Symposium # 8: Ten Years of the Sustainable Biosphere Initiative.

Organized by: Mary Barber and Pam Matson.
Sponsored by: SBI Committee.
Monday, August 7, 2000
8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Ballroom II - Cliff Lodge

Referred to as a "call-to-arms" for all ecologists, the ESA Sustainable Biosphere Initiatve (SBI) was published in 1990 and defined research priorities for ecology in the closing decade of the 20th century. The impetus for this bold endeavor was the increasing reality that the ecological community has a significant role to play in addressing environmental problems, in making ecological knowledge available to managers and decision-makers, and in improving the human condition. In this symposium, we will review some of the breakthroughs in ecology over the past decade that addressed SBI's objectives. We will also discuss ways that the SBI influenced ecological research funding and science policy in its three priority areas: Global Change, Biological Diversity, and Sustainable Ecological Systems. Finally, we will reflect on the SBI as a platform on which the next decade of research, management, and policy can be founded.