Back to 2007 SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY AWARDS

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to 2007 SMITH CONSERVATION FELLOWS

UPDATES FROM REGIONAL SECTIONS AND WORKING GROUPS

• AFRICA
• ASIA
• EUROPE
• MARINE
• NORTH AMERICA
• FRESHWATER WORKING GROUP
• SOCIAL SCIENCE WORKING GROUP

AFRICA

On 20 December 2006, the Africa Section of SCB was awarded a grant by the MacArthur Foundation for travel and mentoring support. This gives us great hope for expanding our capacity in Africa and across the globe.

Growth of the Section

The Africa Section has benefited substantially from SCB's ongoing efforts to internationalize. The section has grown and is becoming increasingly prominent in the African conservation community and internationally. Our mission is to create a dynamic and effective network of conservation biologists and practitioners that furthers professional development in the conservation field, to bridge the gap between Francophone and Anglophone countries and between scientists and policy-makers, and to support the participation of women in conservation. The section aims to become a pan-African conservation network that brings together scientists and development practitioners. We are making progress toward achieving this mission by managing an effective network of conservation biologists, contributing to conservation research efforts in Africa, and establishing an active group of young female conservation biologists. The Board of Directors will reflect and evaluate our successes; identify our strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities; and develop a strategic plan for the years ahead.

Achievements in 2006

2006 was a vibrant year for the Africa Section. The section collaborated with the Tropical Biology Association, recipient of a 2005 SCB Distinguished Service Award, to develop and implement the Young Women Conservation Biologists' Scholarship Program.

A collection of papers presented at SCB's 2004 annual meeting during a symposium on conservation in areas of high population density in sub-Saharan Africa was published in the January 2007 issue of Biological Conservation (volume 134, pages 155-288). This set of 11 peer-reviewed papers was edited by Norbert Cordeiro, Neil Burgess, Delali Dovie, Beth Kaplin, Andrew Plumptre, and Robert Marrs.

The section established a Social Science and Gender Committee. The broad working mandates of the committee are (1) to pursue societal issues in the interest of the section and SCB that focus on equity in all aspects of the section's agenda and programs and (2) to address social dimensions of conservation issues on the continent and in partnership with other sections, working groups, and teams.

The Young Women Conservation Biologists has grown from a committee of four to a group of 27 members. The group is developing a Web-based clearinghouse for information.

Section Elections

Section elections in 2006 demonstrated the progress the section has made in raising awareness about its existence and mission in the conservation community in Africa. Fifteen nominations, 11 for African nationals, were received for five open positions.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the entire Board of Directors (Ron Abrams, Phoebe Barnard, Erika Barthelmess, Nobby Cordeiro, Delali Dovie, Christina Ellis, Paula Kahumbu, Beth Kaplin, Shedrack Mashauri, Michel Masozera, Nick Oguge, and Alison Ormsby), associate members of the board, and members of the section for their efforts in 2006.

Ron Abrams

ASIA

On 11 December 2006 in Kathmandu, Donald Clark, Director of USAID in Nepal, launched the book Conservation Biology in Asia along with a new rhinoceros poster and the 2006 issue of Habitat Himalaya. With an audience of more than 200 guests and students, Clark marked International Mountain Day 2006 by launching a special student edition of the book. The section printed 200 copies of the book as a low-priced edition (US$1.38) for Nepali students. The volume is dedicated to 24 conservationists who lost their lives in the line of duty in a helicopter crash in eastern Nepal on 23 September 2006. Partial support for the publication was provided by SCB and Resources Himalaya Foundation.

Pralad Yonzon

EUROPE

In November 2006, the Europe Section held its annual elections. Three positions on the Board of Directors were open. It was encouraging to see so many section members willing to run for election and participating in the vote; we offer our thanks, and hope that this enthusiasm will be reflected in committee activities during 2007. Two board members, Isabel Sousa Pinto (Portugal) and Owen Nevin (United Kingdom), were reelected to a second term.

Vassiliki Kati (Greece) also joined the board. Vassiliki is based in northwestern Greece in the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Ioannina. Prior to her election to the Board, Vassiliki was actively involved with the section's policy committee.

The board thanks Georgia Valaoras, whose one-year term of office ended in December, for all her work on behalf of the section. We look forward to continuing to work with her to further the efforts of SCB in Europe.

Our section committees were active throughout 2006. In January 2007, new chairs for the communications and policy committees were appointed. Pierre Ibisch (pibisch@fh-eberswalde.de) has replaced Martin Dieterich as chair of the policy committee, and Barbara Livoreil (BLivoreil@aol.com) has replaced Isabel Sousa Pinto as chair of the communications committee. Thanks to Isabel and Martin for their leadership of these committees over the last few years. The membership and education committees remain under the leadership of Cagan Sekercioglu (cagan@stanford.edu) and Renato Massa (renato.massa@unimib.it), respectively. If you are interested in becoming actively involved in any of our committee activities please contact the committee chair.

