Ocean, Freshwater, Forests, Health and other Symposia at the Biodiversity Conference

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT invites you to participate in the 9th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment: Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World, to address the challenge the changing world poses to biodiversity (and to humanity).

Explore Critical Biodiversity Topics! Featured Symposia:

On the second day of the conference (Tuesday, December 9) twelve concurrent symposia will explore in detail key biodiversity issues and critical ecosystem types. Presentations by between leading experts will lead into interactive and dynamic Q&A sessions, giving all participants the chance to contribute to these critical conversations.

Highlighted Symposium: How Health Depends on Nature
This session will explore among other issues: the ways in which complex interactions in ecological communities influence risk of exposure to zoonotic diseases; the contribution of ecosystem services to human health; the value of biodiversity to the search for new medicines and therapies; and the role of the Earth’s animals, plants, and microbes in understanding human physiology, disease, and dysfunction and in preventing and treating disease and dysfunction. Session Chair: Mary Gant, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIHModerator: Eric Chivian, Director, Center for Health & the Global Environment, Harvard University Discussants: Richard Ostfeld, Senior Scientist and Animal Ecologist, Institute of Ecosystem Studies David Newman, Chief, Natural Products Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIHJoshua Rosenthal, Deputy Director, International Training & Research, Fogarty International Center, NIH

Full Symposia List:
Ocean Biodiversity: Chair: Nathalie Valette-Silver, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Discussants: Patricia Miloslavich, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Venezuela; Nancy Knowlton, Smithsonian Institution and Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Emmett Duffy, Virginia Insitute of Marine Sciences; David Newman, National Cancer Institute

Communicating About Biodiversity with Cutting Edge Approaches: Chair and Moderator: Jane Elder, Jane Elder Strategies and Forum on Nature and Democracy, Discussants: Carol Saunders, Antioch College; Eleanor Sterling, American Museum of Natural History; Lisa Wise, Center for New American Dream.

How Health Depends on Nature: Chair: Mary Gant, National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Moderator: Eric Chivian, Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard University; Richard Ostfeld, Senior Scientist/Animal Ecologist, Institute of Ecosystem Studies; David Newman, Chief, Natural Products Branch, Natural Cancer Institute (NIH); Joshua Rosenthal, Deputy Director, International Training & Research, Fogarty International Center, NIH

Forests for Tomorrow: NCSSF Science and Policy: Chair: Joyce Berry, Vice President for Advancement and Strategic Initiatives, Colorado State University; John Gordon, former Dean Yale School of Forestry; Jim Brown, former Oregon State Forester; Al Sample, President, Pinchot Institute for Conservation; Ann Bartuska, Deputy Chief, USFS Research and Development

Funding for Biodiversity Conservation: Chair: Peter Saundry, National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), Moderator: Michael Fischer, Executive Director, Consultative Group on Biological Diversity; Discussants: Kenneth Wilson, Executive Director, The Christensen Fund; Rosa Lemos de Sa, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Jeff Lerner, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; Christopher Holtz, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Adrian Forsyth, Blue Moon Foundation

Can Climate Policies Help Save the Biodiversity of Tropical Forests?: Chair: Peter Frumhoff, Union of Concerned Scientists, Discussants: Sandra Brown, Winrock International; Tom Lovejoy, Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment; Geoffrey Heal, Columbia University

Political, Economic, and Ethical Contexts of Biodiversity Conservation: Chair: Paul Heltne, Center for Humans and Nature; George Rabb, President Emeritus, Chicago Zoological Society and activist in the formation of the Amphibian Survival Alliance; Peter G. Brown, Ph. D., Professor, School of the Environment, McGill University, author of "The Commonwealth of Life: Economics for a Flourishing Earth"; J. Ron Engel, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Meadville Lombard Seminary and University of Chicago Divinity School

Human Dominated Landscapes: Chair: Adina Merenlender, University of California, and Jodi Hilty, Wildlife Conservation Society; Discussants: Devra Jarvis, Ph.D., Agricultural Ecosystems, Biodiversity International; Nancy Bockstael, Ph.D., Land Economics, University of Maryland; Alex Beehler, Assistant Deputy Undersecretary for Environment, Safety, and Occupational Health, Department of Defense

Freshwater Ecosystems: Chair: Michael Smith, Conservation International; Discussants: Neil Cumberlidge, Northern Michigan University; Larry Gorenflo, Pennsylvania State University; Larry Page, Florida Museum of Natural History; Cathy Reidy Liermann, University of Washington

