Meeting to bring together world’s top conservation biologists

Edmonton, AB – Conservation biology takes centre stage in Edmonton during the first week of July as the University of Alberta hosts the world’s most important international meeting for conservation professionals and students.

More than 1,700 attendees from around the world are expected to gather to discuss new research and developments in conservation science and practice at the Society for Conservation Biology’s Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB). It is only the third time the Congress has been held in Canada since it began in 1988.

U of A biologist and conference steering committee chair Mark Boyce said the conference provides a perfect opportunity to showcase some of the incredible work being done at the U of A, which he says is recognized as Canada’s most productive conservation biology research institution.

He said industrial development and agriculture are changing landscapes. Carbon emissions in to the atmosphere are changing climates and nowhere on earth are these changes having more drastic effects on ecosystems and human cultures than in the north.

“Circumpolar caribou and reindeer populations are declining with huge consequences for indigenous peoples of the north, motivating our use of caribou in the conference logo,” he said.

“We are fortunate to have attracted some of the world’s most dynamic and important conservationists to speak at this series including Dan Janzen from the University of Pennsylvania, who is possibly the world’s most-celebrated ecologist well known for his pioneering work in Costa Rica,” he added.