Building on the success of the first European Congress on Conservation Biology, the board has begun planning for a second congress in 2009. The board currently is considering proposals submitted by three potential hosts of the congress. The book of abstracts from the first congress may be downloaded from www.eccb2006.org.

As always, the board encourages the participation of section members in the activities of the section. Please contact the board (europe@conservationbiology.org) with your questions or comments.

Owen Nevin

MARINE

In recent months, the Marine Section has been busy with in-person and telephone board meetings in an effort to energize the section and integrate newly elected board members (Phaedra Doukakis, Amber Himes, Chris Parsons, and Anne Salomon). Ellen Hines is now president of the section.

Board Meeting

The most significant meeting was held 20-21 October, 2006 at the Friday Harbor Laboratories' Whiteley Center on San Juan Island, Washington, USA. Board members revised the mission statement and goals of the section to better reflect international and integrative marine conservation science and policy and identified tasks to accomplish these new goals. These changes will soon appear on our Web page and will provide guidance for creating a stronger, more effective community of marine conservation practitioners.

The board further honed the idea of a meeting of SCB's Marine Section. By choosing Washington, D.C. as a venue, the board hopes to maximize the relevancy of the meeting in the policy realm and to attract international participation. "International Marine Conservation Congress" was selected as a name and April 2008 was set as the target for convening the meeting.

Plans were made to improve the section's Web site (www.conbio.org/Sections/Marine/) and better utilize the listserv. The next meeting of the board will take place 15-18 March at Moss Landing, California.

Marine Section Survey

In November 2006, the Marine Section launched a survey to better understand the needs of the membership and broader marine conservation community, with the ultimate goal of making the section more relevant, useful, vibrant, and effective. The survey closed on 31 December. Approximately 180 people responded, 93% of whom were SCB members. A full report on survey results will be available on the section Web site after 1 March. Thanks to all who participated.

2007 Annual Meeting

Marine themes will be highlighted during SCB's 2007 annual meeting. Symposium topics will include design of marine protected areas and ecosystem consequences of fishing, while organized discussions will include communicating the science of marine reserves.

In the News

Some major decisions in marine conservation occurred during the past few months. Before adjourning, the United States Congress passed a revised and improved ocean fisheries management law, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006. In November 2006, the United Nations General Assembly decided not to ban high-seas bottom trawling.

Phaedra Doukakis

NORTH AMERICA

Policy Framework for North America

North America contains extraordinary levels of biodiversity that are distinctive on a global scale. More than fifty percent of the world's temperate rainforests occur on the continent, extending from Alaska and British Columbia to just south of San Francisco Bay. Appalachian mixed-mesophytic forests, the Klamath-Siskiyou, and long-leaf pine forests in the southeastern United States are among the most species-rich temperate forests in the world. The vast tundra, taiga, and boreal forests of Canada and Alaska are a global sink for carbon and harbor continentally significant populations of large carnivores. Further, the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts contain a remarkable diversity of cactuses. North America also is noteworthy with respect to its freshwater and marine systems, including southeastern rivers and streams, the Everglades, Bering Sea, and Monterey and Chesapeake bays.

Despite their global importance, the ecological state of many terrestrial, marine, and freshwater systems across North America is poor, and climate change threatens to trigger a considerable number of species extinctions. Moreover, science has been marginalized, manipulated, and suppressed in policy debates, as documented by the Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/interference/a-to-z-guide-to-political.html). The recent change in leadership in the United States Congress, however, provides an opportunity for scientists to play a more active role in policy debates, particularly with respect to laws and policies that require careful attention to biodiversity conservation and sustainability.

A conservation-policy framework for North America would help SCB in meeting the requests of its members to take a more active role in influencing science-policy debates. The purpose of this framework would be to craft a compelling argument for biodiversity conservation in the context of national security. The framework would need to address the "root causes" of system declines and the consequences of biodiversity losses to the social, economic, and biological fabric of each nation. It would need to be presented in a style easily understood by the general public, political leaders, interest groups, and the media. Fortunately, we can draw from numerous published regional and national assessments, as well as the breadth of SCB's membership, to assess policy priorities rapidly.

In the coming months, SCB can set the stage for applying science-based solutions to biodiversity policies in North America as the Society begins to implement its strategic plan. Examples of activities driven by a policy framework intended to inform priority conservation policies might include (1) publication of a white paper on temperate rainforests of North America coincident with key policy actions such as implementation of conservation agreements for rainforests and proactive conservation efforts for the Northern Spotted Owl by the government of British Columbia, (2) a restoration-policy paper that includes a list of restoration priorities for specific land cover types (restoration legislation soon may be introduced in the United States Congress); (3) a climate-change policy document to inform the debate on "global warming;" the United States Congress will be holding hearings on this topic soon, and (4) a short list of policy recommendations that can be presented to interest groups during key elections (e.g., presidential campaign in the United States). Additionally, SCB might use a policy framework as a platform for hosting science-policy forums on specific topics, such as post-fire management in fire prone regions.

