International Rivers Conference 2010

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.

The conference, sponsored by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage and Natural England, will bring together all those with an interest in achieving greater integration of conservation within the management of river systems. It will provide a forum for scientists, policy makers, water resource managers, engineers and nature conservationists to:

• discuss the theory and practice of river conservation
• describe progress in different parts of the world
• define appropriate strategies for the future

The emphasis of the conference will be on habitat and wildlife conservation but will be set within the wider context of water management. The meeting will have a broad, international perspective, and will reflect the range of priorities within and between countries in the developed and developing world.

Please complete one, two, or three sections of this form and return it by email to Zena Bailey