GULF OF GUINEA CONSERVATION GROUP
GULF OF GUINEA ISLANDS' BIODIVERSITY NETWORK
GULF OF GUINEA CONSERVATION GROUP
The Gulf of Guinea Islands' Biodiversity Network is an informal
network of scientists, conservationists and organisations interested in the biodiversity
of the Gulf of Guinea islands of Bioko, Príncipe, São Tomé and Annobón.
Network participants come from a wide range of disciplines including botanists,
geologists, herpetologists, entomologists, malacologists, primatologists ... and those
just interested! The network distributes news of research, scientific and conservation
developments and initiatives, environmental issues, publications, web resources etc that
are relevant to the Gulf of Guinea islands and is also a forum for putting researchers
with similar interests in contact.
The Gulf of Guinea Conservation Group had its origin at a workshop on the biodiversity of the islands held at the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust in June 1993 entitled Biodiversity and Conservation of the Gulf of Guinea Islands. The workshop reviewed current knowledge on species richness and endemism in the islands and identified issues that threaten the conservation of the islands' unique fauna and flora. Papers delivered at the workshop were published in a special issue of the journal Biodioversity and Conservation (1994 Vol. 3 No. 9).
Another notable event resulting from the Jersey meeting was the declaration by the assembled specialists to support actions taken by the islands' governments in protecting biodiversity and to develop future collaboration amongst themselves. In deciding to constitute the Gulf of Guinea Conservation Group, a unanimous commitment was made to find common ways of studying and protecting the islands' environments by:
furthering research on protection and rational use of the region's natural resources.
fostering inter-island cooperation for environmental protection
identifying ways of stimulating funding for species and ecosystem conservation
Since a small but auspicious beginning at the1993 workshop, the Gulf of Guinea Conservation Group has grown into an informal network of more than 100 scientists, conservationists and organisational representatives interested in the biodiversity of the Gulf of Guinea islands. Many of the network's participants are either actively working in the region or are researching specific taxon found on the islands. For the last two years the group has operated as an email network, known as the Gulf of Guinea Islands' Biodiversity Network, and coordinated from the island of São Tomé. This email network continues to operate in order to disseminate news about biodiversity research and conservation (contact info@ggcg.st to subscribe to this initiative).
More recently, through the generosity of our sponsor, Bahnhof ST, the group has established this website in order to continue to promote the conservation of biodiversity in the Gulf of Guinea islands.
We encourage contributions of news, abstracts of forthcoming papers, species lists etc etc to be included in this website and will shortly be posting a Contributions Policy. This website is a voluntary and dynamic effort and we wish to ask patience as it develops - please add us to your Bookmarks or Favorites list and revisit us regularly - we will endeavour to provide you with as much information as possible on the unique biodiversity of the Gulf of Guinea islands.