Certainly conservation groups in North America already are employing similar tactics. However, SCB is unusual in its ability to marshal significant resources through its extensive science-based membership, an asset accessible to few other conservation groups. The tactical use of SCB resources would be especially effective in influencing policy when employed in tandem with conservation groups and others that enjoy a wide circle of political influence and expertise.

To help launch SCB's North America policy framework, we have secured a meeting room for the morning of Thursday, 24 May during the joint meeting of the North America Section and the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation, which will be held 20-25 May 2007 in Little Rock, Arkansas (www.conbio.org/Sections/NAmerica/nameetings.CFM). We invite all members of SCB who reside in North America to attend the joint meeting and participate in our policy framework discussions. We view the joint meeting as a way to initiate gatherings of the North America Section during years in which SCB's annual meeting is held outside North America. The 2007 ICOET meeting will feature a half-day section-organized symposium on key topics in conservation biology that relate to transportation planning, as well as a membership meeting of the North American Section. Both the symposium and the members' meeting will be held on 24 May.

For further details about the policy framework initiative, please contact me at dominick@nccsp.org.

Dominick DellaSalla

FRESHWATER WORKING GROUP

Several symposium proposals related to freshwater conservation were accepted for presentation at the 2007 annual meeting. These include Freshwater conservation assessment, planning, governance and management: case studies, emerging issues, and key lessons from around the world.

The field trip Freshwater conservation challenges, which was initiated by the working group, will be held on Sunday, 1 July. Only 35 places are available. We hope to see you there.

Bob Pressey will facilitate a four-day pre-conference short course, Systematic conservation planning and the role of software: from data to implementation and management. One day will be dedicated to case studies from terrestrial, marine, and freshwater systems.

"New international efforts for freshwater research, education, and conservation: a report from the Society for Conservation Biology's Freshwater Working Group," was accepted for presentation as a poster at the 2007 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation, which will be held in Little Rock, Arkansas, from 20-25 May. Thanks to Than Hitt for taking the lead in developing the poster.

The board has initiated a strategic planning process for the working group. In order to incorporate members' views in the planning process, the board is preparing a survey that will be distributed to the members soon. We encourage all working group members to participate in the survey so that your voice can be heard.

The Nature Conservancy has granted SCB funds to sponsor a considerable number of two-year memberships in developing countries. This is an excellent opportunity to increase the number of members in the working group. The Board of Directors is still addressing equitable ways to select candidates for sponsorship.

Aventino Kasangaki

SOCIAL SCIENCE WORKING GROUP

Online Conservation Social Science Catalog

To maximize the value of our Conservation Social Science Catalog, please consider writing a section on your discipline, approach, or tool. Visit www.conbio.org/workinggroups/sswg/catalog/index.cfm to learn which areas of the catalog would benefit from your input and where your course or workshop materials might contribute. We also seek new members of the Conservation Committee to help improve, update, and maintain the catalog, as well as to assist with outreach, including training and workshops, by the Social Science Working Group to the broader conservation community. Even if you are unable to volunteer over the long term, please visit the catalogue and send us both your feedback on strengths and suggestions for improvement. If you have any questions, please contact Conservation Committee member Rodolfo Tello (rtello@umd.edu).

Graduate Student Toolkit Submitted for Publication

The Student Affairs Committee has been productive in recent months. Based on conversations among several members at the 2006 annual meeting, we prepared a manuscript, A Tool-Kit for Graduate Students Working in Transdisciplinary Conservation: Letters from the Field, which is currently in review. We also published a more interactive version of this document on our Web site (http://conbio.net/workinggroups/sswg/toolkit/index.cfm). We hope that the interactive document will provide useful information for other graduate students struggling to accomplish conservation work at the intersection of social and natural sciences.

Student Affairs Committee Publishes in Ecology and Society

Two members of the Student Affairs Committee, Josh Drew (Boston University) and Adam Henne (University of Georgia), published a paper, "Conservation Biology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Integrating Academic Disciplines for Better Conservation Practice," in Ecology and Society (www.ecologyandsociety.org). The paper examines some of the reasons why natural and social sciences have had difficulties collaborating in the past in addition to the attributes of successful multidisciplinary projects.

Among the goals of the working group is to "foster the use of social scientific knowledge to help solve conservation problems." Traditional Ecological Knowledge is gaining ground as a component of project analysis, and is historically acquired using social science research methods. We congratulate Josh and Adam not only on the publication itself, but also on moving the discussion forward. We look forward to engaging more students in working group and committee activities. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact Student Affairs Committee chair Josh Drew (jdrew@bu.edu).

Nejem Raheem

Back to 2007 SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY AWARDS

Up to Table of Contents

Ahead to 2007 SMITH CONSERVATION FELLOWS