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SURVEY OF ASIA MEMBERS

M. A. Sanjayan

Juliet Christian-Smith

Three months ago, following similar initiatives in Latin America, Europe, and Africa, SCB carried out a survey of our Asian membership. We received 36 replies to our inquiries, with all but eight respondents contacting us via email.

Most respondents are affiliated with a university or college (26) and their overwhelming motivation to become a member of SCB (essentially all but three respondents) was to subscribe to Conservation Biology. Financial limitations were considered to be the greatest obstacle to attending SCB meetings (29). Some respondents noted that travel from Asia to nearly any place outside the continent, but particularly to North America, is prohibitively expensive.

There was no simple consensus why few Asian members vote in SCB elections. Common reasons were current workload, little relevance, predominance of English, SCB not perceived as Asian, and non-timely notification. Several members commented that a lack of familiarity with the candidates poses a problem for voters already disconnected from an organization perceived as western. Another reason echoed by several respondents was that some think of themselves as "readers" of Conservation Biology, but not as "members" of SCB.

To increase participation by Asian members, respondents generally agreed that SCB should become more global by changing its governance (20) (e.g., elect an officer to serve on the Board of Governors), organize meetings in Asia (biannual or triannual), and, perhaps most importantly, establish an Asia Section within SCB (28). Nearly everyone agreed that such a section would have to be strongly affiliated with the parent organization and would work through the publication of a regional newsletter and website. One caveat to this strategy was an apprehension that an Asia section could become dominated by Japanese members (because a large proportion of Asian members are Japanese), which would limit the section's value to others in south and southeastern Asia.

The most preferred means of networking was email (22), followed by professional meetings and workshops. Surprisingly, less than half of the respondents found the newsletter (15) and SCB website (16) useful for networking. This could be because most respondents network to discuss issues of common concern and to receive specific information about conservation opportunities. Neither the newsletter nor the website is perceived as very relevant, in these two regards, to the Asian region.

In summary, similar to our Africa Survey, an overwhelming number of respondents supported the formation of a regional Asia Section that would remain strongly affiliated with the parent organization. A regional section would foster networking amongst members, primarily by hosting a website and distributing a regional newsletter. SCB governance would be changed to allow presidents of sections to be represented on the Board of Governors. An Asia section would be open to all members who are interested in conservation in Asia.

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