EcoKids aims to promote environmental awareness among children and enable them to take practical steps to protect their

natural environment. The project is supporting environmental clubs in primary schools, involving 4,100 schoolchildren between 6-13 years of age.
Through a travelling education programme, using the power of games, drama, film and school based action projects, EcoKids aims to reach and inspire many Tanzanian children and enhance their understanding of how they are personally linked to the natural environment.

Project Needs
Poverty is seen to be both the cause and consequence of environmental problems in northern Tanzania. The people are facing a variety of environmental problems such as erosion, loss of soil fertility, overgrazing, deforestation, vegetation changes, water pollution, rainfall changes and floods, resulting in low productivity and poverty among the rural communities. We believe that one should begin by educating the younger generations, showing them that the cycle of poverty and environmental degradation can be broken by sustainable management of natural resources.

Objective of this project

To strengthen the knowledge base and create a strong sense of awareness of environmental issues amongst schoolchildren, and thus empower communities to reduce poverty through sustainable development.

Activities
EcoKids Unlimited aims to tackle the 'big' environmental issues, but in a fun and engaging way. The concept of this project is to let Tanzanian children play an active role in a grassroots network. The participants in turn will impart the knowledge they have acquired to their fellow youngsters and parents. The school visits are currently covering three environmental themes: Living Forests (deforestation), Living Grasslands (overgrazing) and Living Wildlife (human-wildlife conflicts). Activities include film showings, creative arts, games, outdoor and hands-on educational activities such as identifying wildlife, tree planting and establishment and maintenance of school tree nurseries. Educational materials are produced in the local languages (Swahili and English) and delivered by a team of Tanzanian teachers to primary schools, also the most rural schools, with the help of a mobile video set up and educational resource packs.

Beneficiaries
The direct beneficiaries of the project in Karatu District include 11 headmasters, 46 teachers, 11 environmental teachers and more than 4500 schoolchildren in this area. The children in the target group are between 7-13 years of age.

assisting in the recovery of depleted or threatened wildlife populations contributing to the social, economic and cultural vitality of local/aboriginal communities improving cooperation between wildlife managers, local residents, landowners, hunters and outfitters enhancing use of TEK/ local knowledge in research and management activities allowing local communities to decide the appropriate degree to which wildlife values can be transformed into economic values providing economic benefits that increase local/public attitudes supporting sustainable use and improved wildlife conservation improving hunters' respect for local peoples' cultural and social rights and needs protecting habitat against detrimental land use activities enhancing hunters' awareness of conservation and research needs improving legal protection of a vulnerable/threatened wildlife species improving wildlife monitoring and/or research

improving public knowledge and/or involvement in conservation

Symposia
Symposia provide experts in a given topic the space and time to orally present recent research findings or unique insights on particular subjects, oftentimes with a view to making recommendations concerning the problems under discussion. A wide range of topics that are interesting and relevant to tropical biologists, conservation researchers and practitioners today will be addressed by the symposia for the 2011 ATBC & SCB Africa Meeting. To date, organised symposia have been identified. They are categorised as Closed and Open symposia. Closed symposia consist of a complete list of invited presenters (6 for mini-symposia; 12 for full-symposia). Open symposia have some invited speakers but are open to receiving more abstracts from the larger abstract pool. If you think your abstract is suitable for an open symposium, please indicate this when you submit an abstract. Additional symposia -- formed from the pool of abstracts we receive -- will be identified at a later date. We will continue updating this page with additional symposia as they are identified.

Organised Symposia Closed (All presenters have been identified)

Conservation in a changing world: Focus on Eastern Africa

Organisers: Janemary Ntalwila (Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute) & Edward Kohi (TAWIRI) Description: This symposium is aimed at presenting and discussing conservation opportunities in Eastern Africa and the challenge of how to address abject poverty and attain the Millenium Development Goals in the context of conservation objectives. Presentations will feature research findings and policy strategies from conservation managers, biologists, researchers, academicians and policy and decision makers from various parts of Eastern Africa. Presentations will be diverse in disciplines and ecosystems (ranging from the Serengeti grasslands and savannahs to the Albertine Rift rain forests), offering delegates a wide platform to understand the complexities of science, conservation and policy in the region.

