"Balancing Agriculture and Lake Protection"

is the focus theme of the 11th international Living Lakes Conference in China.

The 11th Living Lakes Conference will take place from 29 October to 3 November 2006 in Nanchang City near Lake Poyang. It is the first international meeting on the topics lake protection, water quality, avian influenza and agriculture in this part of China.

The conference is being organised by the Global Nature Fund in cooperation with the Chinese Living Lakes partner MRLSD (Promotion Association for Mountain-River-Lake Regional Sustainable Development) and the provincial government of Jiangxi.

The conference is also supported by the National Assembly of the People's Republic of China. Approximately 200 participants are expected, among them more than 50 delegates representing over 30 countries and 42 partner lakes of the international Living Lakes network.

China will be represented by officials of the central government, decision makers in the fields of lake protection, water quality and agriculture as well as NGOs. As a keynote speaker Prof. Dr. Hartmut Vogtmann, President of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, will address the main focus of the conference "Balancing Agriculture and Sustainable Development of Lakes and Wetlands.

Among many others Mr. Robert Hepworth, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/ Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and Dr. Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention as well as Prof. Manfred Niekisch from IUCN, Dr. Stephen Lintner (World Bank) and Dr. Wolfgang Fiedler (Max Planck Institute) will be speaking at this conference. The conference will include a UNEP/CMS Seminar on Avian Influenza, Wildlife and Environment with a lively, interactive exchange of views on how to balance agricultural development with the conservation of key habitats for wildlife.

| Programme |