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SER-IUCN:  Partnership for Ecological Restoration Worldwide

In March 2003, a team from SER International traveled to Taman Negara, Malaysia, to meet with members of the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM).  The purpose of this meeting was to determine how our two organizations can work together to benefit restoration efforts worldwide.  Led by then chair Eric Higgs, the SER International group included current chair Keith Bowers, board members George Gann, Carolina Murcia, Steve Whisenant and Science & Policy Working Group chair Keith Winterhalder.  This meeting culminated several years of work by former SER chair Nik Lopoukhine (also present at the meeting) and Eric Higgs.

This successful meeting created a formal partnership between our two organizations and resulted in the following collaboration:

• Ecological Restoration – a Means of Conserving Biodiversity and Sustaining Livelihoods and a Framework for Restoration Case Studies.
   

• Creation of a joint SER-IUCN Ecological Restoration Joint Working Group, co-chaired by SER International board member George Gann and David Lamb, theme leader for restoration for the CEM.  Other international SER leaders on the SER/IUCN Working Group are Keith Bowers, Eric Higgs and Steve Whisenant.