ATBC 2008 - History

The Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation

Why is ATBC in Suriname ?

Back to the roots

The upcoming ATBC meeting in 2008 is a follow-up to a series of meetings:

an international workshop on the sustainable use of the wild fauna in the Guianas organized in December 2000 by the Iwokrama International Centre (Guyana);
a Conservation Priority Setting Workshop organized by CI Conservation International (CI) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in April 2002 in Paramaribo (Suriname);
a symposium organized by Pierre-Michel Forget and David Hammond on The Guiana Shield during the annual meeting of the ATBC in July 2004 in Miami (USA);
a meeting on the Diversity of the Guianas in Santa Elena (Venezuela) in March 2006 (see photo, right).

Pierre-Michel Forget suggested during the ATBC meeting in Panama (2002) to organize the Annual ATBC Meeting in Suriname, as as a follow-up to the 2002 CI-IUCN workshop in Paramaribo. After starting research studies with Bart de Dijn (formely at STINASU) and staff at Brownsberg Natural Park, Forget (ATBC councillor 2003) formally proposed, during the ATBC 2003 Council meeting in Aberdeen (Scotland) to hold the Annual meeting in Suriname. The proposal was accepted by the ATBC council board. It was officially announced by John Kress, the ATBC Executive Director during the closing Banquet of that ATBC 2003 meeting.

Chair's personal sentiment

ATBC is dispersing abroad

Since the establishment of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation in 1963 (as ATB; now ATBC), its annual international meetings have been held in many parts of the world. These meetings are the only annual scientific meetings that focus on the biology and conservation of tropical ecosystems, especially forests. The ATBC edits the influential and widely read scientific journal Biotropica, an essential source of information on tropical biodiversity and conservation. Recent meetings were held in India (2001), Panama (2002), Scotland (2003), Florida (2004), Brazil (2005), China (2006) and Mexico (2007).

ATBC has expanded its number of non-USA members and subscriptions to Biotropica. The updated (membership) directory includes 1020 members from 60 countries. The ATBC promotes professional relationships between scientists, via its journal and its annual meetings. Each of these meetings attracts a wide range of scientists from outside the region where it is held and results in new collaborations between scientists across the Globe. The meetings lead to international partnerships amongst and between exponents of Southern and Northern countries. They serve to educate local goverments and the public on the need to study and conserve tropical biodiversity. However, the reality of past meetings has been that representation of European scientists is often weak, and that few scientists from e.g. Guianan and African countries attend. We intend to do something about that in 2008!

After ATBC 2008, ATBC will go to Marburg in Germany (2009), Bali in Indonesia (2010), Arusha in Tanzania (2011) and then again in India or Brazil (2012) before celebrating its 50th aniversary at San José in Costa Rica (2013).

Morpho sp.