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Chair • Diana H.
Wall, Colorado State University •
Vice-Chair • Geoffrey A.
Boxshall, The Natural History Museum Steering Committee • Andrew Dobson, Princeton University • Ivan Hattingh, World Wide Fund for Nature • Tohru Nakashizuka, DIWPA • Valery Neronov, Russian DIVERSITAS • Cristian Samper, Chair, Convention for Biological Diversity, SBSSTTA-5 • James Seyani, Commonwealth Science Council Ex Officio • José Sarukhán, Chair, DIVERSITAS • Peter Bridgewater, UNESCO MAB • Harold Mooney, ICSU |
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Advisory Board Maria Alice S. Alves State University of Rio de Janeiro Manuel Arango CONCORD Neil Chalmers The Natural History Museum Peter Crane Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Sylvia Earle Sustainable Seas Expeditions Paul Ehrlich Stanford University Calestous Juma Harvard University Thomas Lovejoy The World Bank Jane Lubchenco ICSU Jeffrey McNeely IUCN Russell Mittermeier Conservation International Stuart Pimm Columbia University Peter Raven Missouri Botanical Garden Edward O. Wilson Harvard University |
April 23, 2001To whom it may concern: DIVERSITAS-International Biodiversity Observation Year (IBOY)2001-2002I am writing to convey the strong endorsement of the DIVERSITAS International Biodiversity Observation Year (IBOY) for the project ‘Amazonia Landscape Mapping and Biodiversity Estimation’ proposed by Dr. Luigi Fabbro. DIVERSITAS, the International Programme on Biodiversity Science constitutes one of the major international global change research programmes. Sponsored by the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Council for Scientific Unions (ICSU), the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) and the International Union of Microbiological Sciences (IUMS), DIVERSITAS promotes, facilitates and catalyses scientific research on biological diversity. DIVERSITAS is sponsoring, for 2001-2002, an initiative entitled the International Biodiversity Observation Year (IBOY), endorsed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the XVI International Botanical Congress. The 5th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity took note of IBOY and invited parties to find ways and means of collaborating with the initiative. The goals of IBOY are to better understand the biological diversity of our planet, to bring biodiversity science to the forefront of the scientific agendas of nations and international organizations, and to engage and educate the general public. An international Steering Committee, comprised of leading biodiversity experts, is guiding the IBOY. The IBOY has accepted ‘Amazonia Landscape Mapping and Biodiversity Estimation’ as a Satellite Project. The IBOY recognizes the important effort that the program is taking to catalyze biodiversity assessment of Amazonia and incorporate traditional knowledge and local communities in this process. IBOY also recognizes the important contribution of the project to increasing awareness of the importance of biodiversity and involving communities in the practical actions that seek to sustainably manage biodiversity and its benefits. The objective amply fulfills the criteria retained for DIVERSITAS-IBOY Satellite Projects and will contribute considerably to the success of this initiative. I would thus like to convey IBOY’s endorsement of the ‘Amazonia Landscape Mapping and Biodiversity Estimation’. If you would like any further information please contact the DIVERSITAS-IBOY Secretariat. Yours sincerely,  Diana H. Wall, Ph.D. Chair, DIVERSITAS International Biodiversity Observation Year, 2001-2002 Director and Professor, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University |