Study Nature, Value Nature

Symposium with Heineken Prize winner Stuart Pimm & debate with State Secretary of Environment Pieter van Geel

Friday September 29, 2006, 10-17 h, Wageningen

Without exaggeration we can state that the relationship of biodiversity and human economy is very strained worldwide. But when we investigate in which ways nature is being damaged, much may be rescued or restored.

This September, the internationally renowned ecologist Stuart Pimm receives the Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences 2006 from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences for ‘his research on species extinction and conservation’. It was Pimm that introduced the concept of food chain/food web into the research on the extinction of plant and animal species in the early 1980’s. While conserving nature we should not look at a single endangered species, but also at the species it eats or the species that feeds on it. In his book The world according to Pimm: a scientist audits the Earth; the large human impact on nature is clearly drawn. Pimm stresses that we should in return strive for protection and preservation of the biodiversity and the ecosystems – our ecological heritage. He states: ‘We do not live in Jurassic Park: we cannot recreate species once we have driven them to extinction.’ Ecology and conservation should be practised on a global scale. And next to that, this optimist – “the world is not doomed, but neither is it healthy” – feels that he has to share his knowledge with politicians, journalists, and the general public. Also on Friday September 29 this will be his goal. Following the lectures of three leading Dutch researchers on ecology and its applications and Pimm’s Heineken Lecture, a debate will take place with amongst others State Secretary Pieter van Geel about future nature conservation policy, about the future of nature. You are warmly invited to take part in this eventful day. Please inform your colleagues, contacts, and other people interested as well!

Symposium Study Nature, Value Nature: valorization of basic ecological understanding

Presenting:

►      The official Heineken Lecture by Prof.Dr. Stuart Pimm: Does the variety of life have a future?

►      Prof.dr. Marten Scheffer (Wageningen UR): Thresholds for catastrophic shifts in nature and society

►      Dr. Jan Roelofs (RU Nijmegen): The Fundamental Science of Applied Ecology

►      Prof.dr. Theunis Piersma (RuG/NIOZ): Worldwide conservation connectors: the large role of amateurs in shorebird ecology

►      Debate with Pieter van Geel (State Secretary for Environment), André van der Zande (Director General Ministery LNV), Marc Argeloo (Vogelbescherming), and WUR scientist Rik Leemans on future conservation policy within the economic framework

Costs: € 25 for the whole day including lunch / € 12,50 for (PhD) students

Organisation: Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen University (WUR), Netherlands Ecological Research Network (NERN), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)