Conference schedule
Tuesday, 4 March
Wednesday, 5 March
Thursday, 6 March
Friday, 7 March
Icebreaker, registration, excursion in the rainforest house
Conference Day 1 | Talks and practical sessions
Conference Day 2 | Talks and practical sessions (gala dinner)
Conference Day 3 | Talks (half a day)
See the full conference schedule here.
During practical sessions you can choose either to participate in workshops, visit the European Mink Breeding Center or walk around the zoo.
Workshops cover the topics of conservation education, enclosure design of exhibits with small carnivores and animal welfare and training.
We are proud to announce our plenary speakers!
Dr. Frank Hawkins is a conservation biologist and policy advisor with many years of experience working with governments, finance institutions, civil society and local communities in Africa and around the world. He is currently a policy and finance advisor to IUCN based in the UK.
Until August 2021, Frank was the Director of the IUCN North America office, and prior to this he spent 20 years living in Madagascar, studying birds, primates and small carnivores and working on national conservation policy.
Frank’s work now focuses on the use of natural capital data in investment decision-making, and on bringing the conservation and finance communities together to drive changes in international conservation.
He was instrumental in creating the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation and in developing the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration biodiversity metric. He wrote the species accounts for the Malagasy carnivores for the IUCN Red List of Threatened species, and has published several papers on this group.
Dr. Madis Põdra is an ecologist and conservationist who has focused his work largely on the conservation of the European mink Mustela lutreola.
He began his conservation activity and research in 2000 in Hiiumaa, Estonia, when the establishment of an island population began. Since 2007, he has been working in Spain, where he is involved in species’ conservation in different Autonomosu Communities. More specifically, his work has been related to the removal of alien invasive species – the American mink Neogale vison, habitat protection and coordination of captive-breeding and conservation translocations programs of the species. He is currently involved to the conservation of the species in both countries, being an advisor to the European mink working group in Spain, while participating in issues related to the conservation of the species in Estonia.
During his career, he has published a number of scientific articles related to the species conservation. In addition, he coordinated the latest update of the status of the European mink to the IUCN.
