| Sub-groups
of the Society have also arranged major meetings
of which the International Wetlands Conferences
have been particularly successful over the
years. These major meetings and congresses
are held at approximately four-year intervals.
Most recently the 8th International Congress
of Ecology was held in Seoul, Korea in 2002,
and the 6th International Wetlands Congress
in Quebec, Canada in 2000. Over
the years the Congresses and the International
Wetlands Conferences have attracted large
numbers of ecologists, but there is also
the possibility of organising equally successful
smaller meetings and workshops, and indeed
several sub-groups, notably one interested
in statistical ecology, have done so in
the past. In the electronic age there is
also the opportunity to organise virtual
meetings on a whole range of important and
pressing ecological topics.
In recent years we have tried
to keep in contact with our members between
congresses and meetings through newsletters.
However, it has proved difficult to maintain
communication with everyone as people have
moved institutions and addresses have changed.
We are thus moving solely to an electronic
system of communication, and hope that the
vast majority of members will find this
more convenient.
To encourage new members
to join and old members to re-register,
we are offering free membership to all with
an interest in the science of ecology and
its application for 2004 and 2005, provided
that they register their details through
the new web site.
I am particularly indebted
to the Ecological Society of Korea and its
President, Professor Byung-Sun Ihm, one of
the first four Honorary Members of INTECOL,
for agreeing to host our new web site. I
am also very much indebted to Professor
Eun-Shik Kim, an INTECOL Board Member, for
acting as the web master. I hope that this
excellent example of the involvement of
a national society in the operations of
INTECOL outside of the Congresses will be
the first of many.
I am very much looking
forward to meeting many old and new members
at our next two show case conferences: The
7th International Wetlands Conference in
Utrecht, The Netherlands in July 2004, and
the 9th International Congress of Ecology,
joint with the Ecological Society of America,
in Montreal, Canada in August 2005. I am
also hoping that you will warmly welcome
this new way of organising the Society,
and will want to become actively involved
in our affairs.
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