The 6-day event to be held at JN Tata Auditorium, IISc Campus, covers various subjects including conservation of canopies, climate change and sustainable use.
About 150 eminent scientists, environmental managers, arborists, and policy-makers from across the world engaged in the science and sustainable use of forests will take part in the in the conference.
Canopy science has made advances only in the last 20 years, with the installation of crane technology that enables access to non-climbing experts also, over bigger expanses of the canopy. However, India, a mega diversity, with the Western Ghats and Andaman and Nicobar and NE forests - does not have such facility for access, resulting in a canopy that is poorly explored, says a press release from ATREE.
Compared to Malaysia, with two cranes over their canopy for the past several years, and China, Brazil, Ghana, Madagascar also in the process of investing in crane installations, Indian institutions still have to employ the limiting, single-rope access method. It is time that India enables its scientists, to approach canopies in safer ways.
Dr Thomas Lovjoy will deliver the keynote address, and Andrew Mitchell, Kamal Bawa, Steve Turton, Vojtech Novotny and William Laurance will deliver plenary talks. Meg Lowman, K N Ganeshaiah and Dr Bugs-Mark Moffett will deliver public lecturers. For the programme details visit www.canopy2009.org