SL to hold largest international conservation symposium

• Over 400 local and foreign experts

Sri Lanka will host the largest international conservation-focused symposium of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) for the first time with the participation of over 400 international and local scientists from 10 to 13 September at the MAS Athena, Thulhiriya. 

President Maithripala Sirisena will be the Chief Guest of the inaugural ceremony and the symposium will be one of the Asia-Pacific Chapter meeting of the ATBC, which would create a platform to present and review the latest local and international developments related to biology and conservation would be held under the theme – Bridging the Elements of Biodiversity Conservation: Save-Study-Use.

Organised by the Government together with the Asia-Pacific Chapter of the ATCB and the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lankan, it would incorporate traditional and local knowledge for informed policy decisions as well as sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems.

“In the recent past, Asia has experienced spectacular increases in economic growth and human wellbeing, sustained in part through resource extraction and crop expansion. A consequence of this has been high rates of deforestation, habitat degradation, pollution, and species extinctions across the Asian region. As scientific understanding progresses, the world is beginning to comprehend the intricate way in which different ecosystems contribute towards sustaining life on our planet,” the Customs Biodiversity, Cultural, and National Heritage Protection Division of Sri Lanka former Deputy Director Samantha Gunasekara said.

Explaining the need of conserving tropical ecosystems, Gunasekara said that as climate change, deforestation and sustainability become the most pressing environmental issues in the world today, governments in the Asian region and private sector entities, as well as individuals, are realising the need to conserve tropical ecosystems. The regional conference which will address critical conservation issues facing the Asia-Pacific region, the workshops and symposium associated with this gathering of scientists would be a unique regional platform focusing on trade-offs between the environment and industry, developing public-private partnerships in a sustainable manner, introducing novel technologies and tools for the conservation of tropical ecosystems and initiating innovative conservation financing, while strengthening nature-culture linkages to reduce environmental crime.