There will be sixteen invited symposia:

1. Integrating people and conservation: interdisciplinary approaches

Tuesday 16th July from 1015 to 1730
Keynes Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Peter Brosius, University of Georgia, USA, Katrina Brown, University of East Anglia, UK, Tracy Dobson, Michigan State University, USA, David Ellis, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK and Paige West, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA Detailsand Programme

Abstracts

2. Direct payments as an alternative approach to conservation investment

Monday 15th July from 1330 to 1730
Keynes Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Paul Ferraro, Georgia State University, USA and Agi Kiss, The World Bank, Washington DC, USA Details and Programme

Abstracts

3. Gerald Durrell’s legacy: managing species in human-modified landscapes

Tuesday 16th July from 1330 to 1730
Cornwallis Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Mary Pearl, Wildlife Preservation Trust International, New York, USA, Mark Stanley Price, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, Jersey, UK, Elaine Williams, Wildlife Preservation Trust Canada, Guelph, Canada Details and Programme

Abstracts

4. Mitigating unsustainable hunting and the bushmeat trade in tropical forest countries: using science to change practices

Thursday 18th July from 1015 to 1215
Keynes Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Elizabeth Bennett, Wildlife Conservation Society, Sarawak, Malaysia, Heather Eves, Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, Maryland, USA and David Wilkie, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, USA Details and Programme

Abstracts

5. Approaches to conserving exploited species in marine and terrestrial ecosystems

Thursday 18th July from 1330 to 1730
Keynes Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: EJ Milner-Gulland, Imperial College London, UK. , Mohammed Bakarr, Conservation International, Washington, DC, USA Details and programme

Abstracts

6. Sustained use and conservation of wild plants: building on traditional knowledge at the local people and protected area interface

Thursday 18th July from 1330 to 1730
Cornwallis Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Nan Vance, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Corvallis, USA and Tony Cunningham, People and Plants Programme, WWF UK, Godalming, UK Details and Programme

Abstracts

7. Conservation planning for the Cape Floristic Region: systematic identification of priority areas in a globally significant ecoregion

Wednesday 17th July from 1015 to 1215
Keynes Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Richard Cowling, University of Port Elizabeth, South Africa and Bob Pressey, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, Australia Details and Programme

Abstracts

8. Cultural landscapes and land-use: the conservation-society interface

Monday 15th July from 1330 to 1730
Cornwallis Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Martin Dieterich, DB&P Ecological Consultants, Germany and Jan van der Straaten, Tilburg University, The Netherlands Details and Programme

Abstracts

9. Ecological networks: carnivores, cores, and approaches for protecting wildlands

Tuesday 16th July from 1015 to 1500
Rutherford Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Barbara Dugelby, The Wildlands Project, Blanco, Texas, USA, David Johns, Portland State University and The Wildlands Project, Oregon, USA, Renato Massa, University of Milano Bicocca, Milano, Italy and Ken Vance-Borland, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA Details and Programme

Abstracts

10. Human-carnivore conflict: local solutions with global applications

Wednesday 17th July from 1330 to 1730
Keynes Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Adrian Treves, Conservation International, Princeton, USA and Ullas Karanth, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bangalore, India Details and Programme

Abstracts

11. Living with wildlife in Africa: conservation challenges and opportunities

Wednesday 17th July from 1330 to 1730
Cornwallis Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Chris Chimimba, University of Pretoria, South Africa, Paula Kahumbu, Kenya Wildlife Service, Nairobi, Kenya, Trinto Mugangu, UNDP-GEF, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nyawira Muthiga, Kenya Wildlife Service, Mombasa, Kenya and Jeff Worden, ILRI, Nairobi, Kenya Details and Programme

Abstracts

12. Protected areas, conservation, and people within a rural society: case studies from Myanmar

Tuesday 16th July from 1015 to 1215
Eliot Lecture Theatre 2

Organised by: U Ga, Myanmar Wildlife Division, Myanmar, Alan Rabinowitz, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York, USA, Chris Wemmer, Smithsonian Institution, Virginia, USA and William McShea, Smithsonian Institution, Virginia, USA Details and Programme

Abstracts

13. The future of biodiversity in Britain's agricultural landscape

Wednesday 17th July from 1015 to 1215
Cornwallis Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: William Sutherland, University of East Anglia, UK and Juliet Vickery, British Trust for Ornithology, UK Details and Programme

Abstracts

14. Global amphibian declines: is current research meeting conservation needs?

Monday 15th July from 1015 to 1215
Cornwallis Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Richard Griffiths, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK and Tim Halliday, The Open University, UK Details and Programme

Abstracts

15. Climate change and biodiversity: what are the solutions?

Thursday 18th July from 1015 to 1215
Cornwallis Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Jennifer Gill, University of East Anglia, UK and Andrew Watkinson, University of East Anglia, UK Details and Programme

Abstracts

16. Toward evidence-based conservation practice: a policy framework for co-ordinating science and practice

Monday 15th July from 1015 to 1215
Keynes Lecture Theatre 1

Organised by: Andrew Pullin, University of Birmingham, UK and William Sutherland, University of East Anglia, UK Details and Programme

Abstracts

1. Integrating people and conservation: interdisciplinary approaches Abstracts

Organised by:
Peter Brosius, University of Georgia, USA
Katrina Brown, University of East Anglia, UK
Tracy Dobson, Michigan State University, USA
David Ellis, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK
Paige West, Barnard College, Columbia University, USA
Emails: pbrosius@arches.uga.edu; K.brown@uea.ac.uk; Dobson@msu.edu; dmellis@treewoods.u-net.com; pwest@barnard.columbia.edu

Goals:

• To explore the integration of conservation with people and development through socially oriented analyses of contemporary institutions and practices of conservation, including ICDP, CBNRM, co-management and participatory models;
• To facilitate cross-fertilisation of ideas between social scientists working on issues of conservation (drawing on anthropology, development studies, legal studies and other disciplines) and conservation scientists; and,
• To consider appropriate mechanisms for collaboration between multiple actors in the sustainable management of ecosystems.

