04-04-94 Conservationist to Speak

WORLD RENOWNED CONSERVATIONIST TO SPEAK AT OHIO STATE
     COLUMBUS -- Thomas E. Lovejoy, an internationally recognized
conservation biologist, will speak on the importance of
biodiversity on April 18 at The Ohio State University.  The free,
public lecture will begin at 8 p.m. in the Ohio Union Conference
Theatre, 1739 N. High St.  Doors will open at 7:30 p.m., and
seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.  Parking
will be available in the Ohio Union parking ramp.
     Lovejoy has been assistant secretary for external affairs at
the Smithsonian Institution since 1987.  He is also a member of
the board of the Council on Foreign Relations and until recently
was a member of the President's Council of Science and Technology
Advisers.  Before joining the Smithsonian, Lovejoy spent 14 years
with the World Wildlife Fund, where he was executive vice
president.  In addition is the founder of the Emmy Award-winning
public television series "Nature."
     Lovejoy advocates "sustainable development," which he
defines as "balancing human welfare and economic growth with
protection of the planet's physical resources and biological
diversity."  He has been a leader in bringing conservationism to
the public and has enlisted the aid of numerous politicians,
media executives and entertainers.
     Two of his major projects are the Minimum Critical Size of
Ecosystems (MCSE) and Debt-for-Nature Swaps.  The MCSE Project is
a 20-year experiment (now more than half way through) in the
Amazon rainforest in Brazil.  Its purpose is to use plots of
virgin land to determine the minimal conditions necessary to
sustain ecological diversity.  It receives $500,000 in funding
annually from the Smithsonian Institution and employs 20 to 30
researchers at each site.
     The Debt for Nature Swaps, begun in 1984, allow Third World
nations to retire some of their debt in return for protecting
their environments.  Conservation groups and developed countries
help buy back the Third World nations' debts.  So far about
$100,000 million in debt has been cancelled in return for
environmental protection in Ecuador, Madagascar, Costa Rica,
Bolivia, the Philippines and Zambia.
     Lovejoy has bachelor's and doctoral degrees in biology from
Yale University.  While pursuing his Ph.D., he lived in Belem for
two years and carried out the region's first bird-banding
studies.

     The lecture is part of the Leaders for the Twenty-First
Century Speaker Series sponsored by the seven class honoraries at
Ohio State.  In the past, the series has hosted such notable
speakers as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and
National Endowment for the Humanities Chair Lynne V. Cheney.  The
chair of this year's speaker committee is Joseph Craine, a junior
from Mayfield.
                                
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Contact: Amy Combs, 291, 6651.


[Submitted by: GERSTNER  (gerstner@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Mon, 04 Apr 1994 12:41:34 -0500 (EST)]
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