| Type | Scientific Society |
|---|---|
| Tax ID No. | 33-0147824 (U.S.A.)[1] |
| Founded | May 8, 1985[2] |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Focus | conservation biology, education |
| Mission | To advance the science and practice of conserving the Earth's biological diversity.[3] |
| Revenue | US$2,786,389 (2008)[4] |
| Endowment | US$923,751 (2008)[5] |
| Volunteers | ~200 |
| Employees | 14 |
| Members | 10,000[6] |
| Motto | A Global Community of Conservation Professionals[7] |
| Website | www.conbio.org |
The Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) is an 501(c)3 non-profit international professional organization devoted to scientific study of the "maintenance, loss, and restoration of biological diversity." [8] There are 10,000 members worldwide, including students and those in related non-academic sectors. There are 31 chapters in the United States, and 13 throughout the world elsewhere. [9]
The origin of the Society resulted from the emergence of the field as a distinct subject in the 1970s. The phrase conservation biology originated from a conference of ecologists and population biologists at the University of Michigan,that published the book "Conservation Biology" An Evolutionary-Ecological Perspective [10] was highly influential internationally, eventually selling tens of thousands of copies including a Russian translation. By the mid-1980s there was sufficient interest and participation to establish a formal society and publish a peer reviewed journal Conservation Biology , started in 1987 and published by Blackwell Scientific Publishers. This has been supplemented since 2007 by the rapid publication journal Conservation Letters ISSN: 1755-263X. It also has published jointly with the University of Washington since 1997 the non-technical Conservation (also known as Consevation Magazine), ISSN 1936-2145. [11]
In 2000 the SCB Board of Governors approved the creation of seven Regional Sections that were formed over the following two years. Thus the Europe Section was established at the annual SCB meeting in Canterbury 2002.