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Conservation
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INTERNATIONAL SECTION NEWSThe seven international sections of SCB, all of which are now either established or being formed, facilitate communication among members with similar interests, strengthen the discipline of conservation biology around the world, and bring international perspectives to SCB decisions. Membership in SCB is a prerequisite for membership in a regional section. SCB offers reduced membership dues to residents of the World Bank's list of low and middle income countries. Although SCB members may be a voting member of just one section, they may join and participate in as many sections as they wish. For more information see http://conservationbiology.org/SCB/Activities/Sections or recent issues of the newsletter. Elections for officers are underway in the Europe Section. An update from the Austral and Neotropical America Section will appear in the next issue of the newsletter. Africa Section: Elections and Symposium The Africa Section now has more than 130 members and is still growing. Members includes citizens of many African countries as well as individuals from other continents. The interim steering committee has been working hard at recruiting additional members to ensure that we have representation from the entire continent. We are grateful to all who have contributed funds to the Africa Section that have contributed to the success of our membership drive. Further contributions are welcomed. We hope that this section will become an important forum for discussion and development of conservation policy in Africa. Elections for the governing board of the Africa Section are underway. The new officers will be announced on the SCB website and at the 2002 annual meeting, where we also will be launching the Africa Section. We are still seeking funds to facilitate the participation of African speakers at the meeting. Please contact paula@wananchi.com if you can help. We are pleased to announce that Richard Leakey will be presenting the keynote address at the Africa Section symposium at the annual meeting, Conservation in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities. Richard Leakey has played a vital role in conservation in Africa and is currently involved in an initiative to create a trust fund for protected areas in East Africa. The fund would ensure that parks continue operating even during periods of economic hardship. Leakey is also an advisor to the UNEP Great Ape Survival Project, and he will be raising awareness about that project at a reception in Canterbury. We thank UNEP and the Born Free Foundation for making the event possible. Paula Kahumbu, Acting Chair Australasia Section Update The Australasian Section (Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Pacific Islands) now has more than 100 members and will soon be seeking nominations for the Governing Board. It is our intention to ensure that the Governing Board includes representatives from the various regions of the section including Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. We aim to elect officers in time to be officially launched as a section at the 2002 annual meeting. The Australasian Section aims to promote excellent conservation science and practice throughout the region, serve as a regional contact network between conservation biologists and diverse conservation agencies, encourage interdisciplinary approaches to conservation issues in Australasia, advocate the inclusion of science into biodiversity policy, decision-making, and management in Australasia, and contribute to the international activities of SCB. If you are a SCB member located or working in the Australasian Region and wish to become a member of this section please send an email to OzNZ@conservationbiology.org. For more information please see the SCB website. Meg Montgomery
Marine Section Update Welcome to all the new Marine Section members! We look forward to meeting with you at the 2002 annual meeting. Elections and Officers Following the formation of the Marine Section in December 2001, an election was held in which ten candidates ran for the Governing Board. The results of the election were announced in early January 2002. The five candidates receiving the most votes were John Ogden (Director, Florida Institute of Oceanography), Elliott Norse (President, Marine Conservation Biology Institute), Leah Gerber (Assistant Professor, Arizona State University), Elise Granek (Graduate Student, Oregon State University), and Carolyn Lundquist (Research Scientist, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand). Your new Marine Section officers would like to thank all of those who stood for election and everyone who voted. There is much work to do and we hope to involve all who are willing in the growth of marine conservation within SCB. A sixth officer for the Marine Section will be elected for 2003; all officers will have terms of office of 3 years. To maintain the international focus of the Marine Section, the Marine Section officers will include at least one international member. One Marine Section officer also will serve as a representative on SCB's Board of Governors. We have begun to make plans for the future including the appointment of offices (President, Science Coordinator, Policy Coordinator, Communications Coordinator, International Coordinator, and Treasurer). John Ogden, who received the most votes in the election, will serve as President for 2002. We have begun to draft bylaws, which will be posted on the SCB website upon completion, and we are working with Board of Governors on the many new strategic initiatives of SCB.
We are planning a meeting of the Marine Section at the 2002 SCB meeting in Canterbury. If you will be attending the SCB 2002 meeting and are interested in assisting with planning of this event, please contact Carolyn Lundquist (c.lundquist@niwa.cri.nz). Details will be posted on the website and listserver as the meeting dates approach. Our most important tasks for the near term are to solicit marine papers and symposia for the 2003 annual meeting in Minnesota. We will work to find an appropriate marine venue for the 2004 meeting and sponsor a number of symposia there. We anticipate that subsequently increased interest in marine conservation will increase the frequency with which major meetings with a focus on marine conservation may be held. Membership Currently the Marine Section consists of 162 SCB members, but almost 500 members expressed an interest in marine conservation. In addition, we hope to actively solicit new SCB members based on the commitment of SCB to marine conservation. We will communicate the results of these developments though the web site and on the Marine Section email list in due course. Marine List Server In order to increase communication between SCB members on marine issues, we have created a marine email list: marinelist@conbio.org. To join the SCB marine list, send a message to marinelist-request@conbio.org containing the word SUBSCRIBE as the first and only line in the message body (leave the subject line blank). The system will respond with a message indicating success or failure. If you wish to subscribe under an alias email address, include a Reply-to: header in your email message. The Reply-to address will be subscribed to the list and the response to your subscription command will be sent to that address. To remove your email address from the list, send an email message to marinelist-request@conbio.org containing the word UNSUBSCRIBE as the first and only line in the message body (leave the subject line blank). We also will be posting updates on Marine Section activities on the Marine Section portion of the SCB website, http://conservationbiology.org/SCB/Activities/Sections/marine/. For further information on the Marine Section, please contact Carolyn Lundquist, c.lundquist@niwa.cri.nz. Carolyn Lundquist
North America Section Initiated Nearly 200 members already have joined the North America Section. To become a member of the section, update your contact information on the SCB website, send an email to NAM@conservationbiology.org, or contact the Executive Office. Using quasi-biogeographic criteria, we have defined North America as Canada and the United States. Conservation biologists in Mexico and Latin America may be interested in joining the Austral and Neotropical America Section, the North America Section, or both. What will the North America Section do? Our next steps will be to conduct elections for the section's Governing Board, write bylaws, and prioritize section activities such as organizing regional meetings or symposia for SCB annual meetings, taking the lead on policy issues relevant to Canada and the United States, or producing section publications. We anticipate holding elections in May or June 2002. Please consider nominating yourself or a fellow SCB member for office. The interim steering committee (Michael Collopy, Robert Curry, Andre Desrochers, Tom Fleischner, Erica Fleishman, Susan Haig, Susan Hannon, Loyal Meyerhoff, Scott Mills, Barry Noon, Mike O'Connell, Sarah Reichard, J. Michael Scott, and Marc-Andre Villard) will continue to lay the groundwork for the section until officers have been elected. Susan Haig
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