The 2012 World Conservation Congress (WCC) was held in Jeju, Korea from September 6th to 15th, with the theme Resilient Nature. Held every four years, the IUCN World Conservation Congress is the world＊s largest and most important conservation event. Over 10 000 people of 1 100 organizations from more than 180 countries discussed 180 issues during the meeting. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonsent acongratulational message in a video; South Korea`s president Lee Myung-bakdelivered aspeech in the opening ceremony. IUCN Chairman Ashok Khosla, Korean Minister of EnvironmentYoo Young-sook and Jeju Governor Woo Keun-minattendedtheopening ceremony. Biodiversity Committee of Chinese Academy of Sciences (BC-CAS) attended the Congress.
There were two sessions in the Congress: Forum and Members＊ Assembly. The main topics of the Assembly were deliberations of the Union`s strategic planning and the members＊ proposal. Another topic was the election of the Chairman and members of the Council. Mr. ZHANG Xinsheng won to be the next president. He becomes the first Chinese president from East Asia over 64 years since the establishment of IUCN.
BC-CAS organized two important events during the meeting: a Knowledge Caf谷 with the theme ※Species cataloguing and plant red-listing at national level§ chaired by Secretary-General MA Keping(Professor form Institute of Botany), and an exhibition of main research and supported projects via video, pictures and publications. This is thefirst time for BC-CAS to exhibit at the WCC. It is also the only one exhibitor from China.
Mr. ZHANG xinsheng was selected as the next president
Prof. MA Keping in an inteview with Korea media