| In the
1960's and early 1970's the growing recognition of the
importance of major ecological problems, in part arising
from the International Biological Programme, led ecologists
to seek greater international links. Some countries had
long established national ecological societies, others
had only young fledgling ones, but one way to foster international
participation in helping to address important ecological
questions was to establish a new international society.
The national societies were very supportive of this move,
and in 1967 the International Association for Ecology
(INTECOL) was established. The first International Congress
of Ecology was held in the Hague in 1974. This proved
a considerable success, and resulted in the series of
congresses for which INTECOL is best known today.
At this time INTECOL helped to promote
the successful founding and establishment of the then
major new ecological journal Oecologia. The cover of
the journal attests to this relationship to this day.
In retrospect, it is perhaps unfortunate that the Association
did not establish a financial involvement in this journal
at that time because it could have provided a much needed
source of funds to expand our activities. For whatever
reason this did not prove possible, and the INTECOL's
only direct involvement in publication so far has been
through the occasional periodical Ecology International.
Following the founding of the Association,
specialist groups were established in various areas
of ecology. These mostly operated by arranging independent
meetings or through organising sessions at the International
Congresses. The best example is the Wetlands Working
Group, which has run six highly successful international
conferences around the world, with the seventh due to
take place in Utrecht, The Netherlands in July 2004.
Currently there are excellent opportunities to form
new groups, and to re-activate dormant ones. This must
provide opportunities for younger members of the Association,
a group of members that the INTECOL Board is very anxious
to encourage.
The national ecological societies have
continued to be very supportive of INTECOL, and all
the recent congresses have been organised jointly with
the host country's national society. This continuing
interest in INTECOL by the national societies is particularly
important, and is something on which we must try to
build in the future.
In addition to the national societies
and INTECOL, a number of regional groupings of societies
occur. Two examples of these are the now long standing
European Ecological Federation and the much more recent
East Asian Ecological Federation. It is particularly
pleasing to note that the latter was launched at the
VIII International Congress of Ecology in Seoul in 2002,
and it is hoped that INTECOL can help stimulate more
such groupings in the future.
There is much more that INTECOL
can do to encourage ecological science and its application
around the world. Up until now we have depended on modest
membership income and small profits from meetings to
support our activities. We hope in the longer term that
our new web-based organisation will allow both our membership
and our funds to grow, thus allowing us to be much more
active between our major meetings. There is no sign
that ecological issues are becoming less acute in the
world today. Rather, the situation is very much the
reverse. A strong international society devoted to ecological
science and its application is more important today
than it was 30 years ago when the International Association
for Ecology was founded. We can do much more! If you
are not already a member, join INTECOL today. Help us
to shape the Association and to make a greater impact
on decision makers around the world.
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