The present document is a first draft of the 19th Working Meeting of the IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group to be carried out in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra,Bolivia during the month of June, 2008 and it will be subject to changes in the measure that inherent aspects to the organization of the event will be defined, as well as the different topics to be exposed (also in oral presentations or in posters) will be received by the organizers.

The 19th Working Meeting of the IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group will be held from 2nd to 7th of June 2008 at FEXPOCRUZ in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. The hosts, organizers and CSG invite members, crocodilian biologists and all interested individuals to take part in the meeting. CSG Working Meetings take place every two years and provide the principal forum for the presentation and discussion of issues surrounding crocodilian research, management and conservation.

The organizing committee is open to consider any oral presentation or poster about crocodilians prepared by the participants of the 19th Working Meeting of the CSG. With the purpose of establishing priorities, it is suggested that the presentations are related to the title or central topic of the meeting.

Although one of the main objectives of the Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG) is to reinforce the conservation and management of crocodilians, in practice it is a difficult goal to reach (despite obtained achievements), mainly in complex socioeconomic realities as the observed in countries with high underdevelopment levels. In this sense, the main topic of the 19th Working Meeting of the CSG: “Lessons learned on conservation and management of crocodiles” want to produce a discussion and analysis forum on the achievements, advances and problems in different aspects related to conservation and management of crocodilians at a world scale. Thus it will be possible to evaluate and to re-address efforts to increase the impact of different actions dedicated to achieve the conservation of this taxonomic group.

Also, the analysis of different programs (at national, regional or local levels) as well as management initiatives carried out by local stakeholders will produce valuable information to be used in the development of new approaches directed to increase the sustainability in the current use on these species.

Presentations related with the exposed topics will be prioritized in the meeting agenda. Additionally, it is considered of absolute importance the presentation of recent advances in investigation on crocodilians. If possible, all presented works will be accepted; however if necessary, will be prioritized those that show results of investigations with clear applications to improve the conservation and management of crocodiles.

Questions regarding registration and local information may be e-mailed to Karina Sauma (ksauma@fan-bo.org) or Alfonso Llobet (allobet@cotas.com.bo).