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INTERNATIONAL SECTION NEWS

• AFRICA
• ASIA
• AUSTRALASIA
• MARINE
• NORTH AMERICA
• FRESHWATER WORKING GROUP

AFRICA

About 40 people attended our section's meeting during the 2003 annual meeting. We had an active discussion, and many members volunteered to take on projects.

Issues Discussed at the Meeting

Fundraising. Financial needs include regional meetings to facilitate participation and networking among conservation biologists in Africa, regional short courses in Africa, SCB memberships (including subscriptions to the journals) for African conservation biologists and students, and travel awards to attend SCB meetings. To help develop fundraising contact Beth Kaplin, bkaplin@antiochne.edu.

Short courses. We could sponsor or co-sponsor regional short courses in Africa depending on expertise of our membership, local interests and needs, and financial costs. Potential topics include grant writing, manuscript writing, giving professional presentations, field research methods, and data analysis. Short courses would be a direct way for the section to interact with young conservation biologists in Africa. If you are interested in developing this program please contact Beth Kaplin.

Web page. There is significant interest in expanding our web page. SCB's Executive Office will assist us, but we must determine what features, content, and functionality we would like to see on our page. Email your ideas to Beth Kaplin.

Symposia. Elise Granek of the Marine Section approached us about sponsoring a joint African Marine conservation symposium in 2004. If you are interested in working with Elise please contact her at granek@science.oregonstate.edu. If you have suggestions for symposia or would like to recommend potential African nationals to speak in a symposium on African conservation issues at the 2004 meeting contact Nobby Cordeiro, ncorde1@uic.edu.

Action Steps

We agreed to complete the following by September 2003.

Develop communication channels. We will develop a simple paragraph that will explain the section's mission, activities, and contact information. This will be distributed by email or can be attached to the general SCB brochure for mailings. We need someone to draft this brochure--if you are interested please contact Beth Kaplin.

Create a listserv. Beth Kaplin has initiated the section's listserv and will serve as moderator. Anyone, including non-SCB members, may join this listserv. To join, go to http://list.conbio.org/mailman/listinfo/africalist/. If you do not have web access, send a message to africalist-request@list.conbio.org. In the body of the message, type <subscribe [password][nodigest][address=YourEmailAddress]>. For example, subscribe [pw1][nodigest][address=adt@conbio.org] subscribes email address adt@conbio.org with password pw1. To send messages to AfricaList use africalist@list.conbio.org.

Newsletter. We agreed to begin publishing a quarterly electronic newsletter for our section. Erika Barthelmess, barthelmess@stlawu.edu, will be our first editor. Please contact her you are interested in contributing to the newsletter or have ideas for its development or layout.

Symposium committee. This committee will coordinate the section's efforts to sponsor at least one symposium at each annual meeting. Chairs are Nobby Cordeiro (mailto:ncorde1@uic.edu) and Lori Eggert (lori_eggert@hotmail.com). Deadline for submitting proposals for symposia to Nobby and Lori is 31 October 2003.

Increase communication. We agreed to send at least one email to our members every two months with news and updates. We also will send members an email requesting information on African conservation interests to be incorporated into a database for our section. Members requested information on how to obtain a list of section members. You may contact Beth Kaplin to send an email to the section membership at any time. SCB's Executive Office maintains the list based on paid members who checked off membership in the Africa section.

Mentoring program. This program links researchers and offers assistance to African students or conservation biologists who need assistance with writing manuscripts, proposals, or abstracts. Membership in SCB is not required to participate. We also discussed an anonymous system to review meeting abstracts for African conservation biologists. If you are interested in working with this program contact Matthew Kauffman (matt.kauffman@mso.umt.edu) or Julia Jones (jpgj2@can.ac.uk).

Gender equity. We identified the limited representation of women in the African conservation biology community as an issue on which the section would like to work, and proposed a mentoring program for African women in conservation biology. Suggestions included an awards program and workshops for women in higher education who are interested in conservation biology, publishing, or presenting at professional meetings. To help, contact Lori Eggert, lori_eggert@hotmail.com.

Currency exchange. We developed a program to allow Africans to pay SCB membership and subscription fees in local currency to local NGOs who will in turn pay SCB in U.S. currency. Africans who wish to become members should contact Beth Kaplin; she will locate an institution in the home country that will accept the local currency and send U.S. dollars to SCB. Please spread the word about this service.

Sponsorship. We are seeking sponsored SCB memberships for African conservation biologists. If you wish to sponsor a specific person or to donate money towards our sponsorship fund, please contact Beth Kaplin or visit SCB's web site. If you work with an conservation organization that would be willing to contribute, please contact Beth Kaplin and we will prepare a brief proposal statement.

