Measuring and monitoring biodiversity in tropical and temperate forests - review of an international symposium

The international symposium on "Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity in Tropical and Temperate Forests" was organized by the International Union of Forest Research Organizations and the Royal Forest Department and held in the Empress Hotel in September 1994.

Biodiversity - the variety of life from DNA to ecosystems - became a buzzword in the 1980's, as concern grew over the rate at which plant and animal species were being wiped out. That concern received global recognition at the Rio Earth Summit, with the drafting of a global convention on biodiversity， but the convention still has to be implemented and debate continues as to exactly how biodiversity can be defined, quantified and above all conserved. Consequently, the subject has become well-established on the international conference circuit.

The Chiang Mai symposium consisted of 54 spoken papers, about 30 posters, discussion sessions plus demonstrations of several computer packages. This review presents highlight from the papers presented and summarizes the meeting's main achievements.