Malin Rivers and Emily Beech (UK) from Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), Richmond, will present on "Global Tree Assessment – Prioritising conservation action for trees on national, regional, and global scales."

Biography - Malin Rivers

Malin Rivers is the Head of Prioritisation at Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). After studying at Imperial College (BSc), University of Birmingham (MSc) and University of St Andrews (PhD), she has devoted her entire career to plant conservation. Malin joined BGCI in 2014, where she is leading the Global Tree Assessment – an initiative to assess the conservation status of the world’s tree species. She was the lead author of the publication State of the World’s Trees, published in 2021, and has also published many scientific articles. In 2023 she co-authored her first book Rare Trees. She is also the new chair of the IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group and a member of the IUCN Red List Scientific Committee.

Biography - Emily Beech

Emily Beech is Tree Red List Manager at Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). Emily joined BGCI in 2014 and has been coordinating Red List assessments for the Global Tree Assessment, with a focus on Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. As an IUCN Red List trainer, she has delivered training in Red List methodology across the world, in English, French and Spanish. She is a member of the IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group, the IUCN Red List Technical Working Group and IUCN National Red List Working Group.

***

Christina Biggs (US) will present “Re:wild’s Lost Species program - an initiative committed to halting extinctions and conserving biodiversity.”

Biography

Christina Biggs leads Re:wild’s Exploration Strategy as well as the Search for Lost Species. She manages searches for the top 25 most wanted list, as well as taxa-specific partnerships around birds, fishes, sharks, and amphibians. Since taking over the Lost Species program, Christina has conceived and launched a geographic Lost Species search model that is currently piloting in several African countries.

Prior to joining Re:wild, she was a senior biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where her main areas of research were cephalopod aquaculture and deep-sea invertebrates. She planned and led expeditions aboard ROV-equipped vessels to document and collect previously undescribed species. While employed at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Christina was a member of the Animal Response team that handled U.S. Fish and Wildlife confiscations of illegally trafficked animals. Other projects included annual surveys of the occurrence of tropical fish congregations along the U.S. eastern seaboard, known as Gulf Stream Orphans, in conjunction with the New England Aquarium. Christina is an AAUS research and rescue diver and an avid underwater enthusiast.

***

Dmitry Telnov, Institute of Biology, UL (LV), will present "LIFE FOR SPECIES Project's contribution to the protection of rare and endangered species in Latvia: results, challenges, and next steps."

Biography

Dmitry Telnov, PhD, is a Latvian entomologist, biogeographer, and conservationist. He is a fellow and vice president of the Entomological Society of Latvia as well as the executive editor of the "Biodiversity, biogeography and nature conservation in Wallacea and New Guinea" book series, as well as a member of the editorial board of the "Latvijas Entomologs", ZooKeys and Tijdschift voor Entomologie journals. He is primarily known for his taxonomic works on Coleoptera, biogeographic research in the Papuan region and in the Wallacea, and nature conservation activities across the EU and beyond.

***

The keynote speaker for the topic "Innovative instruments for researching and protecting rare and endangered species" will be announced soon.