Announcement and Call for Presentations

Ecosystem Based Management:
Beyond Boundaries

Sixth International Conference on Science and the Management of Protected Areas

May 21 - 26, 2007
Acadia University,
Wolfville,
Nova Scotia, Canada

You are encouraged to attend the sixth International Conference on Science and the Management of Protected Areas (SAMPAA VI) to be held from May 21 - 26, 2007 at Acadia University in the town of Wolfille, Nova Scotia. SAMPAA conferences attract a forum of diverse individuals, organisations and institutions from across North America and welcome broad international representation. Participants include protected area professionals, academics, researchers, managers of protected areas and habitats, members of non-government organisations and corporate representatives. We particularly encourage students to attend and present their research findings.

SAMPAA is a charitable organisation devoted to enhancing the use of science in the management of protected areas regionally, nationally and internationally. The society promotes the effective use of science in protected areas’ research and management, supports research activities and scientific scholarship, provides a forum for consultation and education on contemporary science and management issues, and promotes co-operation and information exchange among land-use managers and specialists in the academic, public, and private sectors.

The main theme of the conference is:
"Ecosystem Based Management: Beyond Boundaries".

The conference will provide a range of activities including plenary, concurrent sessions, poster sessions, field trips and the development of resolutions for follow up action. Due to the nature of the conference theme and the limited time for oral presentations, we particularly encourage collaborative multi-authored and multi-institutional submissions. Poster presentations are also highly encouraged.

In general SAMPAA links managers of protected areas and scientists in order to make the science better known to managers, make the application of science to decision making in protected areas more apparent, inform scientists of the needs of managers, and promote collaboration in decision making for protected areas.

This conference builds on the insights and perspectives raised in SAMPAA V (Making Ecosystem Based Management Work). Oral and posters presentations relating to the theme of "Ecosystem Based Management: Beyond Boundaries" in either or both terrestrial and marine ecosystems will be given preference. Although protected areas play an integral role in accomplishing this we must not let their boundaries confine us conceptually or geographically.

Sub-themes may include:

• Exploring the nature of boundaries (political, conceptual, physical, institutional, temporal and spatial);
• Exploring boundaries among conservation practitioners (scientists, communicators, policy makers, managers, educators);
• Identifying boundaries that enhance conservation vs those that impede conservation;
• Identifying boundaries in marine systems;
• Collaboration across boundaries: sustaining communities and ecosystems;
• Identifying the needs of managers in a boundary driven world;
• First Nations perspectives on boundaries;
• Ecosystem-based management: frameworks and approaches;
• Maintaining and monitoring ecological integrity beyond boundaries;
• Role of education, interpretation and community outreach in breaching barriers;
• Landscape and seascape planning: Beyond protected areas;
• Human dimensions: Research in and around protected areas;
• Climate Change and its effects on boundaries;
• Species at Risk: Challenges of managing across boundaries and scale;
• Boundaries if necessary but not necessarily boundaries.

Conference organizers may combine themes into single sessions to reflect the number of submitted papers.

Both oral and poster presentations within the overall conference theme will be given priority; those outside the theme will be accommodated where possible.

Refining the Research Agenda

Park agency budgets are declining, yet use and management complexity continues to increase. A more focused research effort is required to address this challenge, with clearer identification of the current state of the art, priorities for research, and a more co-ordinated way of approaching issues and problems. SAMPAA provides a unique opportunity to bring these threads together, and allows researchers, managers and decision-makers to step back from their every-day tasks to gain a greater appreciation of the larger context of their efforts. In an effort to advance this process, the final day will include workshop sessions and a plenary to bring focus on research agenda development relating to natural science, social science and management in both terrestrial and marine environments.

Oral and Poster Presentations

Oral and poster format will have equal weight in presentation and publication. All submissions will be refereed and the proceedings will be published in a digital format.

Abstracts should be submitted via e-mail by February 28, 2007 to: abstracts@sampaa.org

Abstracts should not exceed 250 words. Included with the abstract should be the title, author(s), affiliation(s), address(es), mail / phone / fax / e-mail and presenter(s). Use a Times New Roman font, 12 point size. Include only basic text without graphics. Submissions are to be submitted via e-mail. Note author and title in attachment file name. Authors should indicate their preference in oral or poster presentation format and list, in order of preference, the three conference sub-themes which you feel your submission best fits. A conference sub-committee will review all abstracts and authors will be notified by e-mail no later than March 15, 2007 regarding the acceptability of their submission(s) and presentation preference.

Additional enquires please e-mail: info@sampaa.org