 Conservation lessons from tropical research: A global perspective

Organisers: William Laurance (James Cook University) Description: This symposium will bring together high-level experts from across the tropical world to highlight key strategies and approaches for combating, mitigating, and solving pressing environmental threats in the tropics. The emphasis will be on cuttingedge research with broad implications, and on new and emerging threats. The presentations will focus on how science can provide practical solutions to pressing environmental threats. The symposium will feature some of the worlds leading tropical ecologists and environmental scientists, as well as promising younger scientists.

Functional traits and tropical forest response to climate change

Organisers: Christopher Baraloto (INRA), Kaoru Kitajima (University of Florida), Lourens Poorter (Wageningen University) Description: This symposium will bring together presenters that examine and respond to the following questions: (1)What are the principal functional strategies discriminating tropical tree species, and how can they best be estimated using functional traits ? (2) How are tree functional traits related to abundance, growth and survival across spatiotemporal environmental gradients, especially water availability? And (3) How can we improve models of community forest dynamics in response to climate change by integrating trait, dynamics, and environmental data?

International dialogue and pilot projects: Testing climate change and carbon financing mechanisms
Organisers: Christina Ellis (University of Melbourne) & Thierry Lusenge (WWF Democratic Republic of Congo) Description: This symposium will provide a bridge between a) academic or theoretical discussions on climate change and carbon financing mechanisms; lessons learned from the field; distribution of funding, and; monitoring results in the physical and social/political/economic realms. Presentations will engage both idealists and practitioners in a two-way debate to inform perspectives, outline challenges and improve both conception and implementation of mechanisms within development and conservation agendas.

Involving local communities in Great apes conservation initiatives

Organisers: Shadrack Kamenya (Jane Goodall Institute)

Description: FORTHCOMING

Kafue National Park, Zambia its aspirations and development challenges

Organisers: Ngawo Namukonde (Zambia Wildlife Authority, Kafue National Park) Description: Spanning over more than 22.000sqkm Kafue NP is Zambias largest and the third largest in Africa. It is also home to the largest number of antelopes species (22 species) and contains the highest habitat variety of any park in Africa. Combined with surrounding game management areas Kafue NP covers more than 67.000sqkm of largely unbroken conservation area that links up to the large Liuwa Plains in western Zambia. The latter is known for the second largest ungulate seasonal migrations, second only to the famous Serengeti migrations in Tanzania. Kafue NP is under the jurisdiction of Zambia Wildlife Authorities (ZAWA) and receives a very limited number of annual safari tourists despite its enormous potential. This is partly due extensive illegal hunting activities throughout the dark 1970s to the middle of the 1980s where the elephant population of more than 30.000 individuals was nearly wiped out, and where the entire population of black rhinos was hunted to extinction. During the past 10 years Kafue NP is slowly coming of age and with large contributions from, particularly, World Bank and NORAD, there is now basic infrastructure in some parts of the park. Furthermore, Kafue NP is being put forth as an innovative business model where revenue streams from safari tourism, safari hunting (in the GMAs) and development have been proposed as joint ventures between the private sector and ZAWA. The promise of Kafue NP as a state of the art development model is tremendous, however, there remain many challenges for the future. The symposium aims at presenting Kafue NP as a model development area, using innovative partnership to secure sustainable financing mechanisms to support park management, without incurring irreversible losses to Kafues natural resources. It can possibly become a business model for other African parks in the future.

Vertebrate-plant interactions in a changing climate

Organisers: Renee Maria Borges (Indian Institute of Science) Description: Climate changes have influenced patterns of life on earth. These changes could influence plant and animal taxa separately, or interactions between plants and animals, affecting processes such as herbivory, frugivory, pollination and seed dispersal. This symposium will examine the impact of past and present climate change on vertebrate-plant interactions. For example, it will ask whether biological diversification of tropical frugivores and nectarivores has been driven by climate change in the past, or whether fruiting phenology is being influenced by contemporary climate change. An overall framework for questions in this research area will also be presented and discussed.