Justification:
In the past, top-down, command-and-control regulatory systems like national parks and wildlife reserves were the predominant methods used in efforts to conserve biological diversity. More recently, conservation practices have integrated with development. This has coincided with the adoption of language and objectives indicating that the needs of local people take centre stage. Currently, conservation practitioners are turning to methodologies such as eco-regional planning and trans-boundary conservation. All of these methodologies create mechanisms to regulate the ways in which people who rely upon natural resources use the biological diversity in need of protection.

The symposium will assess the multiple approaches to conservation undertaken by biologists over the past fifty years by analysing the institutions of conservation. It will also include examples of the lived experiences of conservation interventions from numerous sites throughout the world, demonstrating the similarities in problems of conservation intervention worldwide. This symposium will bring together social scientists from several disciplines which have addressed issues of the human role in biodiversity conservation to talk about the methods of conservation and the outcomes of their applications in diverse parts of the world. These disciplines include anthropology, development studies, economics, legal studies, natural resource management, and sociology. The following questions will be addressed: How is effective participation by local communities integrated in protected area design? How can grassroots organisations of local people be linked to conservation groups? Can we integrate conservation and development successfully? Does market integration provide incentives for indigenous people to conserve biodiversity? How can we integrate multiple disciplinary approaches in conservation and development to benefit both biodiversity and people?

Programme Abstracts

0900-0945: Plenary Address

Professor Fikrit Berkes Re-thinking Community-Based Conservation

0945-1015: Coffee Break

1015-1215: Symposium Part 1

The Institutions of Conservation: Analyses and Approaches (2 hours)

1015 - 1030: David Ellis and Paige West Histories of the Status of People in Conservation
1030 - 1045: J. Peter Brosius Seeing Natural and Cultural Communities: Technologies of Visualization in Contemporary Conservation
1045 - 1100: Eeva Berglund Which Environment? Anthropological Insights Into Nature and Economic Imperatives
1100 - 1115: James Carrier Seeing the World: Institutional Pressures on Conservation Activists and Managers in Jamaica
1115 - 1130: Aili Pyhala Participation, Institutions and Protected Area Management in Peruvian Amazonia
1130 - 1145: Sergio Rosendo Institutional Synergies in Extractive Reserves in Amazonia
1145 - 1200: Roy Ellen (discussant) Social Science and Conservation
1200 - 1215: Discussion

1215-1330: Lunch

Symposium Part 2

People and Conservation in Action: Case Studies and Collaborations (3.5 hours)

1330-1500: Case studies

1330 - 1345: Michael Dorsey Tracking Political Economies & Ecologies in the Upper Amazon Basin
1345 - 1400: Colin Filer and Flip van Helden Integrated Conservation and Development in Papua New Guinea
1400 - 1415: Simon Foale Tetepare Island (Solomon Islands): Conservation Magnet and Can of Worms
1415 - 1430: Maren Tomforde People and Parks in Northern Thailand: Experiences from Comparative Ethnographic Research
1430 - 1445: Carla Morsello Indigenous Peoples and Market Integration: Paradise, Hell or Purgatory in Brazil?
1445 - 1500: Discussion

1500-1530: Tea Break

15.30-17.30: Collaborations and New Directions

1530 - 1545: Mafaniso Hara Co-Management and the Role of Users in Decision-Making in the Artisanal Fisheries Sector in Malawi
1545 - 1600: Tracy Dobson Advancing Community Participation: The Need for National Policy and Education for Stakeholders?
1600 - 1615: Ruchi Pant Customs and Folk Law in Natural Resources Conservation: Cases from Nepal and North East India
1615 - 1630: Martha Macintyre and Simon Foale Between Rocks and Hard Places: Developing Local Understandings of Environmental Change in PNG
1630 - 1645: Melissa Leach and James Fairhead Landscape Histories and Conservation Grids: Memory and Nostalgia in the West African Forest Zone
1645 - 1700: Katrina Brown Transforming Institutions and Decision-Making for Integrated Conservation and Development
1700 - 1715: Dawn Chatty (discussant) Bridging Disciplinary Divides in Conservation
1715 - 1730: Discussion

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• To bring together scientists, practitioners and policymakers to explore the theory and use of direct performance payments for ecosystem conservation; and,
• To contrast this innovative approach to the more commonly used indirect interventions taking place around the world.

Justification:
The world’s species are disproportionately concentrated in low-income nations. The citizens of these nations, however, have pressing needs for food and shelter, and thus have strong incentives to convert native ecosystems to other uses. To achieve meaningful conservation at a global scale, biodiversity advocates must provide landholders and other stakeholders in low-income nations with effective counter-incentives. International organisations and donors have contributed billions of dollars in attempts to provide such incentives, but the loss of habitat and species continues unabated. While donor frustration grows, an emerging debate rages among academics and practitioners as to the most effective policies for conservation. One side of the debate advocates an ‘indirect approach’. ICDP, CBNRM and similar ventures aim to protect ecosystems through targeted local development investments, and are the most widespread form of investment aimed at generating conservation incentives in low-income nations. The other side of the debate advocates a relatively new ‘direct approach’, in which conservationists identify priority areas for conservation and pay those who control these areas to protect the ecosystem from degradation. The payments are explicitly tied to conservation outcomes. The underlying assumption of direct payment approaches is that those who gain value from ecosystem services, including biodiversity protection, should explicitly pay for those services, just as they would pay for any other goods or services that could be produced on the land.

What should conservation practitioners and donors do to make their contributions most effective in both conserving biodiversity and improving the lot of the poor? Indirect investment advocates argue that their approach is less costly over the long run, empowers local communities to conserve their own ecosystems and yields both conservation and economic development benefits. Direct payment advocates argue that their approach is more cost-effective, less complex and more likely to generate conservation results. This symposium will bring together scientists and practitioners to explore recent experiences with direct payment initiatives and debate their applicability to other areas of the world. Such sharing of experiences and open debate is required if the global conservation community is to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of its efforts to protect endangered ecosystems.

