SCB-A Newsletter December 2006

Abstract

It is now just a bit more than six months to the inaugural meeting of the Australasian region of SCB ?The Biodiversity Extinction Crisis, a Pacific and Australasian Response?, which will be held July 10?12 2007 at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. This conference faces the major problems for biodiversity conservation in our region, existing and potential solutions and links to the global biodiversity initiatives. There will be five major themes: (I) Regional challenges (particular issues for our part of the world); (2) Managing threatening processess of universal importance; (3) Case studies of conservation in action, including biodiversity monitoring and assessment; (4) Conservation science and policy; and, (5) Conservation science and the community (non-government organizations, indigenous people). With Australian governments finally awakening to the reality of global warming and its consequences for Australasia, this meeting has the potential to make a significant impact on regional conservation. Not only is your attendance important to the success of the conference, but it is your opportunity to be heard on issues as important as water allocation for environmental flows in Australia, biodiversity conservation in the Southern Oceans, climate change and the allocation of resources to threatened species management.