Schedule

Sunday 19	Arrival of delegates, Group meetings, Executive meeting, Welcome Reception (early evening)
Monday 20 - Tuesday 21	Conference sessions
Wednesday 22	Atlas of Living Australia Symposium
Thursday 23 - Friday 24	Conference sessions
Saturday 25+	Excursions

The draft Schedule will undergo significant changes in the next month.

Carbon Offsets

The conference this year is to one of the most geographically isolated cities in the world, implying that our 'carbon footprint' for the conference may be higher than a meeting in Europe or North America.  Janice Tibbetts' article in the Edmonton Journal is a relevant read on the issue .

We are keen to hold a meeting in Australia as TDWG has a strong Australian and New Zealand membership. We also wanted the conference to coincide with the initiation of the Atlas of Living Australia project. TDWG can however do a few things to reduce the impact of the conference-

1. Please talk to your travel agent, airline or specialist companies such as Carbon Neutral about purchasing carbon offsets for your travel. For USA to Australia for example, the cost of the carbon offset is the cost of a taxi fare. 
2. If the technology permits, we will try to establish audio and video links to at least some sessions. The technology for video conferencing is getting better, but still has some way to go before it replaces travel.

Other suggestions to Lee Belbin would be welcomed.

Updates

This site will be updated with details as they become available. Further information can be obtained from Lee Belbin (please use "TDWG 2008" in your Subject line).

Further Information

If you are coming from Europe or the Americas, it is a long trip. So why not  incorporate a holiday? Western Australia alone covers a large range of climates and landscapes and could easily occupy you for a month.

1. Google Maps (Fremantle)
   
2. If you are planning to look around Western Australia, then (depending on the time you have) then here are some biased priorities: Margaret River wineries (some of the best wine in the world); Margaret River (and further south) beaches and surf (awesome); southwest vegetation (one of the world's major sites of endemism); northward of Geralton (red desert meets blue ocean, whale sharks, more surf, awesome fishing...).
3. If your planning to tour more of Oz, then here are some options: Great Barrier Reef (Cairns), culture center (Melbourne), beaches and best harbor in the world and a wild city (Sydney), quiet with awesome scenery and walks (Tasmania).

Acknowledgement

The work of Kevin Thiele, Alex Chapman and Piers Higgs in organizing this meeting is gratefully acknowledged.

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