Gore to train 19 Indian professionals at the Asia Pacific Summit in Australia

New Delhi, July 8 (ANI): Nineteen professionals have been selected from more than 2000 Australasian applicants to be trained by former US Vice President Al Gore at The Climate Project - Australia Asia Pacific Summit (A-P Summit) in Melbourne from 11 - 13 July.

Building on the work of The Climate Project - Australia, the A-P Summit will bring together 300 people representing a diverse cross section of industry, advocacy and broad social groupings from Australasia and the Asia Pacific region. Mr Gore and a panel of international experts will provide the training hosted by the Australian Conservation Foundation.

As delegates from India, these selected professionals will have the chance to help focus and re-invigorate the Asia Pacific's regional response to Climate Change in the lead into the critical UNCCC Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009.

"The regional diversity of the countries attending represents a microcosm of the challenges facing negotiators at Copenhagen. Our ability to learn from each other can provide hope for a just and responsible outcome at Copenhagen." says Director of the Climate Project, India, Gaurav Gupta.

"The A-P Summit has a specific focus on the unique window of time to act on Climate Change, particularly with the Copenhagen negotiations at the end of this year. Together A-P Summit delegates will inspire people from the region to make a difference at global level," said Angela Rutter, Manager of The Climate Project - Australia.

One in seventy five Australians have now seen a presentation delivered by the 250 Al Gore trained Climate Project Presenters working throughout communities in Australia.

The India delegates will travel to Melbourne and complete a three day intensive course where they will learn to deliver a version the slide show from the documentary An Inconvenient Truth across communities in India.

It is the first time people from the Asia Pacific region have been specifically included in the program which builds on the work of The Climate Project - Australia.

Once trained, each participant commits to completing 10 activities - to an audience of (his/her) choice. Five of those activities need be completed by November 30. The activities might be speaking to work colleagues about climate change, delivering a climate change presentation or talking to the media about (his/her) role.

Economist and Deputy Director of the Climate Project, India, Anokhi Parikh says "I hope that the network of highly motivated and qualified individuals attending the Summit will be able to advocate the kind of change necessary to effectively combat the climate crisis

A list of the selected participants is as under:

1. Mr. Irfan Ahmad - New Delhi - Student, Studying Foreign Languages

. Mr. Srikrishna Balachandran - Hyderabad - Consultant, Climate change and Sustainability Services, Ernst and Young Pvt. Limited

. Dr. Aarti Bhalla - New Delhi - Tours management Executive, Tour leader and RT coordinator

. Mr. Anantdeep Singh Dhillon - Amritsar - NGO Officer, Youth, Interfaith and Community Development Coordinator, UNITED SIKHS

. Mr. Debi Goenka - Mumbai - Environmentalist, Executive Trustee, Conservation Action Trust

. Mr. Gaurav Gupta - Mumbai - Climate Change Communicator, Director - The Climate Project India

. Ms. Anokhi Parikh - Mumbai - Economist, Deputy Director, The Climate Project India

. Dr. Avinash Patkar - Mumbai - Chemical Engineer, Chief Sustainability Officer - TATA Power

. Miss Anushka Pinto - Mumbai - Lawyer, Volunteering for Environmental NGO's

0. Mr. Aditya Pundir - Delhi - Multimedia Content Development, Director, Creative Grove

1. Mr. Nitin Raikar - Mumbai - Marketing and Sales of Wind Energy Turbines, Deputy Manager - Suzlon Energy Limited

2. Mr. Nilesh Raje - Mumbai - Business Analyst for leading IT Company based in Mumbai

3. Dr. K. Chalapathy Reddy - Mumbai - Heading Research and Development Unit at Mission Biofuels India Pvt Ltd, working on developing Jatropha Hybrids

4. Mr. Kishor Rithe - Amravati - Social Entrepreneur, Heading the NGO, Satpuda Foundation

5. Mr. Pradeep Sebastian - Bangalore - Communications Consultant Witness Media, Act Now

6. Mr. Tanpreet Sehgal - Kanpur - Energy, Environmental and Carbon Consultancy, Chief Executive Officer - Eclectic, a university startup providing consultancy services in the domain of carbon credits, carbon foot printing and management and renewable energy

7. Mr. Krishnanand Tripathi - Noida - Correspondent, Voice of America

8. Mr. Vivek Trivedi - Chandigarh - Policy Planning for Urban Poor Project, Director Municipal Corporation (UNDP Programme)

9. Mrs. Chitra Vishwanath - Bangalore - Architect, Managing Director - Biome Environment Solutions Private Limited.(ANI)