This award will support the travel costs of 22 Latin American botanists and ecologists to a symposium at the New York Botanical Garden on "Neotropical Montane Forests: Biodiversity and Conservation". The symposium participants will address and discuss the origin and composition of Andean montane plant diversity, and the conservation and sustainable use of these forests. A symposium synthesis of peer-reviewed papers will comprise a "state of the Andes" report. Latin American participants will represent institutions and research in Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Bolivia and Mexico. Because of the number of Latin American botanists involved, the symposium will be a major impetus for assessing the state of knowledge of biodiversity and conservation research in Latin America and for promoting these activities. New York is also a logical venue for such a symposium, given the history of the Andean botanical collections and research activity at the New York Botanical Garden, and the opportunity provided the Latin American botanists to acquaint themselves with and study these collections first hand. NYBG will organize the symposium and assemble the final symposium report. %%% Much of the biodiversity of the Andean montane forests are threatened by human activity. This award will support the participation of 22 Latin American botanists and ecologists in a symposium at the New York Botanical Garden on "Neotropical Montane Forests: Biodiversity and Conservation". New York Botanical Garden has a long history of Andean botanical collecting and research activity. The symposium participants will treat the origin and composition of Andean montane plant diversity, and the conservation and sustainable use of these forests. A symposium synthesis of peer-reviewed papers will comprise a "state of the Andes" report. Latin American participants will represent institutions and research in Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Bolivia and Mexico. As such, the symposium will be a major impetus for assessing the state of knowledge of biodiversity and conservation research in Latin America and for promoting these activities.
