Invitation: conservation conference 2010
Dear GEP-Ed folks: I write to invite those of you interested in species and ecosystem conservation to participate in the 24th International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB), the 2010 meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB). SCB is a international professional organization with more than 10,000 members around the globe (see www.conbio.org http://www.conbio.org/ for more information). The meeting is being held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (near the beautiful Canadian Rockies) on July 3-7, 2010. The theme of the meeting is Conservation for a Changing Planet. Because of the focus on environmental change, the meeting will highlight the importance of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to conservation. The call for symposia, workshops, discussion groups, and short courses is now open. The deadline for proposals is October 14th. 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 Edmonton, with strong social science and integrative contributions that will promote collaborations between social and natural scientists interested in conservation issues that transcend location- or case-specific application. As we head into 2010, SSWG is especially trying to engage conservation scientists (natural and social) in the questions raised by the recent paper One Hundred Questions of Importance to the Conservation of Global Biological Diversity (Sutherland et al. 2009, Conservation Biology vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 557-567; please e-mail me if you'd like a copy). This paper is an attempt to identify questions of importance to the future of conservation practice and policy, and we are particularly interested in researchers and practitioners who are themselves interested in engaging these questions. Additional information on the meeting, including links to instructions for submitting proposals, is available here: www.conbio.org/2010 If you are interested in participating in the meeting and have additional questions, or for general information about SSWG, please contact me at rwall...@ursinus.edu. Please feel free to forward this to any interested colleagues. Thank you, and apologies for cross-postings! Sincerely, Rich Wallace Vice President, Social Science Working Group Society for Conservation Biology and Associate Professor Environmental Studies Program Ursinus College P.O. Box 1000 Collegeville, PA 19426 (610) 409-3730 (610) 409-3660 fax rwall...@ursinus.edu http://academic.ursinus.edu/env/wallace.htm -- Richard L. Wallace, Ph.D. Associate Professor Environmental Studies Program Ursinus College P.O. Box 1000 Collegeville, PA 19426 (610) 409-3730 (610) 409-3660 fax rwall...@ursinus.edu mailto:rwall...@ursinus.edu http://academic.ursinus.edu/env/wallace.htm http://academic.ursinus.edu/env/wallace.htm I arise in the morning torn between the desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. -E. B. White
World Economic and Social Survey 2009: Promoting Development, Saving the Planet
** *World Economic and Social Survey 2009: Promoting Development, Saving the Planet* The World Economic and Social Survey will be available todayhttp://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ondemand/pressconference/2009/pc090901am.rmon the DESA website http://www.un.org/esa/policy/wess/index.html, along with a series of related Policy Briefshttp://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/wess09pb/index.htmdrawing from the report. For over 60 years, the World Economic and Social Survey (WESS) has been the United Nations flagship publication for an integrated perspective on the big policy challenges facing the world, especially the developing countries. This year’s report “Promoting Development, Saving the Planet” is being launched in the first week of September in ten locations worldwide. We would be grateful for the help of country offices around the world in helping us with outreach about the report to government officials, NGOs and the media. The principal objective of WESS 2009 is to better understand the linkage between climate change and development with the aim of identifying programmes and policies needed for low-emissions, high-growth and equitable development. The report presents an integrated policy response to climate and development challenges built around a big investment programme in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency and forest management, as well as to reduce vulnerability to climate shocks. On this basis the Survey makes the case for sizeable and effective multilateral support with respect to both finance and the transfer of technology. The separation of the climate change and development agendas has distorted the global debate on the two biggest policy challenges facing the international community. According to the *World Economic and Social Survey 2009*, an integrated approach based on the concept of sustainable development is urgently needed. The key to such an approach is a low-carbon, high-growth transformation of the global economy — a transformation that can keep temperature increases consistent with environmental stability, as identified by the scientific community, while at the same time fostering the strong growth and economic diversification in developing countries that would allow convergence of incomes worldwide. The greening of catch-up growth will have to be further tailored to meet the adaptation challenges facing vulnerable countries and communities whose economic security will be threatened even if climate change is kept within globally manageable limits. - The Survey argues that mitigation and adaptation efforts can move forward effectively only if they are part of a consistent development strategy built around an investment-led push on to low-carbon, high-growth pathways. - It warns that the adjustments this will involve must not push poorer countries and communities further down the development ladder, or leave them saddled with unmanageable debts, but should instead strengthen their resilience to external shocks, both climatic and economic. - While acknowledging that a variety of market and non-market institutional mechanisms will be needed if advances are to be made along those paths, the *Survey* contends that the public sector must assume a much more prominent role, and that stronger developmental States must take action to mobilize public finances and build appropriate technological capacities. - To gain traction, this potentially win-win strategy requires the international community to step up to the plate with multilateral financing on a much larger scale than has been forthcoming to date, and with new approaches to transferring technology from rich to poor countries. The report offers various suggestions to ensure that the available financing matches the challenges at hand.* * ** *Policy Briefs* Reaching a Climate Deal in Copenhagen http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/policybrief17.pdf Technology Transfer and Climate Change: Beyond TRIPS http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/policybrief19.pdf Multidimensional Climate Threats Require New Approaches and More Resources for Adaptation Challenge http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/policybrief20.pdf Climate Justice: Sharing the Burden http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/policybrief21.pdf Financing mitigation and adaptation by developing countries http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/policybrief22.pdf Stronger industrial policies needed to face the climate and development challenges http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/policybrief23.pdf Climate Change and the Energy Challenge http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/policybrief24.pdf * Imran Habib Ahmad Coordinator/Core Team member World Economic and Social Survey 2009 *
