OurWorld 2.0, 14 September, Abilio da Fonseca is a driven man. The Ph.D. candidate and Timor-Leste citizen wants one thing above anything else, and that is to contribute to helping the island nation and its one million plus population to prosper. But prosperity will never come unless the world’s youngest democracy can repel the newest threat to its shores.
Raised in a fishing village where lives depend on the resources of the sea, Abilio is a young man fighting a new peril that is snapping at his nation — climate change.
Born in a small village in the sub-district of Tutuala, in eastern Timor-Leste Island, Abilio’s family of nine brothers and sisters survived by subsistence farming and fishing. A keen interest in marine life and passion for improving the lives of his people saw Abilio study at the Fisheries High School in Aquaculture in Indonesia before completing an undergraduate degree in fisheries and aquaculture at Hasanuddin University, Indonesia.
He returned to Timor-Leste to carry out fisheries research for the Government of Indonesia to increase the aquaculture “farming” opportunities of several sources of protein for his people, including sea cucumbers and gold fish.
But in 1999, while he was working as part of the local staff for the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste to help prepare his people for the independence referendum, Abilio’s life changed abruptly. The struggle for independence turned bloody in the lead up to voting. Abilio’s wife and son fled to Indonesia and he was forced to hide in the jungle for three months, laying low while order was gradually restored.
In 2002, the year Xanana Gusmao was sworn in as President, Abilio’s talents were acknowledged with a scholarship to study for a Master of Tropical Environmental Management at Charles Darwin University (CDU) in Darwin. Read More
(Source : OurWorld2.0)
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