Mountain Communities Conference 2005: Speakers

Paul Mitchell-Banks

Paul was born in England but moved to Canada as a child and grew up in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. He obtained a B.Sc. (Hons.) in life sciences from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, in 1983, and his master of business administration from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in 1986. After three and a half years as a successful commercial and corporate banker, Paul’s concerns about environmental issues led him to resign from the bank and establish Central Coast Consulting, specialising in environmental, forestry, First Nations, and business consulting. While running the consultancy Paul was awarded a special university fellowship and obtained a master of science in planning from the University of Toronto, Ontario, in 1992 and a doctorate in forestry from the University of British Columbia in 1999. He was also the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area Program Manager from 2000 to 2002, managing a 63,000 square kilometre area encompassing the Northern Rocky Mountains in British Columbia.

Paul is currently a senior researcher at Møre Research in Volda, Norway, focusing on regional economic development, forestry, and environmental and wilderness issues. He enjoys mountaineering, and after summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2000, he looks forward to climbing many more mountains before moving on to new adventures in another life.