 Multiple forest use and its potential for tropical forest conservation
Organisers: Manuel Guariguata (Centre for International Forestry Research), Robert Nasi (Centre for International Foretry Research) Description: There is emerging evidence that forests managed for multiple uses can be more robust to conversion than protected forests. Ecosystem service markets and biodiversity conservation goals are also providing new impetus for designing innovative approaches to tropical forest management. This symposium will identify constraints as well as enabling ecological, social and policy drivers for potential implementation of multi-use management systems in natural tropical forests. The symposium aims at addressing: 1.What are key ecological knowledge gaps for promoting multifunctionality? 2.What are the main factors promoting multiple use and maintenance of forest cover? 3.What is the potential for REDD and other payment schemes for environmental services in becoming inserted into tropical forest management?

Non-timber forest products and impacts of harvest in a changing world

Organisers: Orou Gaoue (University of Miami), Carol Horvitz (University of Miami), Rick Stepp (University of Florida) & Tamara Ticktin (University of Hawaii at Manoa) Description: The field of non-timber forest products modelling is new and emerging. Over the last two decades, there has been an increasing number of studies on the effects of various type of NTFP harvest on the population dynamics of harvested species in various regions of the world. This wealth of knowledge warrants a synthesis and discussion on future research direction in this field. This symposium seeks to bring together scholars working in that field to discuss new direction for future research. Participants will present their recent works on (a) the history, drivers and ethnoecology of NTFP harvest, (b) the ecological and evolutionary impacts of NTFP harvest, and (c) how theoretical ecology can provide additional insights into the interactions between human and natural resources in a changing world.

Palm oil development in Africa applying lessons learnt from SE Asia.

Organisers: Carl Traeholt (Copenhagen Zoo) Description: Tropical Africa is seeing a significant growth in palm oil production but because it is in its infancy African nations are in an ideal position to embrace plantation development that integrates biodiversity conservation with economic development and

fulfill the MDGs rather than allow an outright onslaught of natural habitat. The symposium aims at exploring the pros and cons of large scale plantation development by drawing from experiences from the Worlds largest palm oil producers, Indonesia and Malaysia. The RSPO was formed 8 years ago to curb the rapid destruction of tropical rainforests and to install a measure of environmental self-control within the industry.

Protected areas in human-dominated landscapes: The matrix matters

Organisers: Beth Kaplin (Antioch University New England) & Elias Bizuri (National University of Rwanda) Description: The topic focuses on environmental sustainability and land use patterns and understanding how protected areas integrate into human-dominated landscapes, and how to mediate this using matrix elements. The symposium will present studies exploring the effects of the surrounding landscape (or matrix) on ecological processes within protected areas. The type and intensity of land use, socio-economic factors, matrix contrast, and presence of buffer zones, will be explored. The results of the presentations will be synthesised to alert managers to the importance of considering surrounding matrix in biodiversity conservation plans for protected areas.

Regeneration dynamics in defaunated tropical forests: a Pantropical survey

Organisers: Varun Swamy (Duke University) Description: Although the impacts of defaunation on the regeneration dynamics of tropical forests have begun to get documented at some tropical sites, a comprehensive pantropical assessment is lacking to date and the long-term consequences of the absence of seed dispersing vertebrates in vast tracts of tropical forests worldwide remains unclear. The goal of this symposium is to examine and integrate information from studies across tropical forest sites by identifying similarities and differences in the effects of defaunation on regeneration dynamics. Community-level/multi-species, longterm studies will be emphasized over single-species, short-term studies.

Role of agroforestry in resilient landscapes: Yields, services and livelihoods

Organisers: Marney Isaac (University of Toronto), Anthony Kimaro (University of Saskatchewan)

Description: Diverse agroforestry systems can be more resilient than other agricultural systems that occur on deficient soils and in a changing climate. This symposium will provide a platform for discussion on the role of tropical agroforestry systems in the persistence of yields and the development of ecosystem services to enhance rural livelihoods. Presenters from a range of disciplines will be invited to participate. Talks will bring together experts from the field of agroforestry and agroecology and present innovative work on designing systems that address multispecies managed landscapes as a means to achieve conservation and production simultaneously. Specifically, the use of agroforestry will be explored to promote ecosystem services, increase production and sustain systems to avoid land conversion.