Beth Kaplin

ASIA

The first meeting of the Asia Section, held at the 2003 annual meeting, was attended by more than 40 individuals. Attendees included both native Asians and non-Asians working in or interested in conservation biology in Asia.

Members discussed the possibility of holding a section meting in Katmandu, perhaps in November 2005. Several members who live in Nepal agreed to explore logistic issues relevant to such a meeting in cooperation with the Board of Directors.

Concerns and interests that will be explored in the coming months include

• Monitoring compliance and follow-through on international agreements such as the Rio Convention. Most countries within the section are signatories, but members feel there has been little action.
• Capacity building in Asian collections and databases. The European Union's paradigm of "information repatriation" may serve as a model for the ethical and practical support of data / collection capacity building in Asia with the help of those who benefit from their work in Asia.
• Creation of a section database with membership expertise profiles.
• Facilitating communication among section members is a challenge, and much will be done electronically. The section needs to assess the electronic capabilities of its members. For example, email groups often are more practical than web sites.
• Preparation of educational materials in native languages for local conservation capacity building. The section would like to build a pool of volunteer translators. Members also see a need for national contacts in each Asian country--perhaps a national node model, or at least a contact person.

AUSTRALASIA

Section members and others interested in our region are encouraged to check our website periodically to keep informed: http://www.conbio.org/SCB/Activities/Sections/OzNz/.

Latest News

Section meeting. Our annual section members' meeting was held at the 2003 SCB meeting. Members were updated on section activities and ideas were sought for areas in which the section could advance. The meeting was attended by a select few, but the New Guinea contingent was a strong presence.

Symposia/conferences. The Australasian section aims to maximize exposure of SCB and the section within the region over the next few years by supporting symposia at conferences in conjunction with other established societies within our region. To that end, the Australasian section is supporting three conferences in 2003: the 5th New Guinea Biology Conference in Goroka, Papua New Guinea; the 3rd International Wildlife Management Congress in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the Australasian Ornithological Conference in Canberra, Australia. We will be supporting student awards (two year memberships to SCB with hard copies of Conservation Biology) at each of these venues.

Membership. Our membership currently stands at 288 with 134 of those residing within our region. There is a real need to increase the active membership to attain a critical mass for our section. We will be targeting conservationists working within Papua New Guinea and the Pacific region in 2003/2004. Section members are also encouraged to distribute SCB materials at other regional conferences that they may be attending. Please contact Menna Jones, menna.jones@anu.edu.au, for brochures or other promotional material.

Pacific Conservation Biology. SCB and the Australasian section are formalizing links with the journal Pacific Conservation Biology. We aim to have financial arrangements with the publisher and editor finalized by the end of this year and to offer Pacific Conservation Biology as one of the journals available to members when they join SCB or renew their membership.

Bring SCB back to Australasia! We are aiming to host the SCB annual meeting in Australasia in 2007 in conjunction with the marine section. If you are interested in helping to organize a proposal to host SCB annual meeting please contact Menna Jones, Karen Firestone (karenf@austmus.gov.au), or Robert Davis (rdavis@cyllene.uwa.edu.au).

Section elections. Five Board of Directors positions will be opening up for next year, including President, President Elect, and three one-year terms. If you are interested in running for a board position, contact Caroline Gross, cgross@metz.une.edu.au, for further information.

Job board. If you have a job/studentship that you would like to post on our website, contact Angie Penn, a.penn@unsw.edu.au.

Karen Firestone

MARINE

In June 2003, the Pew Oceans Commission released a report on the state of the oceans, "America's Living Oceans: Charting a Course for Sea Change" (http://www.pewoceans.org). The report concluded a three-year United States-based study of the oceans by a group of scientists, fishermen, conservationists, business leaders, and elected officials. The report cites overfishing, coastal development, and land-based pollution as key factors leading to the decline of marine species and collapse of marine ecosystems, and suggests immediate change in ocean policy to restore our ocean ecosystems.

Section Update

As per our bylaws, some of the first officers on the Marine Section's Board of Directors will be retiring at the end of 2003. At least three of the six positions on the board will be open for elections. The term of office is three years, beginning January 2004. We are looking for motivated individuals with sufficient time in their schedules to contribute to increasing the role of marine conservation in SCB. If you are interested in running for these positions, please send a brief statement (300 word maximum) describing your objectives in running for the Board and a brief summary of your experience in marine conservation biology to marine@conbio.org. Self-nominations are welcome, and please feel free to nominate others by sending us their contact information. We encourage international scientists to run for these positions in order to further diversify our board. Statements are due 1 October 2003, and online elections will take place during November. For further information on the duties of these offices, please see the Marine Section web page and bylaws or contact any of the current officers.

