Dear GEP-Ed Folks,
I write to invite those of you interested in species and ecosystem conservation to participate in the 2009 annual meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB). SCB is a 12,000-member international professional organization (see www.conbio.org <http://www.conbio.org/> for more information). The 2009 meeting is being held in Beijing, China. The theme of the meeting is "Conservation: Harmony for Nature and Society". Because of the focus on nature and society, there will be abundant and exciting opportunities for conservation researchers and practitioners to participate in this conference, engage in stimulating debates on the status and direction of species and ecosystem conservation, and advance the field of conservation science. The call for abstracts is open. The deadline is January 21st, so please prepare your submissions soon. Contributions from all fields of conservation research and practice are welcome, including natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The SCB's Social Science Working Group (SSWG) is making particular efforts to encourage social scientists to consider this invitation, in the hopes of widening SCB's international network of social and policy researchers who are doing work in applied conservation. SSWG is a global community of conservation professionals interested in the application of social science to the conservation of biological diversity. With nearly 700 members in 65 countries, SSWG is home to social scientists (anthropologists, economists, historians, human geographers, political scientists, psychologists, sociologists, and many others), ethicists, natural scientists, and conservation practitioners (governmental, nongovernmental, and business sectors). Since 2005, SSWG has worked closely with the SCB annual meeting organizing committees to stimulate social science contributions for the meetings. In each year since then, the prevalence of social science and (what I like to call) integrative conservation, reflecting the marriage of social and natural science, has increased significantly. We hope to continue that trend in Beijing, with strong social science contributions that will promote collaborations between social and natural scientists interested in conservation issues that transcend location- or case-specific application. General information on the meeting is available here: http://www.conbio.org/2009 Details for submitting abstracts are available here: http://www.conbio.org/2009/abstracts If you are interested in participating in the meeting and have additional questions, please contact me at rwall...@ursinus.edu or Murray Rudd, SSWG program committee vice chair at mr...@swgc.mun.ca <mailto:mailt:mr...@swgc.mun.ca> .. Thank you, and apologies for cross-postings! Sincerely, Richard L. Wallace Vice President and Program Committee Chair Social Science Working Group Society for Conservation Biology and Associate Professor and Chair Environmental Studies Program Ursinus College P.O. Box 1000 Collegeville, PA 19426 (610) 409-3730 (610) 409-3660 fax rwall...@ursinus.edu
