Washington area biodiversity month event at Smithsonian

[Scott Miller]

Those near Washington, D.C. on 22 May might be interested in the following
event:

1986 National Forum  on Biodiversity:  Current Perspectives
-- a Smithsonian Biodiversity Month event

In celebration of May, Biodiversity Month, the Smithsonian Institution will
hold a panel presentation revisiting the 1986 National Forum on
Biodiversity.  Biodiversity Month is a program of International
Biodiversity Observation Year (IBOY) and the United Nations International
Day for Biological Diversity. The panel will bring together for a second
time some of the scientists who have shaped the biodiversity debate over
the last sixteen years and will provide a historical perspective to current
debates.  The event will take place on May 22, 2002 at 12:00-2:00 p.m. in
Baird Auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
Institution in Washington, DC.

The panel presentation will feature video segments and speakers from the
1986 Forum including Moderator, Thomas Lovejoy (The Heinz Center for
Science, Economics and the Environment), Scott Miller also representing
Terry Erwin (both from  the National Museum of Natural History), Leonard
Hirsch (Smithsonian Institution), James Nations (Conservation
International), Elizabeth Losos (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute),
and Michael Vecchione (NOAA) and will address issues that have continued to
be at the forefront of the biodiversity research and policy agenda.  Fran
Sharples, representative from the National Academy of Sciences, co-sponsor
of the first Forum, will provide the national perspective addressing
"Results to Date in National Academy of Science Programs Related to
Biodiversity".  Other topics, many of which were considered in depth at the
Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 6)
earlier this year, include:  Scientific Initiatives Since the Forum
Measuring, Monitoring and Bioinformatics  and International Steps to
Protect Biodiversity.  A focus of this retrospective will be including the
marine environment in discussion, a topic covered in the first Forum mainly
through film programming.


May 22, 2002 12-2:00p.m.
Baird Auditorium
10th and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
National Museum of Natural History

For further information:  202/786-2821
Email: Sitnik.Marsha at nmnh.si.edu