Programme Abstracts

1330 - 1345: Agi Kiss Indirect vs. direct incentives for biodiversity conservation
1345 - 1400: Paul Ferraro and David Simpson The economics of conservation investments
1400 - 1415: Edgar Ortiz Programme of Payments for Forest Environmental Services in Costa Rica
1415 - 1430: Richard Rice Conservation concessions: a new tool for biodiversity conservation in the tropics
1430 - 1445: Kess Musters, Hans de Graaf and Wim ter Keurs Direct payment strategies on Dutch farmland
1445 - 1500: Questions

1500 - 1530: Tea Break

1530 - 1545: Jon Lovett, Deborah Kirby, Caroline Holmes and Tom van Rensburg Direct payments for conservation in the UK: an example from the North York Moors
1545 - 1600: Helen Giochi Land Trusts and direct payments as mechanisms to secure land for conservation
1600 - 1615: Joanna C. Durbin, Aristide Andrianarimisa, Philip J. Decosse, C. Andrew Keck, and A. Frank Hawkins The potential for conservation contracts to contribute to biodiversity conservation in Madagascar
1615 - 1630: Questions
1630 - 1730: Discussion/Debate

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• To present examples of the broad array of current research conducted at the species level;
• To enumerate promising avenues for future species-focused conservation research with important applications to informing conservation policy; and,
• To demonstrate the essential role of species management in human-dominated landscapes around the world.

Justification:
It is timely, especially at the home of an institute named for famed species conservationist Gerald Durrell, to examine the current practice of species-oriented conservation in human-modified landscapes. While research on issues such as the role of fire, overharvesting, or wildlife disease comprise important components of the conservation research agenda, research on individual species remains, for scientists around the world, a compelling approach to confronting biodiversity loss. The reasons range from the importance of species as flagships for rallying human communities to the fact that questions as complex as defining areas of genetic endemism must start with analysis of a species’ range.

This symposium, organised by directors of three conservation organisations founded by Durrell, will address a range of approaches to management of species recovery in ecosystems affected by human activities. While it has been advocated that ecosystem-level approaches to biodiversity conservation are more efficient in terms of numbers protected, this symposium will explore a range of species-based research that has produced exciting innovations and successes in biodiversity conservation. We will discuss how innovations in integrating disparate intellectual disciplines are enriching species conservation research. Moreover, we hope to demonstrate that some essential conservation issues in human dominated landscapes can only be addressed through a species-level focus.

Programme Abstracts

Introduction
1330 - 1333: Lee Durrell Brief Introduction: The Legacy of Gerald Durrell

Species Studies

1333 - 1345: Claudio Valladares-Padua and Christiana S. Martin Metapopulation management of tamarins in remnants of Atlantic Coastal Forest
1345 - 1400: Manori Gunawardena, H.K. Janaka, L.K.A. Jayasinghe, Ajith Sandanayake, Eric Wikramanayake, Devaka Weerakoon and Prithiviraj Fernand Elephants In A "Traditional" Land-Use Landscape: Options For Conservation
1400 - 1415: Axel Morenschlager The Success of Species-Oriented Approaches in the Reintroduction of Canadian Swift Foxes
1415 - 1430: Jonah Ratsimbazafy and Adam Witt Raising the Flagship Species: The Black and White Ruffed Lemur of Madagascar

Linking Themes

1430 - 1445: Alonso Aguirre and Anthony Allchurch Species As Ecosystem Health Sentinels in Mosaic Landscapes
1445 - 1500: R. Sukumar Wildlife-Human Conflicts: Ecological Issues in Relation to Management

1500 - 1530: Tea Break

Area Aspects

1530 - 1545: Martin Acosta, Lourdes Mugica, Orlando Torres, Dennis Denis, Ariam Jimenez, Omar Labrada y Antonio Rodriguez Colonial Waterbird Conservation across Rice Paddies and Wetlands in Cuba
1545 - 1600: Laury Cullen Jr. Conservation in Agricultural/Forest Mosaic Landscapes in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
1600 - 1615: John E. Fa and Mark Stanley-Price Piecing Together Fragments of Nature: Initiatives for Restoring Island Biodiversity
1615 - 1630: Fred Koontz Bioscapes: A Paradigm for Biological Conservation in Human-Modified Regional Landscapes

Tools

1630 - 1645: Don Melnick Species Based Approaches to Broader Scale Conservation of Genetic Diversity
1645 - 1700: Joanna Durbin, Anna Feistner, Richard Lewis and Lala Jean Rakotoniaina Species Recovery as a Catalyst for Capacity Development in Madagascar
1700 - 1715: Christopher Clark and Susan Elbin Managing Teams for Endangered Species Recovery in Human-Modified Landscapes

Summing Up

1715 - 1730: Mary Pearl and Elaine Williams Future Directions for Species-Based Conservation in Human-Modified Landscapes

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• To present state-of-the-science research on the scale and causes of the bushmeat trade in tropical forests;
• To show how research findings are being applied to change unsustainable hunting practices; and,
• To present and share research findings from different organisations, as a means of promoting reform of conservation policies surrounding the wildlife trade emanating from tropical forests.

Justification:
Hunting of wildlife for food is arguably the most significant and immediate threat to the conservation of biological diversity in the tropics. Unsustainable hunting risks the extinction of species unique to tropical forests and the irreversible loss of value they confer to communities and to the world. The problem is especially acute in tropical forests because of their relatively low productivity, and because they are being rapidly opened up to extract timber and other resources. In the last decade a growing number of studies have raised concerns about the scale of wildlife exploitation for food. Only very recently, however, have researchers begun to look at the problem at national and global scales, and to apply their growing knowledge of the problem to change policies and practices.

This symposium will, for the first time, present information on the scale of the wildlife meat trade in tropical forests around the world, and show how research is being used within a set of pilot projects to reduce unsustainable hunting practices and help push for policy reform. By doing so, this symposium will show the extraordinary threat that hunting for food poses to wildlife conservation and, most importantly, how scientific data can and should be applied to address one of the foremost challenges facing conservation biologists today.

