The annual meeting 2006 of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC 2006), which is hosted by Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG), opened on July 18 in Kunming. The opening ceremony was held in the Lecture Hall of Yunnan Provincial Library.
Dr. Cao Min, deputy director of XTBG, presided over the opening ceremony. Dr. Chen Jin, director of XTBG, made an opening address. Academician Chen Zhu, vice president of CAS, and Dr. Wang Mingyi, deputy secretary general of Yunnan NPC, respectively delivered welcoming speech. Dr. John Kress, chairman of the Department of Botany at the Smithonian Institution and executive director of ATBC, made acknowledgement remarks on behalf of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation.
Besides over 300 meeting representatives, leaders of relevant Yunnan provincial departments and CAS institutes attended the opening ceremony.
William F. Laurance, ATBC president, delivered the first report, Reflections on the Tropical Deforestation Crisis, of the meeting and answered questions put forward by the participants.
Many media agencies in Kunming covered the opening ceremony and interviewed the participating well-known scholars.
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