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SCB GROWING, MEETING ITS OBJECTIVESThe Society for Conservation Biology is thriving. Three major initiatives--internationalization, Conservation in Practice, and the establishment of an Executive Office--and dozens of smaller undertakings are on course thanks to the staff, Board of Governors, and membership at large. At the 2003 annual meeting, SCB President (now Past President) Mac Hunter was particularly pleased to report that, with the recent ratification of the Asia Section's bylaws, all seven international sections are in place, and we are already seeing their influence. For example, the number of countries represented by our membership grew from 90 to 114 during 2002, a 27% increase. Overall membership increased by 28%, in large part due to a near-doubling in the number of readers of Conservation in Practice. We also saw a growth in our "traditional" membership, the subscribers to Conservation Biology; they increased 10% overall during 2002 with much of the growth (a 30% increase) among members outside of North America. Finally, the number of institutions that subscribe to Conservation Biology increased by 40%. In his remarks, Hunter acknowledged that much work remains before we have fulfilled all the potential encapsulated in our new tag-line--Society for Conservation Biology: a global community of conservation professionals--but he emphasized that we are swimming in the right direction. The annual SCB members' meeting was held on 1 July 2003, during the third full day of the SCB annual meeting. More than 235 people attended. Minutes from the 2002 members' meeting were approved unanimously. Chief Financial Officer Stephen Humphrey and Executive Director Alan Thornhill gave brief reports. The SCB website is receiving about 50,000 visits per month, with an average visit length of 14 minutes. Job listings are the most-visited section. Thornhill welcomes suggestions for other material that can be linked to the website. Editors of all SCB publications provided reports. Gary Meffe noted that in 2002, about 33% of first authors on articles published in Conservation Biology were from outside the United States. Meffe recently asked all SCB section presidents for their assistance in increasing the submission rate from authors outside the United States. Chairs of standing SCB committees and representatives from each section summarized progress over the last year. The 2004 and 2005 annual meetings will be held, respectively, in New York City and Brasília. Three Board positions will be open in the 2004 election: governmental agency, non-governmental organization, and social sciences. Ballots will be published in November. A clear majority of members approved a series of changes to the SCB bylaws that were proposed by the Board of Governors. The revised bylaws are posted on SCB's website. Articles 5 and 6 now codify that one representative of each section is a voting member of the Board. Article 8, Section 4 now allows the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to delegate some functions, such as collection of membership dues, to the Executive Office, and to appoint Financial Trustees to provide advice on management of the endowment. Article 12 was modified to rename and broaden the scope of the Student Awards Committee. The new committee, Student Affairs, will promote a supportive environment for undergraduate and graduate students in SCB. In response to comments that SCB's mission statement (Article 3) was difficult to explain, particularly in languages other than English, the Board proposed a slight clarification (not intended to change the statement's meaning). The revised statement, approved by the membership, is "The mission of the SCB is to develop the scientific and technical means for the protection, maintenance and restoration of life on Earth: species, ecosystems, and the processes that sustain them." (The previous wording was "The mission of the SCB is to develop the scientific and technical means for the protection, maintenance and restoration of life on this planet--its species, its ecological and evolutionary processes, and its particular and total environment.") The Board may revisit SCB's mission in the broad sense during its ongoing strategic planning process, which will include opportunities for member participation. A number of members encouraged the Board to allow them more opportunity to consider bylaw amendments in advance of a vote. The number of issues that the Board faces sometimes prevents them from reaching a consensus until shortly before the members' meeting. However, the Board will make every effort in the future to finalize issues for member action as early as possible during the annual meeting. At the end of the meeting, incoming President Deborah Jensen thanked Mac Hunter for his tremendous service to SCB.
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