Draft Diversity Statement

We seek your input into how SCB Oceania can uphold its commitment to diversity:

• How do you define diversity in SCB Oceania?
• What could SCB Oceania do to support a diverse, inclusive, and equitable membership and leadership?
• What are some of your reasons for wanting to see diversity, inclusion, and equity in SCB Oceania?

Join us in sharing your ideas by:

• Tweeting your suggestions during the conference and beyond, using the hashtag #SCBODiversity
• Coming to the lunchtime discussion on Thursday July 7^th, in Room P7

Draft Diversity Statement, for discussion at the SCBO Brisbane 2016 Conference, 4-9 July 2016

SCB Oceania gratefully acknowledges the work of the Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Committee of the Society for Conservation Biology, whose text we have adopted for this draft statement.

The Society for Conservation Biology – Oceania (SCBO) strives to engage a broad community of students and professionals in SCB Oceania’s activities, recognizing that today’s complex biodiversity conservation challenges require input and analysis from a variety of voices, vantage points, and expertise from different geographies, backgrounds, disciplines, and dimensions. SCB Oceania strives to be inclusive and welcoming of diversity, and to foster a shared vision for the development of a diverse membership and leadership.

SCB Oceania envisions a Society that acknowledges that the success of conservation biology is intertwined with and relies on a commitment to greater access, inclusion, and empowerment. This commitment is particularly important in ensuring that groups who are underrepresented in conservation biology can actively participate with equal opportunity and access at all levels of the Society’s structure.

Human diversity includes, but is not limited to, characteristics of age, gender, ethnic heritage, race, skin color, geography, nationality, language, culture, field of study/work/research, sex or gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion, handicap and/or abilities. Inclusion ensures that this human diversity is reflected across SCB. Equity ensures that the ability to participate and attain leadership in SCB is not restricted to groups that are historically well represented in the field.