Updates from Working Groups and Regional Sections
Oceania
Mining on New Zealand Conservation Estate
The NZ government has identified land currently excluded from mining under Schedule 4 of the Crown
Minerals Act for re-evaluation of its mining potential.
includes public conservation land.
The links below provide access to the discussion document. The Government has decided that the
conservation values in the vast majority of Schedule 4 areas do outweigh the mineral potential,
particularly in the case of Kahurangi and Mount Aspiring National Parks. However, they have targeted
areas that will be of interest for mineral investors. Submissions are due on the discussion paper by 5pm
on May 4th.
Discussion paper
%20Discussion%20paper%20_with%20maps_.pdf
Appendix 1
%20Appendix%201%20_with%20maps_.pdf
SCB Chapter in Wellington
A group of students at Victoria University of Wellington are setting up a SCB chapter in Wellington. It’ll be
the first Oceania chapter. They hope to get involved in conservation in the area and play a role helping
with the international SCB conference in Christchurch in 2011. If you’re interested in getting involved,
please contact Nicky on Nicola.Nelson@vuw.ac.nz.
SCB 2011 Conference
Dates have now been set for the SCB Conference in 2011. The 25th Annual Conference of SCB will be
held in Christchurch 29th November – 2nd December 2011.
SCB-Oceania Conference in 2012
Where should we hold the SCB-Oceania Conference in 2012? Are you willing to host it? The SCB-O
board is looking for ideas and hosts for the SCB-Oceania conference in 2012. Contact James Watson,
SCB-O Board President, if you’d like to volunteer or discuss options: james.jameswatson@gmail.com
If you’re reading this newsletter and are interested in what SCB-O are up to, then consider joining our
If anyone has anything they’d like to see added to the next newsletter (required by June 1st 2010), please
contact Nicky on Nicola.Nelson@vuw.ac.nz
Nicola Nelson
Europe
The site of the third European Congress of Conservation Biology (ECCB) has been decided. The
congress will be held in Glasgow on August 28 - September 1 in 2012, with Owen Nevin as chair of the
local organising committee. It is the ambition of the section to make this event an even bigger success
than the second congress that was held in Prague in August 2009. One important achievement at that
meeting was the policy message from the ECCB to the European Union environmental ministers on the
need for priority actions rather than visions. The message stresses that short term economic and
development interests systematically undervalue biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and that the loss
of biodiversity threatens long term sustainability of human endeavours and resilience of ecosystem
processes upon which humankind depends. The message also offers the co-operation and help with
scientific knowledge and input in policy work to address these issues, for instance within the framework of
the development of an Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biological Diversity and Ecosystem