Agriculture:from Genes to Landscapes: TBD

Bio-prospecting, Bio-mimicry, and Bio-products: Chair: Andy Jorgensen, National Council for Science and the Environment, Moderator: Anthony Michaels, Managing Partner, Proteus Environmental Technologies; Discussants: Steven King, Vice President of Sustainable Supply and Ethnobotanical Research, Naop Pharmaceuticals; Lyle Glowka, Senior Legal Advisor, Convention on Biodiversity

Exploring Earth's Species, Writing the Encyclopedia of Life: Chair: Quentin Wheeler , International Institute for Species Exploration, Arizona State University; James L. Edwards, Executive Director, Encyclopedia of Life, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution; Discussants: Marie Studer, Education and Outreach Group, Encyclopedia of Life, Harvard University; Tom Garnett, Executive Director, Biodiversity Heritage Library, Smithsonian Institution; Norman Platnick, American Museum of Natural History, New York; Dennis Stevenson, Vice President, New York Botanical Garden, Bronx

Visit the website to register and view the conference agenda, speaker bios, and important information on travel and lodging. Learn about our Biodiversity Partners Exhibition, Poster Session, Youth Video Contest, and many other opportunities for participation!
Register Today! Questions? Call 202.530.5810 or email conference@ncseonline.org

Join Us In Setting a New Agenda for the Biodiversity Issue

You will have the opportunity to participate in one of over 30 concurrent breakout sessions that will convene on the afternoon of Monday, December 8th to develop a set of recommendations that can guide a new US Administration and others working around the world to conserve biodiversity. This biodiversity agenda will be presented to the next Administration, Congress, and decisionmakers in academia, local and state government, business and in international forums to encourage awareness of and solutions to the challenge of conserving biodiversity in the face of climate change, population growth, globalization, and other rapid changes.

Topics covered will include:
Special Regions, Ecosystems, and Taxonomic Groups: Amphibians, Endangered and Conservation Relient Species, Microbial Diversity, the Arctic, Africa, Freshwater and Marine Environments

Landscapes: Developing (frontiers to metropolis) and Protected Areas, Agricultural Landscapes

Putting Biodiversity on the Political Agenda and Exploring Conservation Policy and Law

Role of States in Conservation

Scaling Biodiversity and Developing Metrics for Prioritizing

Mobilizing the Public and Communicating Biodiversity

Integrating Cultural Diversity and Biological Diversity

Conservation Leadership and Partnerships

Mitigating the Drivers of Biodiversity Loss such as: Population Growth, Energy and Consumption, Invasive Species, Climate Change

Living Institutions and Natural History Collections

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, Ecosystem Services, Ecosystem Restoration

Making Biological Information Usable

Biodiversity in Education Wildlife Adaptation.

View the Full List of Breakout Sessions

Help the Obama Adminstration Develop A Biodiversity Strategy

The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) congratulates President-elect Barack Obama and all of the victorious candidates for national, state and local office and thanks all candidates and voters for their roles in exercising and advancing democracy in America. We invite you to join us in developing recommendations for the Obama Administrration and the new Congress during the National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World December 8-10 in Washington, DC.

The conference will occur during the critical time of transition to the new Administration. We will prepare recommendations for biodiversity science and its application to policy in 30 breakout sessions. Topics include bioenergy, endangered species, invasive species, protected areas, coral reefs, agriculture, research, education and many more. We will present these recommendations to the incoming Administration and Congress.

Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt will moderate a roundtable including members of the Obama transition teams, key agencies and members of the new Congress (invited) to discuss how biodiversity fits within the agenda of the Obama Administration. The conference will feature high level participation from key agencies including the USDA Forest Service, US Geological Survey, US Department of the Interior and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

We invite you to participate in the first NCSE Science and Environment Congressional Visit Day, which will conclude the conference on Wednesday December 10. The Defenders of Wildlife, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) will provide a workshop and organize visits for attendees. The Congressional Visit Day provides a unique opportunity for your insights, perspectives and the work that you do in an academic and non-political setting to become the basis for sound, science-based policy development. You’ll learn communication techniques and make important connections that will enable you to continue to play a role in policy development during the Obama Administration.

Award Winning Author - Thomas Friedman - To Keynote

Thomas Friedman- Keynote Speaker at NCSE's National Conference

Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist and Pulitzer prize winning author, will provide the keynote address on December 9th at NCSE's national conference Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World . Following his #1 best seller, The World is Flat, Friedman's new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, brings a fresh outlook to the crises of destabilizing climate change, rising competition for energy, and its impact on biodiversity and humanity. The conference will be held December 8-10, 2008 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

Please join us to hear Tom Friedman at at 9am on Tuesday, December 9th. He will be signing copies of his new book following his presentation. After the keynote address, you have the opportunity to attend one of 12 concurrent symposia exploring critical topics as ocean biodiversity and human dominated landscapes. In the afternoon plenary, panels of leading policymakers, scientists and conservationists will discuss the new agenda for biodiversity science and conservation developed the previous afternoon and consider opportunities in the Obama administration and new Congress for advancing this agenda. Friedman joined The New York Times in 1981 as a financial reporter specializing in OPEC- and oil-related news and later served as the chief diplomatic, chief White House, and international economics correspondents. Friedman has reported on the Middle East conflict, the end of the cold war, U.S. domestic politics and foreign policy, international economics, and the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat. Friedman currently writes a syndicated column for the New York Times on related issues. Friedman has written several books including From Beirut to Jerusalem (FSG, 1989), The Lexus and the Olive Tree (FSG, 1999), The World Is Flat (FSG, 2005), and Hot, Flat, and Crowded (FSG, 2008).

You will also have the opportunity at the conference to listen to leading scientists including:Cristian Samper, Director, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Eric Chivian, Director, Center for Health and the Global EnvironmentEdward O. Wilson, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University Peter Raven, Director, Missouri Botanical Garden George Rabb, President Emeritus, Chicago Zoological SocietyHarold Mooney, Stanford University William Sutherland,, University of CambridgeRita Colwell, former Director of the National Science FoundationSir Peter Crane, Professor, University of ChicagoThomas Lovejoy, President, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment

REGISTRATION DETAILS
Register Today! Questions? Call 202.530.5810 or email conference@ncseonline.org
Reduced Nonprofit Rate! If your organization has 501(c)3 status you qualify for our reduced registration rate ($295- 3day). Email conference@ncseonline.org for the registration code. Registration Codes will be required to register:Individual attendee code: INDIVIDUAL ($395- 3day; $200- single day)Full-time Student code: STUDENT ($220- 3day; $110- single day)


PLEASE NOTE: University Affiliate Members, nonprofit organizations, congressional members, press, and volunteers please visit the website for more information about your registration code.
Already Registered? Click the link below to change your registration details. Click here

Conservation Lens- Q1

The Conservation Lens
Examining conservation challenges from your perspective

To begin the conversations and prepare ourselves for the Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World conference in December, the NCSE conference team will pose a new conservation relevant question each week. We encourage you to share your thoughts and opinions in reaction to our question as well as the responses left by others.

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Q1: How do we evaluate results from conservation actions and science programs- how do we measure success?

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leave your thoughts by clicking "comment" below

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Early Bird Registration EXTENDED!

GOOD NEWS!

We've extended the deadline for the early bird registration rate until Wednesday, October 15.

Register online before October 15 and take advantage of this reduced rate!

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Poster Session

PARTICIPATE IN THE POSTER SESSION!

NCSE’s conferences are largely participatory and offer many opportunities for participants to share their experience, knowledge, and opinions- whether it’s in the breakout sessions generating recommendations for a biodiversity action agenda or during the symposium discussions or one of the many other opportunities.

SHARE your research and initiatives during our Poster Session! We are currently accepting abstracts for posters that are relevant to the Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World theme including:

• Developing the New Biodiversity Science Agenda
• Moving from Science to Action
• Expanding Understanding: Information, Education, and Communication

Posters will be displayed December 8-9 in the main plenary room offering many great opportunities to share your work with the other participants. Abstracts can be submitted online and are due October 15, 2008. Please direct questions to conference@ncseonline.org.

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Youth Video Contest OPEN!

YOUTH VIDEO CONTEST OPEN!

NCSE is pleased to provide a forum for young people to share their actions, perspectives, and passion for biodiversity through new media channels by hosting a video contest, Voices and Visions from the Next Generation of Conservationists, as part of the Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World Conference.