Programme Abstracts

The scale of the issue

1015 - 1030: Elizabeth L. Bennett et al. The scale of hunting and wild meat trade in tropical forests today
1030 - 1045: Kate Abernethy et al. Scale and dynamics of the wild meat trade in Gabon
1045 - 1100: Lynn M. Clayton Scale and dynamics of the wild meat trade in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Applying research to solutions

1100 - 1115: Richard Bodmer and Pablo Puertas Density dependent responses to hunting in Amazonian mammals
1115 - 1130: Paul Elkan et al. Wildlife conservation and management in timber concessions in northern Republic of Congo
1130 - 1145: John E. Fa and David Wilkie Reducing demand by developing economically-acceptable alternatives to wildlife meat
1145 - 1200: Heather E. Eves and Michael Hutchins Building a constituency for change: the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force
1200 - 1215: Discussion led by Caroline Tutin, entitled "Science and the bushmeat trade: where next?"

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• To facilitate cross-fertilisation of ideas between disciplines addressing similar issues in terrestrial and marine ecosystems;
• To explore the techniques developed in theoretical ecology to model spatially heterogeneous multi-species systems, and identify areas where progress still needs to be made;
• To discuss a range of possible policy tools that may be appropriate for improving sustainability in both cases; and,
• To draw out the lessons that can be learnt from past experience of using particular approaches for the conservation of exploited ecosystems.

Justification:
The problems of management of fisheries (particularly on coral reefs) and of bushmeat hunting in tropical forests are in some respects very similar. In both cases it is very difficult to obtain reliable biological data, a variety of different species are exploited together, and the system may be spatially heterogeneous. These factors lead to high levels of uncertainty surrounding the sustainability of use, and to the potential for severe over-exploitation of the most vulnerable species. The bushmeat problem has been subject to widespread recent international concern, and there is much ongoing active research towards finding appropriate policy responses. One policy tool that has recently been investigated in some depth for fisheries is no-take areas or marine reserves. These are promising both as a buffer against uncertainty and as a spatially explicit management tool.

The symposium will discuss policy responses to unsustainable use, and include speakers on both human and ecological aspects of the problem, as well as both theoreticians and practitioners. The symposium will include discussion of cutting edge research in theoretical ecology, in the areas of modelling spatial heterogeneity and multi-species systems. The symposium is also of topical conservation interest because ways to tackle bushmeat overexploitation are of current concern to many international organisations. It will address the use of marine reserves and the treatment of uncertainty in conservation, which are also topics of major current interest.

Programme Abstracts

Introduction and Symposium Overview (Chair: M. Bakarr)

1330 - 1345: E.J. Milner-Gulland The aim of the symposium: Approaches to conserving exploited species in marine and terrestrial ecosystems

Exploitation patterns and sustainability issues in marine and terrestrial systems: lessons from modelling (Chair: E.J. Milner-Gulland)

1345 - 1400: Hugh Possingham et al. Active adaptive monitoring of wildlife for conservation, control and harvesting
1400 - 1415: Niclas Jonzen & Per Lundberg Incorporating habitat selection and dispersal when modelling marine reserves

Exploitation patterns and sustainability issues in marine and terrestrial systems: lessons from the field (Chair: M. Bakarr)

1415 - 1430: Callum Roberts et al. Evidence for the effectiveness of marine reserves, and their usefulness in multi-species systems
1430 - 1445: Carlos Peres Spatial heterogeneity in game vertebrate biomass and bushmeat hunting patterns in Amazonian forests
1445 - 1500: Alejandro Robles and Maria de los Angeles Carvajal Towards integrated conservation in the Gulf of California

1500 - 1530: Tea Break

1530 - 1545: José Maria Cardoso da Silva et al. Establishing biodiversity corridors in the Brazilian Atlantic forest

Synthesis and Discussion -- Bridging science and policy (Chair: E.J. Milner-Gulland)

1545 - 1600: Sylvia Earle Strategies for a sea change in marine conservation
1600 - 1615: Mohamed Bakarr The bushmeat policy problem and approaches to addressing it - lessons from West Africa
1615 - 1730: Plenary Discussion

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• To bring awareness and understanding of the uses and interdependency of wild plants and people; and,
• To evaluate the kinds of strategies that have been and are being implemented to sustain and conserve plant species that have served people for centuries and continue to do so today.

Justification:
Wild plants in their native habitats continue to be at risk and hundreds of species are on the brink of extinction. Not only have land use practices resulted in altered ecosystems and massive loss of habitat, an exploding commercial trade in desirable species such as cacti, orchids, and plants that supply the mass market with herbal medicines have had severe impacts on wild populations. This is occurring at a time when governments are beginning to recognise the full value of native plants for food security and their important contribution to nutritional balance in diets of people who historically use the plants. An international problem that exists in prosperous and poor nations alike, successful conservation requires understanding not only the biology of the plants but also the full human dimension of the issue.

This symposium will introduce the topic with an historic overview of the use of plants for medicinals. It will look at the current issues and examine diverse approaches for addressing the commercial exploitation of locally important native plant species and efforts to conserve the plants of home. Speakers will present studies and issues from different parts of the globe, from the Nepal Himalaya, Central America and the Caribbean, to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, while describing efforts at developing information needed to address both sustainable use and conservation. The profound and enduring interdependency of people and plants will be further illustrated in the case studies.

Programme Abstracts

1330 - 1400: Terry Turner Medicinal plants in Wales; historic perspective and current developments
1400 - 1415: Nancy Turner Cultural keystone species: implications for ecological conservation and restoration
1415 - 1430: T. Lantz A thorny issue: devil's club commodification, conservation & cultural knowledge
1430 - 1445: Y. Aumeeruddy-Thomas Ecological sustainability and management of highly threatened medicinal plants in the Nepal Himalaya
1445 - 1500: Discussion

1500 - 1530: Tea Break

1530 - 1545: R. Hoft Bwindi"s herbalists (Uganda): what do they collect and where?
1545 - 1600: A. Cunningham Conflict, conservation and complexity: reviewing multiple-use zone implementation around Bwindi-Impenetrable National Park
1600 - 1615: S. Schmitt Applying forest stewardship council certification to Kenyan woodcarvings: opportunities and constraints
1615 - 1630: N. Vance From Taxus to Trillium: the collection and use of native plants in the northwestern US.
1630 - 1700: G. Nabhan Documenting and promoting sustainable harvest of wild foods, medicines and basketry materials: eco-labels and indigenous para-ecologists.
1700 - 1730 Discussion led by Dr. Cunningham

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• To examine the real-world context of interaction between theory and practice, evidence and experience, and priority area identification and implementation issues; and,
• To demonstrate how numerous biodiversity features, namely land classes, taxon (plant and vertebrate) distribution records, and the spatial components of ecological and evolutionary processes can be incorporated within the planning process

Justification:
The Global Environment Facility-funded Cape Action Plan for the Environment (CAPE) Project was completed in September 2000. The biodiversity and socio-economic analyses that arose from CAPE yielded numerous projects aimed at retaining and restoring the globally significant biodiversity of South Africa’s Cape Floristic Region (CFR). Many of these projects are currently being, or will soon be implemented. The conservation planning component CAPE, which identified many of these projects, was structured according to systematic principles and protocols. This is the first time that this planning process has been applied to an entire ecoregion. Consequently, many advances in systematic conservation planning arose from the CAPE process.

