Biodiversity Conservation
Internationally-renowned author, Professor Tim Flannery, will be the keynote speaker at the opening of the 9th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas.The conference, which takes place every 4-5 years, will be held in Suva, Fiji from 2-6 December and is the Pacific region's premier event shaping biodiversity conservation work.
Professor Flannery, an internationally acclaimed scientist,explorer and conservationist, is the Director of the Australian Climate Council, a non-profit independent organisation providing climate advice to the Australian community. As a field zoologist Professor Flannery has named 25 living and 50 fossil mammal species, receiving the Centenary of Federation Medalin 2002 for his work. His books include the bestseller on global warming, The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change, and The Future Eaters: an Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People. In 1998-9 he was a visiting professor at Harvard, and is a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and has served on the International Board of WWF.Named Australian of the Year in 2007, Professor Flannery has published over 130 peer-reviewed scientific papers, has made numerous documentaries and regularly reviews for the New York Review of Books. Professor Flannery will make the opening keynote address of the 9th Pacific Islands Conference on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas. ”So much of Earth's biodiversity resides in the southwest Pacific,” Professor Flannery commented, ”With climate change such a major threat, this conference offers an important opportunity to protect unique organisms found nowhere else.” This statement reflects the theme of the conference, Natural Solutions: Building Resilience for a Changing Pacific.
This year's conference line-up features nature conservation success stories from around the Pacific, panel speakers and keynote speakers from leading organisations and initiatives, and 21 parallel sessions. Discussions throughout the week-long conference will culminate in the development of a new Action Strategy for Nature Conservation, guiding conservation efforts in the Pacific for the next 5 years. The conference is organised by SPREP, the Pacific Islands Roundtable on Nature Conservation (PIRT) and IUCN Oceania Regional Office, and will be hosted by the Government of Fiji.
More information on the conference can be found at the conference website, www.sprep.org/pacificnatureconference. Details on how to register to attend the conference, the conference agenda, and presentations are also available on the website. Alternatively, join the conference mailing list by sending an email to pacificconference2013@sprep.org to receive regular updates.
Natural Solutions: Building Resilience for a Changing Pacific