Conference Themes and Subject Areas
The following list of session themes is a guideline for presenters to consider in preparing abstracts for submission. Submitted Abstracts must reference which of these session themes and subject areas best fits their presentation (up to three in order of preference). Abstract Submission Deadline Nov. 1, 2010.
Session Themes and Subject Areas
Celebrate
- History and evolution of protected areas in Canada – celebrating our origins
- International experiences – gaining insights from other places
- Other approaches – emerging developments (tribal parks, community conservation areas, etc)
Protect
- Ecological goods and services – illuminating arguments for protection
- Marine protected areas - creating support, building a system
- Climate Change – examining mitigation and adaptation
- Protected areas as islands – connecting landscapes and seascapes
- Ecosystem based management – planning within and beyond boundaries on both land and sea
- Cultural landscapes – exploring the human-nature interface
- Urban and near urban landscapes - bringing nature to the cities; approaches to planning and management
Restore
- Active management and ecological restoration – describing best practices
- Landscape-level restoration (e.g. wildlife corridors) – thinking big
- Biodiversity and Species at Risk recovery - dealing with “at risk” species and spaces
- Human wildlife interactions – describing the challenges, opportunities and research findings
- Sustainable landscapes/seascapes – investigating the triple bottom line
- Ecological integrity – monitoring and managing for ecological integrity
Connect
- Relevance of parks and nature in society – confronting the nature deficit , and a changing urban, multicultural society
- Outreach and interpretation – communicating with park visitors and non-visitors
- Protected areas and rural communities – situating parks as cores of sustainable landscapes
- Aboriginal perspectives – First Nations perspectives on protected areas
- Traditional ecological knowledge – integrating other forms of knowledge into decision making for protected areas
- Visitor management in protected areas – understanding visitor characteristics, behaviours, attitudes, and values
- Travel & tourism industry – shaping the visitor experience
- Citizen science - exploring pathways for community ownership and involvement in the management of protected areas
- Connecting the arts with protected areas – considering protected areas as inspiration of music, art, theatre, dance, and other creative activities
- Nongovernmental organizations – mobilizing stakeholder groups, providing new perspectives
- Industry (e.g. forestry, mining, fishing) – partnering across a sustainable landscape
- Academic organizations ( universities, schools, etc) – supporting protected areas through innovative learning experiences (field schools, internships, special courses, etc)
- Volunteers in protected areas – recruiting, training, supervising volunteers for work in protected area