This symposium brings together a selection of the conservation planning studies undertaken as part of CAPE, the involvement of conservation biologists from Africa, Australia and North America, including both experienced and young researchers. The papers include new and interesting insights on a number of key questions. What is the efficacy of biodiversity surrogates? How can spatial analysis of threats to biodiversity, and of reservation gaps for representation of biodiversity patterns and processes, be incorporated in the planning process? How can conservation targets be formulated for biodiversity pattern and process? How best to incorporate the conservation requirements of large- and medium-sized mammals? How best to identify a reserve system that can achieve multiple targets for a diverse array of biodiversity features? How can realistic models be developed that predict the costs of conservation? How best to assess financial and institutional constraints and opportunities for implementing priority actions in a real-world context?

Programme Abstracts

0900-0945: Plenary Address

Professor Richard Cowling Planning for multiple biodiversity targets: a case study from the Cape Floristic Region

0945-1015: Coffee Break

1015 - 1030: Amanda Lombard Efficiency of land class versus species locality data in conservation planning for the Cape Floristic Region
1030 - 1045: David Richardson Current patterns of habitat transformation and future threats to biodiversity in terrestrial ecosystems of the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa
1045 - 1100: Bob Pressey Formulating conservation targets for biodiversity pattern and process in the Cape Floristic Region
1100 - 1115: Discussion
1115 - 1130: Mathieu Rouget The current configuration of protected areas in the Cape Floristic Region – reservation bias and representation of biodiversity patterns and processes
1130 - 1145: Graham Kerley Options for the conservation of large- and medium-sized mammals in the Cape Floristic Region
1145 - 1200: Genevieve Pence On- and off-reserve conservation strategies for the Agulhas plain, South Africa: a financial perspective
1200 - 1215: Discussion

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• To summarise key topics such as conservation ethics, economics of conservation, the legal basis for conservation, local and national conservation policies, tourism/recreation and conservation, and the agriculture-conservation interaction with a specific focus on grazing management;
• To present examples of interaction for mutual benefit between conservation, agriculture and recreational use and tourism;
• To present examples for programs fostering lower land-use intensity and thus conservation; and,
• To compare the legal basis for nature conservation in Europe and in the US.

Justification:
The symposium attempts to illuminate the conservation - land use interface from a North American and a European perspective. The different land-use and conservation approaches in North America and Europe will provide the basis for a fruitful exchange and learning experience. Comparison of the rich variety of approaches to conservation from different parts of Europe will add considerable diversity to the symposium. The legal basis is particularly important in this context, because some European countries have excellent laws, but lack the legal system granting implementation, for example EnCom in Germany. In contrast, North America apparently has strong means for implementation but partially lacks a sufficient legal basis, for example for land-use planning.

The symposium will combine natural and social scientists with their particular approaches to conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. Talks will summarize key issues such as conservation ethics, economic valuation of ecosystem services, the legal basis for nature conservation, conservation policy and the agriculture-conservation interaction. Case examples will be added to illustrate key issues. It is our understanding that sustainable use must include the preservation of natural diversity, because such diversity is nature's currency to adapt to environmental change and thus a precondition for long-term productivity.

Programme Abstracts

Cultural landscapes and land-use

1330 - 1400: H.J. Küster Cultural landscapes
1400 - 1415: D. Baldock Agricultural policies sustaining the European countryside
1415 - 1430: F. Berendse & D. Kleijn Agri-environment schemes do not effectively protect biodiversity in Dutch agricultural landscapes
1430 - 1445: W. Schumacher Land-use as the precondition for increase and maintenance of biodiversity in grassland ecosystems
1445 - 1500: Beinlich et al. The pig grazing project: prospects of a novel management tool

1500 - 1530: Tea Break

The conservation-society interface

1530 - 1545: P. List Aldo Leopold on the ethical and aesthetic foundations for conserving forest biodiversity
1545 - 1615: J. Verschuuren Legal basis of land use and conservation under the EC habitats directive and the US endangered species act
1615 - 1645: M. Wilson The geography of ecosystem services: maximizing the value of landscapes in land use conservation
1645 - 1700: H. Coccossis Nature conservation and tourism in the Aegean islands
1700 - 1730: J. Szyzsko The foundations of Poland's cultural landscape protection-conservation politics
(Reserve) M. Joos The Filsalb project: communities as mediators - the usefulness of acceptance in nature conservation
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• To draw between continent comparisons in planning effective protected networks; and,
• To produce better-focused ideas, and a rich variety of implementation proposals, and perhaps even new enterprises within the broad discipline of ecological network planning.

Justification:
It is now widely recognized among conservation planners and biologists that effective protected area networks must be planned and implemented on large, regional scales. Such networks must be established rapidly and extensively at different scales and in all areas of the world if biodiversity, at its many levels, is to be conserved. In 1995 the European Ecological Network and The Wildlands Project from North America met to discuss their respective approaches to conservation. The Wildlands Project has been a pioneer in large-scale conservation, focusing on top carnivores as keystone and umbrella species, on landscape connectivity, and on conservation planning using the principles of conservation biology. Strong emphasis has been placed both on biodiversity conservation and on wilderness values. In contrast,in a more heavily populated part of the world, the European Ecological Network has been developing a large-scale model also based on conservation biology principles, but with a heavier emphasis on restoration in both a more complex political context than North America. In the 6 years since this meeting, Europe has seen the Large Carnivore Initiative and other major conservation efforts, while The Wildlands Project has produced, jointly and alone, several North American regional conservation proposals, and seen aspects of some of them implemented.

