Latin America & Caribbean Network
Conservation Conference 2008

Theme: “Information Management for Biodiversity Conservation”

NatureServe’s Latin America and the Caribbean Network “Regional Alliance for Information about Threatened Biodiversity” (ARRIBA), and the Asociación Nacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza, ANCON, organized the Latin America & Caribbean Conservation Conference entitled “Information Management for Biodiversity Conservation”.

The Conference was an educational event where members from the ARRIBA network came together for discussion, planning, training, and professional networking related to conservation of threatened biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean. The meeting met its objectives of catalyzing the exchange of information about NatureServe and locally-developed methods/tools. The result was an Action Plan for the development of joint projects throughout the region.

The Conservation Conference was held in Panamá City, Panamá, from August 25 to 27, 2008.

The results of the Conference are as follows:

• A Regional Action Plan for the network in support of NatureServe’s Strategic Plan;
• Regional and thematic priorities identified;
• Overview on biodiversity data management tools and methodologies;
• Funding Strategy developed; and,
  

  Parque Nacional Coiba, Granito de Oro, Panamá, Foto: ANCON

• Project presentations about the application of a range of tools and methodologies for biodiversity conservation.

About the Latin American and Caribbean Network

Latin America and the Caribbean harbor a tremendous diversity of plant and animal life, yet conservation efforts in the region are often hampered by a lack of reliable biological and ecological information. NatureServe, through its Latin American and Caribbean Network, works to protect biological diversity by promoting the development and use of scientific information and technologies relevant to the region’s pressing conservation needs and limited resources.

Central to this effort is work to enhance in–country capacities for biological inventory, monitoring, and data management, and to link that capacity with hemispheric and global efforts to understand and protect species and the habitats on which they depend.

The Latin America and the Caribbean Network “Regional Alliance for Information about Threatened Biodiversity” (ARRIBA), consists of 20 biodiversity conservation data centers and other organizations responsible of information management, located in Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico. More information...

Participants

The audience for this Conference consisted of conservation data centers directors, coordinators, and data managers from the ARRIBA network and NatureServe partners working in the region. The Conservation Conference 2008 had the participation of 17 members of the ARRIBA network representig 12 countries, plus seven NatureServe staff, and distinguished guests from TNC, CICH, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Station, and ANAM. Download participant’s addresses

Acknowledgment

We are grateful to Mary Klein, President and CEO of NatureServe, and Alida Spadafora, President of ANCON, for their continuing collaboration with the Latin America and the Caribbean Conservation Conference 2008. Correspondingly, we are grateful for the support of ANCON–Panama, CIET–Venezuela, NatureServe, Mr. Roberto Zambrano, Director of the Board of Directors of NatureServe, and other donors that have made possible the participation of LAC members and the achievement of this event.