Each Symposium will focus on specific contemporary issues, but the primary and secondary focal areas are listed below. Special Sessions for 2022 have been included in the list, are highlighted in blue and link to their detailed descriptions. 

Protected and Conserved Areas

• Protected Area Management Effectiveness
• SPECIAL SESSION: Protected Area Management Effectiveness: Assessment, Standards and Making the Shift towards Socio-Economic and Ecological Outcomes
• Biodiversity Stewardship
• Delineation and Management of Buffer Zones/Zone of Influence
• Transboundary Conservation
• Land Restitution and Co-Management of Protected Areas
• Integration of Cultural Heritage and Biodiversity Management
• Eco-Tourism
• Community-Based Conservation

Species Conservation

• Threatened Species Conservation
• SPECIAL SESSION: Out of Sight, Out of Mind: The Fish Below the Surface in Freshwater Ecosystems
• Plant Conservation
• Conservation Genetics
• Sustainable Resource Use
• Advances in Monitoring and Surveillance

Landscape and Ecosystem Conservation

• Systematic Conservation Planning
• Land-Use Planning
• Securing Critical Biodiversity Areas
• Ecosystem Restoration
• Biodiversity Economy
• Ecosystem Goods and Services and Ecological Infrastructure
• SPECIAL SESSION: Freshwater Ecosystem Management
• Ecological and Evolutionary Processes

Conservation Tools

• Innovative Technology and Data Management
• Legal, Policy and Ethical Issues
• SPECIAL SESSION: Protecting Biodiversity and Ecological Assets - Opportunities and Challenges within the Legal Framework, Compliance and Enforcement
• Biodiversity-Related Multilateral Environmental Agreements
• Sustainable Conservation Financing
• SPECIAL SESSION: The Science of Funding: How Conservation Success is Measured by Funding Agencies
• Resource Economics

Environmental Education and Awareness

• Effective Communication
• Interpretation
• Role of Social Media in Conserving Biodiversity
• Citizen Science

Global Change Conservation

• Conserving in the Face of Global Change
• Impacts of the COVID and other Pandemics on Conservation

Threats to Biodiversity

• Biological Invasions
• Climate Change
• Land- and Marine-Use Changes (including but not limited to mining activities)
• Pollution (including but not limited to plastics, herbicides, pesticides, effluents from urban areas, mining, and industry)
• Exploitation and Unsustainable Resource Use
• Wildlife Crime
• SPECIAL SESSION: The World-Wide-Web: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly