Reef Catchments has just launched the website to accept expressions of interests for a brand new National symposium on island biodiversity in December 2009. The symposium will be held in the iconic Whitsunday Islands and utilise many mainland and island components to help make this first National symposium a success.
Other partners in the Island Arks Symposium include ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and WWF.
The symposium will focus on island ecosystems, management and sustainable use.
Sustainable use of island ecosystems requires strong inter-disciplinary knowledge bases including terrestrial and marine ecology, coastal engineering, fire ecology, invasive species management, waste management, communication and marketing, and environmental economics. The symposium aims to bring together practitioners in these disciplines to identify, discuss and resolve management challenges; identifying pathways for long-term conservation of island ecosystems including sustainable use.
Derek Ball, Operations Manager of Biodiversity Coasts and Marine for Reef Catchments said, “It is surprising that there has never been a conference of this type before in Australia. We are expecting that the symposia topics and location will attract major interest from around Australia and the South Pacific. I’d encourage scientists, island managers, ecotourism operators and students with a direct and indirect interest in island sustainability to seriously consider attending.”
For more information and to register expression of interest, go to www.islandarks.com.au and follow the ‘register here’ button. Program information and symposium flyer is also available on the website.
11 March, 2009.
Image: Island Arks website and expression of interest.
