Born in Milano, Italy, from Swiss parents in 1946, Luca Schueli studied political economy at Lausanne University for 2 years. He then worked in Amsterdam as a business trainee and moved to London where he became one of the youngest tour managers. After a few more years in business in Milano the travel bug took over again. After travelling overland to India in 1975 he started sailing. In 1979 Luca built his first cruising catamaran, which took him from Italy to India in 1980. One and a half year later, he started the first Yacht Charter agency in Sri Lanka, but after one year operations were closed due to the Tamil insurgency. In 1985 he started a boat-building company in Phuket, Thailand, which back then was a little town. But Phuket soon grew up to be a major tourist attraction, with all related environmental degradation. He became more and more involved with conservation projects until this became his main object when he started the Swiss branch of Europe Conservation.

Luca Schueli

U Uga served in the Forest Department, Myanmar from 1965 to 2000 holding numerous positions. After retirement, from the beginning of 2001 to mid of 2002, he served as Short Term Visitor, Smithsonian Institution, National Zoological Park, Conservation and Research Center, Front Royal, U.S.A; Visiting Research Fellow, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan; and Short Term Visitor, International Society of Mangrove Ecosystems, Ryuku University, Okinawa, Japan. He has a BSc in Forestry and Biology from Yangon University and a Master of Natural Resources from the University of New England, Australia.

Tint Tun is a pearl culture technician, university teacher, pearl oyster biologist and freelance marine biologist.
At present, he is working on Myanmar marine mammals. I am interested in dugong and cetaceans especially Irrawaddy dolphin.

Lara earned a Master Degree in International Cooperation from the University of Milan (Italy) with a final dissertation on conservation enterprises among Maasai communities.
She collaborates since 2005 with the international programmes of Istituto Oikos, especially in East Africa. Lara has a strong interest in anthropology and expertise in community-based sustainable development strategies.