This symposium will draw between-continent comparisons, in different aspects of network establishment and implementation, through a range of key questions. What choices to make within a range of different conservation concepts, such as, wilderness restoration, agricultural networks, or urban greenways? What priorities of scale to use, if any? What methodological approaches to follow such as umbrella or focal species at different scales, or physical planning? What problems are encountered in different areas of the world associated with physical, economic and historical geography, and what are the possible approaches to solving them? How can socio-economic perspectives be best incorporated in establishing effective ecological networks in areas more or less exploited for human economy? What significance and limits can be placed on the concept of "multiple use"?

Programme Abstracts

1015 - 1045: Carlos Carroll The role of focal species in regional conservation plans: integrating population viability analysis and reserve selection algorithms
1045 - 1100: Patrick J. Comer Ecoregional assessment: identifying landscape networks for biodiversity conservation
1100 - 1115: Kim Heinemeyer Use of traditional ecological knowledge in conservation area design
1115 - 1130: David Johns The application of the Wildlands Project model outside North America
1130 - 1145: Alan Watson Featherstone Opportunities for large-scale restoration of the Caledonian forest in the Highlands of Scotland
1145 - 1200: Andrew Bennett From design to implementation: Insights from ecological networks in Southern Australia
1200 - 1215: Bob Pressey Priority conservation areas: testing alternative approaches with simulations of future land uses

1215-1330: Lunch

1330 - 1400: Dave Foreman The Sky Islands Wildlands Network: The link between Neoarctic and Neotropical in a North American wildlands network
1400 - 1415: Renato Massa The use of focal species for developing ecological networks in woodland and farmland
1415 - 1430: Gloria Pungetti Implementation strategies for ecololgical networks
1430 - 1445: Ken Vance-Borland Challenges in adapting the principles and models of conservation planning to disparate settings
1445 - 1500: Discussion

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• To provide a forum for researchers and managers working on carnivore conservation to evaluate successes and failures in the management of human-carnivore conflict;
• To synthesise universal insights into human-carnivore conflict from diverse local experiences in an international, data-driven, multidisciplinary context; and,
• To promote links between participants and improve future communication about the management of carnivores in and around human-modified landscapes.

Justification:
In many parts of the world, changing human attitudes and land-use practices are allowing carnivore populations to recover from decades of persecution and extermination campaigns. However, these successes in carnivore recoveries are also reviving or engendering fresh conflicts when carnivores threaten humans and their domestic animals. For managers, the most critical challenge in the coming decades will be to mitigate human-carnivore conflict wherever carnivores range near human settlements and livestock-producing areas. Many creative strategies for conflict-mitigation are being devised and tested around the world, and lessons learned from them often have applicability to other regions and other carnivore taxa. This argues for improved, frequent communication between carnivore researchers and managers in different countries. Moreover, resolution of human-carnivore conflict often involves collaboration among different stakeholders, lawmakers, state agencies and researchers. Recent successes and failures in preventing or ameliorating human-carnivore conflicts must therefore be disseminated widely and internationally to ensure the future conservation of self-sustaining populations of carnivores while minimising conflict with human communities.

The symposium will examine and address a conservation issue that involves local people and endangered carnivores, because carnivore predation on livestock often adversely affects the livelihoods of underprivileged social groups, particularly in developing countries. Positive conservation outcomes are possible only if the needs of affected communities can be met without compromising the basic ecological needs of the carnivore populations. State agencies, hunter’s associations, affluent large-scale agricultural and livestock producers, tourism operators and other affected groups can become either potent allies or opponents of conservation. Therefore, human-carnivore conflict issues need to be addressed with full consideration of the attendant socio-political, legal and ecological challenges. The symposium will undertake this task under three broad themes: socio-political dimensions of human-carnivore coexistence, predisposing factors that lead to human-carnivore conflict, and strategies for preventing and reacting to the conflict.

Programme Abstracts

1330 - 1345: U. Karanth Human-carnivore conflict: strategies for mitigation and prevention
1345 - 1400: A. Wydeven and Lisa Naughton Public attitudes toward managing problem wolves
1400 - 1415: Z. Andersone et al. Involving Baltic and Scandinavian hunters in large carnivore research and management
1415 - 1430: R. Woodroffe and J. Ginsberg Human-wildlife conflict as a cause of global carnivore decline
1430 - 1445: J. Linnell et al. Livestock husbandry and problem individuals: studies of Eurasian lynx in Norway and France
1445 - 1500: Discussion

1500 - 1530: Tea Break

1530 - 1545: M. Ogada et al. Large carnivore predation on livestock varies with husbandry practices in Laikipia, Kenya
1545 - 1600: Y. Jhala and D. Sharma Causes of wolf attack on livestock and children: implications for Indian wolf conservation
1600 - 1615: C. Mishra and T.McCarthy The role of incentive schemes in conserving the snow leopard uncia uncia
1615 - 1630: J. Shivik Conservation biology in the real world: non-lethal techniques for managing predation
1630 - 1645: Volpi et al. Anti-wolf barriers to manage captive and wild wolves and protect livestock
1645 - 1700: A. Mertens et al. The effect of damage prevention methods on large carnivore-livestock conflicts in Romania
1700 - 1715: A. Treves Conserving carnivores in human-modified ecosystems: strategies for the new millennium
1715 - 1730: Discussion

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• To highlight and discuss successful conservation initiatives undertaken in Africa;
• To critically evaluate and discuss conservation failures, particularly with regard to issues such as political instabilities, policy conflicts, education, and HIV/AIDS;
• To discuss whether Africa itself has its own perspective on how to address its conservation issues;
• To discuss and highlight funding and training opportunities and constraints in conservation science in Africa; and,
• To discuss how best to address emerging conservation issues in Africa, such as climate change, pollinator conservation, gene harnessing, and forest ecosystem changes.

