A SCIENTIST from Kelso is going Down Under to experiment with global warming projects.

The Border Union Agricultural Society has made an award from the Bicentenary Bursary Fund to Dr Derek Robeson from Kelso.

Derek came forward with an exciting and ambitious project that the Bursary Panel thought well worth supporting.

The Tweed Forum worker will travel to Tweed Shire, New South Wales, Australia, to gain and share knowledge with farmers, land managers and communities, about how they manage their land and rivers.

He is keen to see how farmers and communities are addressing the challenges raised by global warming and population growth and to see how they balance the need for food and timber production with wildlife, water and soil conservation.

Derek assists Scottish Borders Council with Stakeholder Engagement as part of the Land Use Strategy pilot, to promote natural flood management techniques and raise awareness of integrated catchment management and environmentally responsible farming practices.

Dr Robeson told the Border Telegraph: "Tweed Forum has been working closely with a wide range of stakeholders across the Borders, to develop a map based tool to help facilitate land use decision making.

"The aim of the tool is identify areas where farmers can work collectively to identify opportunities, such as alleviating flooding, increasing wildlife habitat, sustaining food production and improving water quality.

"We were really excited to learn that stakeholders living and working along the River Tweed, on the other side of the world in Australia, are looking and discussing very similar challenges. The opportunities to share experiences has a strong appeal for me."

Derek has been invited to be one of the three keynote speakers at the eighth Australian Stream Management Conference in the Blue Mountains at the beginning of August.

Ron Wilson, Secretary of Border Union Agricultural Society, told us: "This exciting project will increase Derek’s understanding of Australian agricultural and environmental challenges and he will be able to relate his knowledge to the tremendous project that he is involved with in the Borders.

"The Bicentenary Bursary Fund will help provide a mechanism to feed back some of these experiences to the benefit of the wider economy and environment of the Scottish Borders. The opportunities for reciprocating arrangements are significant."

The Bicentenary Bursary Fund welcomes applications, which are considered four times a year, from both sides of the Borders.

Enquires should be made to the BUAS office at Springwood Park in Kelso (01573 224188 ) or forms can be downloaded from the website at www.buas.org

Lord Joicey, bursary panel chairman, added: "We were very interested to learn that Tweed Shire in Australia takes its name from the River Tweed here on the Scotland/England border.

"The town of Brisbane and the Brisbane River takes its name from Sir Thomas MacDougal Brisbane, who lived at Makerstoun, near Kelso and who was appointed by the Duke of Wellington as Governor General for New South Wales in 1822.

"It was the Brisbane’s cartographer John Oxley who mapped the river and called it Tweed. Kelso therefore has a strong historical association with Tweed Shire."