Canterbury Cathedral from the University campus

Welcome to

Society for Conservation Biology
16th Annual Meeting
July 14-July 19 2002

co-hosted by
DICE &

The British Ecological Society
in Canterbury, UK

Logo: Paul Leader-Williams

The Heath Fritillary - Mellicta athalia
Photograph © Stuart Harrop

The heath fritillary butterfly - Mellicta athalia

Conference Material

Meeting Sponsors

Travelling from London to Canterbury

Programme and Events

Daily Timetable of Events (including rooms and abstracts)

Field Trips (including details and booking form)

Symposia Details(including timetable and abstracts)


Plenary Speakers (including abstracts)

Workshop Details

Open Lectures and Events

SCB Meetings

Award winners


University Links

DICE (Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology)

Anthropology Department

UKC Hospitality


Maps and travel directions

Campus Information for Attendees

Support Services

Banking Facilities


Catering Arrangements

Campus Nature Trail (including information about guided walks)

Local Activities

 

 

The Natterjack Toad - Bufo calamita
Photograph © Stuart Harrop

The natterjack toad - Bufo calamita

Society for Conservation Biology
16th Annual Meeting
July 14-July 19 2002


Dear Colleagues

We invite you to attend what looks set to be a truly memorable meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology. We have an overwhelming response to our calls for offers of symposia, papers and posters. We look set to host the most internationally diverse meeting of the Society to date. By the deadline, we had received offers of over 600 abstracts, with senior authors based in 60 different countries. As July approaches, it will be interesting to see how many different nationalities attend the meeting.....!?

The 16th Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology will be held in Canterbury, England at the University of Kent’s campus, from July 14 to July 19 2002. The annual meeting will begin with an official opening on July 14. Scientific sessions will run from 15 to 18 July. The Canterbury Cathedral Choir will sing a concert for us in the Cathedral on 16 July. The final banquet and awards ceremony will be on 18 July 2002, and departure day will be on 19 July 2002. Field trips will take place before and after the meeting.

The meeting will be hosted by the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), and co-hosted by the British Ecological Society. The meeting’s overall theme, People and Conservation, reflects two key interests. First, the strictures in which much conservation has to be achieved in Britain and Europe’s highly man-modified habitats, and is the reason why the British Ecological Society, with its distinguished history of contribution to conservation biology, is co-hosting the meeting. Second, the mission of DICE to integrate international conservation and development sustainably by combining natural and social sciences in designing measures to help conserve biological diversity. The plenary lectures, and the dynamic programme of symposia, contributed papers and posters, that we have been offered should allow us to achieve our general aims of:

  • exposing North American conservation biologists to the rich variety of conservation work being carried out in Britain specifically and Europe more generally;

  • similarly exposing North American conservation biologists to the major contributions made by British and European conservation biologists to international conservation;

  • by mirror image, offering British and European conservation biologists in BES a specific forum to celebrate their own work in these areas, and to learn of work undertaken by SCB members in North America.

During the meeting, there will be plenary lectures by four distinguished speakers:

  • Sir Crispin Tickell, Chancellor of the University of Kent, will talk on sustainability and conservation in the context of the World Summit on Sustainable Development;

  • Professor Fikret Berkes of the University of Manitoba will talk on rethinking community-based conservation;

  • Professor Richard Cowling of the University of Port Elizabeth will talk on planning for multiple biodiversity targets in the Cape Floristic Region: and

  • Professor John Lawton, Chief Executive of NERC will talk on where next in conservation biology.

After consultation with the SCB Board of Governors post-Hawaii, we had already decided to run the 16th Annual Meeting of the Society of Conservation Biology as a four day meeting. Given the interest in, and demand for, the meeting as evidenced by offers of symposia and abstracts, this was indeed a fortunate decision! The symposia and spoken sessions will take place in seven parallel sessions during the day, and there will be two evenings of posters. A total of sixteen symposia have been accepted. Two of the symposia follow on directly from, and are linked to the plenary lectures, while the remaining 14 are free-standing.

The University campus lies on a hill overlooking the historic City of Canterbury. Canterbury Cathedral and St Augustine's Abbey are inscribed as World Heritage Sites. Human populations occur at high densities in south east England, and most habitats are greatly modified. Hence, any conservation activity has to be set within the context of human and agricultural landscapes. However, two key Nature Reserves lie within 2 miles of Canterbury. Blean Wood NR is an area of ancient woodland, while Stodmarsh NR (also a RAMSAR site) is an ancient reed bed. Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty within Kent include the chalk grasslands of the North Downs and the White Cliffs of Dover. There are also many areas where the conservation of the historic built environment is tied in very closely with that of the natural environment. Canterbury is also very convenient for trips to both London and the continent of Europe. An interesting series of field trips has been offered around these varied opportunities.

Yours sincerely

Nigel Leader-Williams, for the SCB 2002 Organising Committee.

The SCB2002 pages are maintained by Christine Eagle
email: C.M.Eagle@ukc.ac.uk
Conference email: scb2002@ukc.ac.uk
Last updated: 02.07.02