In September 1990 the Nature Conservancy Council organised an international conference on ‘The Conservation and Management of Rivers’. The conference was truly international, attracting 337 delegates from 29 countries.
By September 2010 twenty years will have elapsed since the York conference. A huge amount has changed in the world since then – economically, politically, culturally, scientifically. This conference will look back over this period and assess the changes in river conservation – how the environment has changed, how the legislation and policies that drive conservation have changed, how organisations have changed, how techniques for practicing river conservation have changed, and how public attitudes have changed.
What predictions did we make in 1990? Which have been proved accurate and which have not? Where have we succeeded and where have we failed?
The 2010 conference provides an opportunity both to share experience as we look back over the last 20 years, and to use the lessons of the past to look 20 years on into the future.
ProgrammePapers on the following topics are likely to be included in the programme:
- Philosophy of conservation – historical and global perspectives
- Catchment characteristics and river ecosystems
- The case for conservation – threats to river systems, trends in the state of rivers, the value of protection
- River classification/assessment of conservation potential
- Ecosystem integrity – biological, chemical, hydromorphological
- New methods and approaches
- Ecosystem services and environmental economics
- The integration of habitat and wildlife conservation with wider management objectives
- Catchment management
- River management – overall objectives, channel engineering, riparian zones, catchment control, fluvial changes
- Adaptive management
- The relevance of climate change to river conservation
- Evidence-based management and monitoring
- The recovery and rehabilitation of rivers and streams
- Integrating river conservation with recreation and amenity
- Protecting rivers by legislation – geographical overviews
- Public involvement in river conservation and management
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