EARTHSCAPE DATE: 6/01

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Go to the conference agenda for all the details on each day's proceedings—including a daily wrap-up, case-study reports, slide presentations, the text of keynote addresses, and additional video.

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Dear Colleagues:

One of the most important challenges facing society is to adopt an integrated approach to human security and biodiversity conservation. Failure to meet this will lead to instability and conflicts with grave and far-reaching consequences.
Christine Alfsen-Norodom photo

An interview with the conference coordinator

To address this challenge, UNESCO and Columbia University are jointly organizing an International Conference on Biodiversity and Society. The conference will bring together leading environmental and social scientists, managers of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, high-level policymakers from developed and developing countries, journalists, and leading institutions, including private corporations, environmental NGOs, United Nations agencies, and international lending institutions. This will be a rare opportunity for scientists and other scholars concerned with global issues to meet with the policymakers who must confront the realities of balancing environmental conservation with economic development.

This conference is unique in a number of ways. It is based on the recognition that so long as people lack personal and environmental security, long-run solutions to environmental problems cannot be achieved. The conference will build on pilot projects now being conducted in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and similar sites selected for their high biological diversity and social, economic, and cultural importance. These projects will form the core of the conference discussion, leading to the identification and development of viable strategies for long-term stewardship of the Earth.

The conference will articulate a common vision for an integrated approach to human security and biodiversity conservation. The insights gained will help set the tone for such vital political discussions as those planned for Rio+10 and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

If you would like to contribute to the debate and learn more how changes, conflicts, and governance affect people and biodiversity in developed and developing countries alike, please join us for an exciting week of good science, oriented toward solutions for real people in real places.