We had a very successful annual meeting this year, convening numerous events for Marine Section members. The program included one plenary session, two contributed sessions, and three invited symposia, as well as contributed talks on marine research. While several of the marine sessions unfortunately were scheduled concurrently, the Marine Section will be actively involved in scheduling for next year's meeting to assure that this is not a problem in the future. The presentation of the PISCO/COMPASS video "The Science of Marine Reserves" was well received, and allowed members to learn of this and other valuable tools in marine science. Our social event at Little Angie's Cantina also was well attended. Carolyn Lundquist represented the Marine Section at the SCB Board of Governors Meeting and participated in the press conference for the annual meeting, resulting in coverage of marine conservation in the local Duluth newspaper.

Our membership meeting was very successful in directing our leadership and committees toward a task list that will enable us to reach our objective of furthering marine conservation science, both within SCB and in the public eye. In addition to recruiting many new members for committees and nominations for Board members, we also developed ideas for symposia and workshop proposals for the 2004 annual meeting, and ideas (and tentative authors) for editorials and position statements.

One of our many goals is to assure that marine scientists are aware of SCB's Marine Section as a home for marine science. We have drafted letters to various listservs to raise awareness of the presence of Blue in SCB, and are working to increase the number of marine submissions to SCB journals. We expect to submit editorials and a special section on marine conservation directly linked to presentations at the 2003 meeting.

To assist with any of the above activities, for additional information on the Marine Section, or to join the marine listserv (marinelist@conbio.org), visit http://conbio.net/SCB/Activities/Sections/Marine/ or contact us at marine@conbio.org.

Carolyn Lundquist

NORTH AMERICA

Following our section bylaws, the North America Section will be holding elections during spring 2004 for three board positions (each with a three-year term), a president (two-year term), and a president elect (a two-year term followed by two years as President). This is the first election we've held under the bylaws, thus the unique situation in which we will elect both the President and President Elect simultaneously. All board members will begin their terms at the 2004 annual meeting.

The current board of the North America Section can be viewed at http://www.conbio.org/SCB/Activities/Sections/NAmerica/, and the section bylaws can be viewed at http://www.conbio.org/SCB/Activities/Sections/NAmerica/Bylaws_NA.pdf.

The section's Nominations Committee is currently soliciting nominations for all of these positions. Nominees must be members in good standing of both of SCB and the North America Section. Board responsibilities include an interest in working to develop the section as an active body for advancing conservation biology in North America and for representing conservation biologists in this region. Responsibilities for the president and president elect include an interest in providing leadership to the section board to achieve these goals, as well as represent the section on the Board of Governors of SCB. In practical terms, it is expected that members of the board will respond to email concerning section business, participate in occasional conference calls, and, if possible, attend the section board meeting held during a lunch at SCB's annual meeting.

Self-nominations are welcome. Students are especially encouraged to consider this opportunity for increasing their professional involvement with SCB. If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else, please send the following information to Steve Trombulak (Trombulak@middlebury.edu), who currently serves as coordinator for the committee.

For the nominee: name, position (member at large, president, or president elect), email address, complete mailing address, and telephone number.

For the nominator (if not a self-nomination): name, email address, complete mailing address, and telephone number.

If you are nominating someone else, please make sure that the person you are nominating is interested in the position and is willing to meet the responsibilities described above. Nominations must be received by 15 January 2004. An announcement about the ballot and election procedures will be made via email to all members of the section in early 2004. Elections will be held via the web during spring 2004.

Steve Trombulak

FRESHWATER WORKING GROUP

At the 2003 annual meeting, more than 40 people with an interest in freshwater issues convened to discuss forming a formal freshwater working group. Because it is not possible to form a new section at this time, the participants unanimously agreed to create a working group, which can receive various forms of support from SCB without requiring bylaws. Overarching goals of the group will be to increase representation of freshwater issues in SCB's activities and publications, bring new members into SCB, stimulate freshwater-related contributions and participation from SCB members, and serve as a contact network for SCB members. The group will begin to address these goals by establishing a bulletin board, listserv, email address, and possibly a web site, newsletter, and information sheet; by liaising with communications point people in SCB's sections; by planning symposia, contributed sessions, and/or workshops for SCB's 2004 annual meeting; by liaising with other societies (e.g. American Fisheries Society, North American Benthological Society) to explore sponsoring symposia at their meetings; by establishing an expert locator; and by submitting an editorial or commentary to Conservation Biology.

All SCB members are invited to join the freshwater working group. For directions to subscribing to the new freshwater listserv, go to http://www.conservationbiology.org/FreshWater/. If you lack web access, send an email to freshwater@conservationbiology.org to receive directions. Minutes of the meeting in Duluth, along with a description of roles that need to be filled, will be sent to everyone on the listserv. If you already have an interest in any of the activities mentioned above, let us know by sending a message to same email address. Thanks to everyone for their initial support--let's keep up the momentum!

Robin Abell

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