Justification:
Research on Africa’s unique and spectacular wildlife has provided the foundation for many discoveries in animal behaviour, ecosystem dynamics, and the co-existence of humans and wildlife, and inspired generations of field ecologists and wildlife enthusiasts throughout the world. Today, Africa’s vast open spaces, the teeming herds of herbivores and their predators, the ancient forests and unique lakes, coral reefs and deserts are threatened by destructive land-use practices, illicit trade in wildlife products, and rapidly growing human populations which survive below the poverty line, exacerbated further by the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS. Halting threats, finding solutions to ongoing threats, and restoring degraded habitats are extremely difficult challenges considering the socio-economic status of the African continent. It is in this context that cross-country and cross-regional partnerships and collaborations could contribute significantly to the sharing and the exchange of knowledge and experiences.

The symposium will highlight the status of conservation challenges and solutions in Africa. We hope to ensure an open and productive debate on current and future conservation challenges facing Africa, within the two sub-themes of ecosystems, processes and change, and of social dimensions. Discussions of conservation challenges facing the continent will be open and realistic. Conservation successes will also be highlighted, particularly those developed within an African context that could serve as benchmarks for other viable initiatives. Similarly, the symposium intends to learn from both internal as well as external opinions, that could be incorporated into consolidated strategies for an appropriate way forward for biological conservation in Africa.

Programme ( to be chaired by Belinda Reyers) Abstracts

1330 - 1415: Richard Leakey Past, present and future friends for conservation: possible options in the 21 century
1415 - 1430: Robin Reid People and wildlife in African landscapes: is the future of their co-existence a reality or wishful thinking?
1430 - 1445: Albert van Jaarsveld and Nyawira Muthiga Climate change as an important threat to biodiversity conservation in Africa: fact or fiction?
1445 - 1500: Connal Eardley and Mervyn Mansell Pollinator conservation for human survival

1500 - 1530: Tea Break

1530 - 1545: Trinto Mugangu et al. Forests: are they the last frontier for conservation in Africa?
1545 - 1600: Philip Muruthi Promoting large-scale conservation in Africa: Issues and some ways forward
1600 - 1615: Jeff Worden and Christian Chimimba Conflict and disease: conservation’s greatest enemy in Africa
1615 - 1630: Lisa Naughton and Paula Kahumbu Conserving elephants in forest fragments: biodiversity and local community concerns
1630 - 1645: Trinto Mugangu Funding challenges: is the donor the prosecutor, judge and executioner or is there a problem with the African recipient?
1645 - 1700: Johan du Toit and Belinda Reyers Community-based conservation and transboundary parks: are they effectively conserving African biodiversity?
1700 - 1730: Panel Discussion (to include closing remarks by Paula Kahumbu and Chris Chimimba)

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• To increase awareness of key conservation issues in Myanmar;
• To expose the international conservation community to current projects and programmes in Myanmar; and,
• To facilitate contacts between Myanmar wildlife biologists and the international conservation community.

Justification:
Tropical countries, in general, and Southeast Asia, in particular, face the challenge of determining how people can live amid biodiversity. Myanmar is the largest mainland country in Southeast Asia and possesses the largest diversity of habitats from tropical rainforest to alpine meadows within its borders. Myanmar also has experienced a tumultuous history in the last century, which has hindered conservation efforts and left the country largely rural, with one of the lowest per capita incomes in the world. Equally, the potential for biodiversity conservation in Myanmar is considerable, given that the country retains 40% of its original forest cover. However, conserving biodiversity within this country demands a focus on working with local people to sustain both agricultural and conservation efforts.

This symposium will bring together all major international scientific and conservation organisations working in the country as well as selected staff of Myanmar's Division of Wildlife and Nature Conservation to explore current conservation issues facing the country. This symposium will serve as a model for those trying to practice conservation within countries whose landscape has long been dominated by people. We hope the symposium will facilitate contacts between Myanmar conservationists and ecologists, and the international conservation community.

Programme Abstracts

1015 - 1030: U Ga Biodiversity conservation in Myanmar: issues to be resolved and actions to be implemented
1030 - 1045: Saw Tun Khaing and Madhu Rao A status review of the protected area system in Myanmar
1045 - 1100: Aung U Myint et al. Losing it by using it: Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected area in Myanmar
1100 - 1115: Jake Brunner et al. Deforestation trends and patterns in Burma: 1990-2000
1115 - 1130: Peter Leimgruber et al. The human footprint in Myanmar’s elephant ranges–prioritizing elephant conservation
1130 - 1145: Paul Bates and Khin Maung Swe Bat conservation in South-East Myanmar
1145 - 1200: Steven Platt et al. Reptile conservation issues in Myanmar: focus on turtles and crocodilians
1200 - 1215: Alan Rabinowitz et al. Exploration, surveys, and conservation of large forest blocks in Myanmar

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• To review the changes in biodiversity on farmland and the social, technical and economic processes underlying this;
• To examine the effectiveness of various possible solutions to biodiversity declines including modifications of existing farming practices, agri-environment initiatives and habitat restoration; and,
• To suggest visions which can balance the conflicting demands of biodiversity, agriculture, rural economies, tourism, consumers and taxpayers.

Justification:
Agriculture is accepted as one of the major causes of changes in biodiversity within the UK. There have been dramatic declines in many previously common species across a broad range of taxonomic groups. Following BSE and then foot and mouth, there have been calls for radical changes within the agricultural sector, with the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair stating ‘The opportunity to change direction is the silver lining in the European farming crisis’. It is clear that current agriculture is unsatisfactory from the perspective of farmers, economists, consumers and conservationists.

This symposium will review the problems within UK agriculture and outline the possible options for the direction in which agriculture should now move. The symposium will first review the changes in biodiversity in farmland and the likely causes of change. Speakers will then examine the evidence for the effectiveness of various measures including organic farming, integrated farm management, agri-environmental schemes, and conservation programmes targeted at individual species.

