Mauritius, published by IUCN, 1984, author M. Atchia, illustrated by Paula Atchia.

(m) Sea Fishes of Mauritius and the South-West Indian Ocean (revised edition of (l) above, published by UNEP, 1990;new revised edition published in 2008 by Editions Le Printemps(ELP) Mauritius.

(n) Issues and Solutions: A resource book in Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons/UNEP, March 1995 (M. Atchia & S.Tropp, Editors) based on the proceedings of the Environmental Management Seminars organised by M. Atchia at UNEP, Nairobi, 1992 -1994.

(o) UNESCO-UNEP International Edition of Teaching for a

Sustainable World (UNESCO/UNEP, Griffith University, Australia, 1996 as Associate Editor (together with John Fien,Editor and Wimala Ponniah, Associate Editor)

(p) UNESCO-AUDECAM Series on "Conservation et Préservation des ressources biologiques", Tome III, 1970 as a contributing writer.

(q) A new vision of the biological resource-base of small island states, presented by M. Atchia, at the World Conference on Science, UNESCO-ICSU, Budapest, Published in the Proceedings (June 1999)

(r) UNESCO-EOLSS publication “Our Fragile World”- Encyclopaedia of the Life Support Systems, March 2001, 24-page article on “Environmental Education” by M. Atchia.

(s) "Abécédaire de Management" (M. Atchia, Editor) a manual for primary schools of Mauritius (published by Bureau of Catholic Education, March 2001).

(t) “The Politics of Education” an occasional booklet, published in Mauritius, Feb 2003

(u) “Science & Technology in Primary Schools”. A manual of low-cost equipment, published in Mauritius, January 2003, M. Atchia, Editor.

(v) LIVE’N’LEARN series of weekly articles for L’Express newspaper, Mauritius, on education, environment and civics themes; 70 articles from Oct. 2005 to Feb.2007. May be consulted on web-site of www.lexpress.mu ; go to “Archives” and search for articles by “Michael Atchia”.

Awards

In 1990 he received the "Tree of Learning Award" of the IUCN for 20 years significant contribution to conservation education and in 1996 the "Environmental Leadership Award" from the East African Environment Network[1].

Persondata
Name	Atchia, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	14 November 1938
Place of birth	Mauritius
Date of death
Place of death