A professor considered a pioneer in the field of conservation decision making will be the keynote speaker when the B.C. Protected Areas Research Forum comes to University of Northern British Columbia next week.
Dr. Tara Martin will deliver a lecture entitled "Prioritizing Threat Management for Species Persistence within B.C." at the Canfor Theatre on Monday, 7:30 p.m. start. The lecture is open to the public.
Under the Convention of Biological Diversity, Canada has committed to protecting 17 per cent of its terrestrial and 10 per cent of its marine and coastal areas by 2020.
"This will require more than just protection of any land or seascape, but rather protection of high quality habitat within and outside of protected areas and management of these areas for conservation outcomes," said Martin, a professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia.
Prior to taking on her position at UBC, Martin was a principal research scientist with Australia's National Science Agency where she founded and led the Conservation Decisions Team. Her work looks at combining ecological data with decision science to bridge the gap between research and on-ground conservation action and policy.
The forum, meanwhile, runs from Monday to Wednesday. It is held every two years at a different venue around the province.
The themes this year are "Indigenizing conservation" and "climate changes and protected areas."