Programme Abstracts

1015 - 1030: Juliet Vickery and Jeremy Wilson The decline in farmland biodiversity in Britain: patterns and processes
1030 - 1045: Rhys Green Responses of Farmland Birds to Conservation Management
1045 - 1100: David MacDonald et al. How can farming practices restore biodiversity? lessons from organic farming and integrated farming systems
1100 - 1115: Martin Warren et al The importance of agri-environment schemes for conserving insect biodiversity
1115 - 1130: Jon Marshall Agri-environment support schemes - what do they deliver for plant species conservation
1130 - 1145: Gareth Edwards-Jones What makes farmers adopt conservation schemes?
1145 - 1200: William Sutherland What are the options for the countryside?
1200 - 1215: Discussion

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• To provide a concise overview of how far research into amphibian declines has progressed over the past decade;
• To address the issue of how well research priorities have met conservation needs over this period; and,
• To identifying gaps that can be filled by future work.

Justification:
The issue of global declines in amphibian populations has received widespread attention since the First World Congress of Herpetology was held in Canterbury in 1989. The formation of the IUCN/SSC Declining Amphibian Population Task Force created a focus for research activities in this area, and it is now generally accepted that amphibians are suffering from multiple agents of decline. Whilst amphibians have proved amenable subjects for experimental tests of some agents of decline, for example, acidification, UV radiation and pollutants, the impact of such factors on long-term population dynamics are poorly understood. Moreover, the issue of whether amphibians are declining faster than other taxa, and thereby warrant special attention, is controversial.

This symposium will review a number of key issues at the interface between research and implementation in the amphibian decline debate. Drawing upon an international team of researchers, it will highlight those areas where science has, and has not, played a significant role in informing practice. It will also serve to draw attention to those areas where difficulties may arise between policy and practice, and the dilemma of curtailing data collection in favour of conservation action. In addition to identifying those areas of future research that are most urgent, the symposium should help to clarify the context of the amphibian decline issue within the wider biodiversity crisis.

Programme Abstracts

1015 - 1030: Tim Halliday Amphibian population declines: their wider significance for conservation biology
1030 - 1045: Benedikt Schmidt Dynamics and demography of amphibians: the pitfalls of count data for population assessment
1045 - 1100: Per Sjögren-Gulve Too much or not enough metapopulation consideration in amphibian conservation?
1100 - 1115: Jean-Marc Hero Managing amphibian declines in Australia: global implications
1115 - 1130: James Collins Emerging wildlife diseases and amphibian biodiversity
1130 - 1145: Peter Daszak et al. Pathogen pollution and global amphibian declines
1145 - 1200: Jim Foster Using research to inform UK amphibian conservation policy
1200 - 1215: Discussion

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• To assess the major processes by which climate change can influence biodiversity;
• To review the evidence for each of these processes and their likely impacts;
• To consider how these impacts can potentially be mitigated; and,
• To assess the opportunities for conservation that responding to climate change may present

Justification
Global climate change is amongst the most important and dramatic of current threats to wildlife conservation. Although the issue of climate change has received a great deal of attention, this has been largely focussed on predictions of socio-economic and infrastructure consequences. Where the potential ecological effects have been considered, the focus amongst policy makers has been on the role of biodiversity as goods and services for human populations. Climate change has the potential to dramatically influence global biodiversity but it may also provide an ideal forum for innovative thinking about conservation strategies and the opportunities that may arise.

This symposium will address the major ways in which concerns over the impact of climate change on biodiversity can be addressed. Each of the presentations will consider different potential solutions such as carbon reduction and storage policies, species dispersal and translocation strategies and habitat creation, restoration and management. In each case, the relevant research will be reviewed with respect to how the influence of climate change on biodiversity can potentially be mitigated, what problems have been encountered and the opportunities for biodiversity conservation that this may present.

Programme Abstracts

1015 - 1045: Andrew Watkinson Will carbon reduction and storage policies be sufficient for protecting biodiversity?
1045 - 1115: Chris Thomas Species dispersal and translocation in the face of climate change
1115 - 1145: Brian Moss Protection of freshwater biodiversity in the face of climate change
1145 - 1215: Elizabeth Crone et al. When should we link climate change and ecological restoration?

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• To debate the value and timeliness of evidence-based policy;
• To identify mechanisms for improving information flow between scientist and practitioner; and,
• To reach consensus on the next steps toward providing a greater evidence base to conservation practice.

Justification:
Practical conservation activity is increasing globally and is being undertaken by many different government and non-governmental organisations. Many conservation organisations now manage species and habitats, and produce action plans containing a diversity of objectives. Conservation increasingly involves making decisions on appropriate action from a wide range of options. In the majority of cases justification for proposed actions is experience-based rather than evidence-based, while action is often taken without monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness, and results are rarely widely disseminated. Conservation has been compared with medicine as a crisis discipline where action is often required urgently in the absence of good information. The practice of medicine has recently gone through an effectiveness revolution that has improved the criteria upon which treatment strategies are based by progressing from reliance on personal experience to reliance on scientific evidence.

This symposium will draw parallels between medicine and conservation and present a practical framework to encourage evidence-based conservation action. The rationale is that conservation actions for which scarce resources are sought should be justified by good scientific evidence. The symposium will focus on the process by which these decisions are made using the UK as an example. Key speakers will argue that conservation should move into an era of evidence-based management using the model followed successfully by medicine and public health. Evidence-based practice is a model of proceeding in decision-making that aims to provide the best available evidence to the decision-maker(s) on the likely outcomes of alternative actions. The challenges and benefits of adopting evidence-based practice from the decision-makers point of view will be presented together with the elements of the approach and the process to be followed to make it work. Problems in moving to an evidence-based system will then be presented. Can we draw real parallels with medicine? Is conservation practice simply too diverse? Will we ever obtain sufficient evidence for the policy to be effective? Input will be provided by speakers with both policy and practical experience to try and reach some consensus on the way forward.

Programme Abstracts

1015 - 1030: Paul Dolman What is evidence-based conservation?
1030 - 1045: Teri Knight Evidence-based practice in medicine and public health
1045 - 1100: Isabelle Côté and Nicola Blay Optimal conditions for captive breeding in Humboldt penguins: an evidence-based approach
1100 - 1115: Malcolm Ausden et al. Current use of scientific evidence in reserve management
1115 - 1130: Alastair Grant et al. Evidence based habitat creation and restoration
1130 - 1145: Dave Stone Nature conservation: the role of professional judgement in policy and practice
1145 - 1200: Andrew Pullin Evidence-based practice in conservation: benefits and challenges
1200 - 1215: Discussion