The role of charcoal in climate change and poverty alleviation initiatives

Organisers: Adrian Ghilardi (National Autonomous University of Mexico Morelia Campus), Tuyeni H Mwampamba (UNAM Morelia Campus), Kim Chaix (The Charcoal Project) Description: Charcoal is the main source of cooking energy for up to 90% of urban dwellers in many tropical nations. This symposium will bring together worldwide experts to present the environmental, socio-economic and policy dimensions of 'the charcoal problem' and to discuss strategies for putting charcoal on the forefront of energy, climate, economic and environmental initiatives. Talks will explore the multifaceted nature of charcoal production and use in the context of Millennium Development Goal 7 i.e., promoting environmental conservation and wise resource use as the pillars for sustainable development.

Understanding and reducing the impacts of HIV/AIDS on conservation

Organisers: Natalie Bailey (African Biodiversity Collaborative Group) & Susan Bolton (University of Washington) Description: This symposium will share lessons learned on the connections between HIV/AIDS and conservation (impacts and mitigation), distribute resources such as the ABCG HIV/AIDS manual, the IUCN report on HIV/AIDS interactions and will equip participants with information, examples and resources on how conservation organizations can take action to reduce the impacts of HIV/AIDS on conservation. Organizations and practitioners will recieve information on how to minimize the negative consequences of HIV/AIDS on their work. Researchers will hear from practitioners and colleagues on critical data gaps.

 What works and what does not in protected area management: Moving the people-park debate forward
Organisers: Priya Davidar (Pondicherry University), Abiud Kaswamila (University of Dodoma), Lance W Robinson (Protected Areas and Poverty Reduction) & Navjot S. Sodhi (National University of Singapore) Description: In the long-standing people-parks debate, the rhetoric has been at times fierce, frequently calling for a choice between either preserving nature or protecting the rights of people. While some protected areas (Pas) are fortresses where local community involvement in conservation is minimal, except for the provision of services, other PAs are more porous. The symposium includes presentations on how the Protected Areas and Poverty Reduction (PAPR) alliance is advancing the debate by involving community members as genuine partners in research into PAs in Canada, Ghana and Tanzania and by directing conscious attention to processes of cross-sectoral, multi-stakeholder knowledge mobilization.

Organised Symposia Open (Additional presenters will be identified from the pool of abstracts)

Comparative functional ecology of montane forests in S. America and E. Africa

Organisers: Georg Guggenberger (Leibniz Universitt Hannover), Achim Bruning (Universitt Erlangen-Nrnberg) & Masresha Fetene (Addis Ababa University) Description: Two important regions of tropical montane forests are the S. American Andes and the E. African mountains. The structural and functional composition of these forests differ, however, as does the type and intensity of disturbance that they experience. The goal of this symposium is to provide a comparative analysis of the ecophysiological traits of montane forests in S. America and E. Africa, from tree to stand scale. The symposium highlights how important ecosystem functions and services are altered by both uncontrolled disturbances and forest management.

Community-based conservation and development: What is working and Why

Organisers: Timothy Tear (The Nature Conservancy) and Matthew A Brown (TNC Africa) Description: There are some successful community-based efforts beginning to emerge in Africa, and it is important to understand what is working and why if we are going to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss. The theme for this symposium is local, communitybased conservation efforts, and sharing of experiences. Talks will feature practical, onthe-ground conservation projects in order to share lesson-learned for solving biodiversity conservation problems.

Disturbance-adapted organisms and biodiversity in humanmodified landscapes

Organisers: Rainer Wirth (University of Kaiserlautem), Inara Leal (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco) Description: The proliferation of a small set of species that thrive in human-altered environments and replace most others has been recognized as a prominent feature of these human-modified ecosystems. Presentations will address the following key issues from various perspectives to develop new theoretical and applied insights required for a better understanding of biotic homogenization and functional simplification in human-modified landscapes. (1) processes driving the emergence of winners and their self-perpetuation, (2) impacts on abiotic and biotic conditions, (3) ecological services, (4) loss vs. replacement of functional ecosystem components, (5) threats vs. opportunities for biodiversity in human landscapes.

