Association Affairs

Update on the 21st Pacific Science Congress

The Organizing Committee for the 21st Pacific Science Congress is making an open call for symposia and sessions. Individual scientists and scientific societies are encouraged to contact the Local Organizing Committee and/or the PSA Secretariat if they are interested in doing so (contact: Makoto Tsuchiya at tsuchya@sci.u-ryukyu.ac.jp or Burke Burnett at burnett@bishopmuseum.org).

The overall theme of the Congress is "Diversity and Change: Challenges and Opportunities for Managing Natural and Social Systems in the Asia-Pacific". Currently planned sub-themes and associated symposia include:

• • Islands in Development (including sessions on Globalization; Health and Development; Agriculture; Tourism; and Building Sustainable Communities)

• • Maintaining Nature's Diversity (with both terrestrial and marine components in sessions on Biodiversity; Natural Resource Management and Protection; Ecosystem Services; Invasive Species; and Fisheries)

• • Science and Society (sessions on Science Education; Enhancing Institutional Capacity; Media and Science; Science, Society, and Policy; and the Public Funding of Science)

• • Technology and Sustainable Society (sessions on Energy; Biotechnology; Hazardous Waste)

• • Sustaining Human Diversity (Indigenous Knowledge; Gender and Science; and Origins and Heritage of Pacific Peoples)

• • Challenges and Opportunities in Change (Global Warming; Marine Acidification; Newly Emerging Infectious Diseases; Assessing Risk and Vulnerability in Natural Hazards; and Water Resource Management)

These symposia are still under development and the PSA Secretariat is currently soliciting input from PSA Task Forces and committees on sessions and speakers.

The Congress, to be held 12-16 June 2007 at the Okinawa Convention Center in Naha, Okinawa, Japan, will be hosted by the University of the Ryukyus and co-sponsored by the Science Council of Japan. The Congress will be held in conjunction with the Science Council of Asia. The first circulars announcing the 2007 Congress will be sent in early 2006. A link to the Congress website can be found at: http://www.psc21.net/ and on the PSA website at http://www.pacificscience.org/congress2007.html.

The 21st Pacific Science Congress provides an interdisciplinary platform for scientists from the region to discuss and review common concerns and priorities; brings together scientists from more remote states; and serves as a catalyst for scientific and scholarly collaboration and to announce and establish new research initiatives. The PSA focuses on those countries bordering the Pacific Ocean and the islands of the Pacific basin. The Congress allows scientists working in the Asia-Pacific to share information on scientific research, training, funding and future directions, and provides a key opportunity for interchange, networking and building collaborations as a foundation for future socially responsible science in the Asia-Pacific region.