We invite persons ages 12 to 25 (individuals or groups of up to 5) to submit a short video (up to 5 minutes) focusing on how today’s youth are and will be addressing the challenges that threaten biodiversity. The contest deadline is October 31, 2008. A team of expert judges will review each submission and determine the top three in four age categories (12-14, 15-18, 19-22, and 23-25). The winning videos will be showcased at the Voices and Visions from the Next Generation of Conservationists reception and award ceremony at the conference on December 9, 2008, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

Visit the Voices and Visions from the Next Generation of Conservationists website for more details!

--=Fast Fact Recap=--
Who: Committed and Enthusiastic Youth ages 12-25
What: Voices and Visions from the Next Generation of Conservationists Video Contest
When: DEADLINE: October 31
Where: Washington, DC @ the Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World Conference
Why: Have the opportunity to showcase what you are, will, or want to do to brighten the future of biodiversity

Youth Website Main Website Register

Update: Keynote Address

Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cristián Samper to Keynote

Cristián Samper, PhD, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, will deliver the opening keynote address at the Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World Conference on Monday, December 8, 2008. Samper will speak to the biodiversity crisis in the context of a rapidly changing world, raise key issues, and encourage the public to work and act together with science as their guide.

Prior to his position at the Smithsonian, Cristián Samper has served in a number of roles in the conservation field. He is widely known for his work in the Andean Cloud Forest, environmental policy, and conservation biology. Samper served as director of the environmental division of the Foundation for Higher Education in Colombia until 1995 after which he became founder and director for the Alexander Humbolt Institute in Colombia. He has also served as Chief Science Advisor for Biodiversity to the President of Colombia and the Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute until the appointment of G. Wayne Clough. Samper received a bachelor’s degree at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia followed by a Masters and Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University.

Register Visit the Website Questions? email: conference@ncseonline.org

picture from: newsdesk.si.edu

Registration OPEN!

THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SCIENCE AND THE ENVIRONMENT (NCSE) invites you to participate in the 9th National Conference on Science, Policy, and the Environment: Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World, to address the challenge the changing world poses to biodiversity (and to humanity). The conference will provide an opportunity to look at what is happening to biodiversity in the context of radical climate disruption, human population rise, land use changes, globalization and other economic forces. We will collectively develop a 21st century biodiversity science and conservation strategy.

REGISTRATION HAS OFFICIALLY OPENED! Register online before October 6 to receive the early registration rate! Visit the website to register and view the conference agenda, speaker bios, and important information on travel and lodging.

December 8-10, 2008
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, DC
http://ncseonline.org/Conference/Biodiversity/

JOIN US to put biodiversity back on the political agenda of the US and the world, and to consider approaches to conserving biodiversity in a world of rapid global climate disruption, land conservation, population growth, economic change, globalization and other forces. Come hear from conservation leaders including:
= Cristian Samper, Director, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
= Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University
= Peter H. Raven, Director, Missouri Botanical Garden
= George Rabb, President Emeritus, Chicago Zoological Society
= Thomas Lovejoy, President, H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment
= Eric Chivian, Founder and Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, and Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School
= Rita Colwell, Former Director, National Science Foundation
= Ron Pulliam, Former Director, National Biological Service
= Stephen Hubbell, Founder and Chairman, National Council for Science and the Environment
= Susan Haseltine, Associate Director for Biology, U.S. Geological Survey
= William J. Sutherland, Miriam Rothschild Professor in Conservation Biology, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge
= Jane Elder , Principal, Jane Elder Strategies

Skill-building workshops, targeted breakout sessions, and plenary sessions will provide participants with an expansive understanding of conservation strategies in a 21st century context. The conference will explore key ecosystem types from the ocean to forests, agriculture and other human-dominated landscapes, consider critical issues such as values, health, communication, evaluation, funding, law and policy. Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World will look at challenges such as invasive species, conservation-reliant species, protected areas in the context of rapid change. We will learn about projects such as the Encylopedia of Life, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and the National Commission on Science for Sustainable Forestry.

Visit the conference website to learn about our Biodiversity Partners Exhibition, Poster Session, Youth Video Contest, and many other opportunities for participation!

Register Soon! Early registration ends October 6!
Questions? Call 202.530.5810 or email conference@ncseonline.org

Registration Codes will be required to register:
Individual attendee code: INDIVIDUAL
Full-time Student code: STUDENT

PLEASE NOTE: University Affilitate Members, nonprofit organizations, congressional members, press, and volunteers please visit the website for more information about your registration code.