Disturbance and resilience in tropical forests: linking recovery dynamics, knowledge and management.
Organisers: Alejandro A. Royo (USDA Forest Services), Tamara Heartsill-Scalley (USDAFS International Institute of Tropical Foresty) Description: Understanding patterns of forest recovery following disturbance will allow managers to plan, monitor, and respond to future threats in an informed and adaptive fashion. This symposium will explore the resiliency of tropical forests; namely, the ability of these systems to either recover pre-disturbance species composition and structure or reorganize into a novel forest. The talks examine the impact of and recovery from various types, scales, and intensities of disturbance on forest biodiversity. Examples will range from land-margin to upland forests in mainland and insular systems. Talks will draw upon long-term datasets to provide unique perspectives and will discuss the role of science-based management in mitigating diversity losses.

 Ecology, management, and conservation of rocky outcrops ecosystems [cancelled]*

* confirmed presentations will be moved to most relevant Open Session themes Organisers: Marina Fleury (Golder Associates) Description: Insular rock outcrops are ecosystems that commonly correspond to important mineral deposits. In many global ecosystems they provide habitats for a broad range of endemic species, supporting unique biological communities being considered as hotspots for biodiversity conservation worldwide. The symposium will address effective actions required to conserve rocky outcrop ecosystems in light of increased exploitation of mineral and other natural resources.

Tracking forest degradation using remote sensing techniques [cancelled]*

* confirmed presentations will be moved to most relevant Open Session themes Organisers: Valry Gond (La Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement) Description: Remote sensing is a powerful tool to estimate deforestation on large area. It is also useful to evaluate local degradation. Accurate measurement of forest degradation and resources is becoming increasingly necessary to account for forestbased ecosystem services. The symposium will examine state of the art remote sensing techniques that can be applied to measure tropical forest degradation.

Impact of real-time stressors on long-term resilience of tropical rainforests

Organisers: Tom Gillepsie (Emory University), Andrilalao Rakotonavalona (University of Antananarivo) & Patricia Wright (University of Stony Brook) Description: In this age of impending global change, few understand the long-term effects of short-term stress. In four geographic regions of the world, talks examine resilience of various aspects of tropical ecosystems to stress factors. Presentations target divergent stressors including tourism, habitat variation, geographic limits, altitude and disease to open new avenues of thinking about the issues. Climate change will affect everything, however, focusing on one stressor will limit our capacities for resilience against stress. The session will end with a lively discussion about stress and resilience in a diversity of tropical ecosystems.

 Tropical freshwater wetlands: Adaptations, flooding tolerance, diversity

Organisers: Pia Parolin (University of Hamburg) & Tamara Heartsill Scalley Description: Freshwater wetlands are exceptionally important landscape units in tropical regions. However, knowledge about species composition, distribution, and diversity of freshwater wetlands is extremely scarce. The symposium will highlight the status quo of organismic and functional diversity research of this ecosystem type and identify the environmental conditions that most influence the responses and adaptations of the organisms inhabiting wetlands. This knowledge will contribute to the preservation and sustainable use of tropical wetland ecosystems.

Understanding the consequences of the bushmeat trade

Organisers: Vincent Opyene (Bushmeat-free Eastern Africa Network) & Others (BEAN) Description: The rapid growth in the global demand for bushmeat and the ravenous human appetite for wildlife parts and products has left many wildlife species facing the possibility of being consumed to extinction. It is now a multi-billion dollar international trade involving hundreds of species. The exponential increase in the trade over recent years is being driven by demand from the exploding and ever more urbanised human population, and the increasing international value and demand for bushmeat products. The symposium will examine the global challenges of bushmeat trade and the current multi disciplinary approaches in addressing the challenges.

Where the Forest Ends: Ecology and Evolution of Savanna-Forest Transitions

Organisers: William Hoffmann (North Carolina State University) & William Bond (University of Cape Town) Description: The savanna-forest boundary represents the natural limit to the distribution of tropical forest, and therefore offers an opportunity to understand how the extent of tropical forest will respond to changing climate and disturbance regimes. This symposium brings together researchers who will collectively contribute to improvement of our understanding of the ecological dynamics of the transition between savanna and forest through comparative studies of biota of savanna and forest systems. The talks will also address the theory of savanna-forest transitions as a trigger of biological diversification in the tropics.