The EAZA Conservation Forum 2010, taking place in Switzerland at the end of June, will feature three themed days of discussions and presentations, each centred on a keynote speech from an expert in the relevant field. The event is one of EAZA's key activities for the International Year of Biodiversity. Online registration is now available to EAZA members and other interested individuals, and presentation proposals related to the themes of the Forum are being accepted.

The first day of the Forum will focus on biodiversity and the extinction crisis in Southeast Asia, where large mammals in particular are under severe pressure. With the IUCN launching a new initiative titled Crisis|Asia, of which EAZA has become the first official partner, Simon Stuart, chairman of the Species Survival Commission, will deliver the keynote presentation on that day. (The forthcoming issue of Zooquaria magazine will feature an article introducing Crisis|Asia.)

The current EAZA conservation campaign focuses on European Endangered Carnivores, so it is fitting that the second day of the Forum will look at European endangered species. The keynote presentation will be delivered by Eladio Fernandez Galiano, who is the head of the Biological Diversity Unit at the Council of Europe.

Finally the Forum will turn the spotlight to apes. Later this year EAZA will launch a new conservation campaign focusing on ensuring the survival of apes and their habitats. Ahead of that the Conservation Forum provides an opportunity to explore some of the key problems facing apes and learn about how those problems are being addressed. The keynote speaker on the topic will be Thomas Breuer of the WCS Congo programme, which works with the local authorities to manage wildlife and its habitat in national parks, reserves, and buffer zones in the Republic of Congo. His presentation will focus in particular on the Mbeli Bai Study, which studies the ecological importance of forest clearings to large mammals, and the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, home to important populations of western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, and many other endangered mammals.

A full programme for the event will be published in due course.

For more information about the EAZA Conservation Forum 2010, registration and accommodation arrangements, and advice on submitting a presentation proposal, please click here.