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A MESSAGE FROM SCB'S BOARD OF GOVERNORS

At its March meeting, the Board of Governors of the Society for Conservation Biology discussed the growing trend of unilateralism that has led to the conflict in Iraq. The Board agreed in principle that this trend undermines the global cooperation necessary to conserve the biodiversity of Earth and provide a sustainable future for its human inhabitants. The war in Iraq, while extremely troubling, is but one of several recent, prominent unilateral policy decisions with global consequences, including failure of all nations to ratify the Convention on Biodiversity and the Kyoto Protocol, and lack of collaboration on the CITES Convention. The United States is not the sole country responsible for this problem--many other nations have acted selfishly when it comes to conserving the planet's biological heritage and resources. But as a global leader in technology, power and influence, the United States has a disproportionate responsibility to set a strong example and should be among the first to agree to cooperate in protecting Earth's ecological health. SCB is considering a statement to be issued from the 2003 annual meeting in Duluth, urging the United States to be the first country to stop the trend of unilateral action and to lead the nations of the world in working together to conserve global biodiversity.

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