Conservation of the world's amphibians and reptiles

The Third World Congress of Herpetology was held at Prague, Czech Republic, from 2 to 10 August 1997. Two DoC staff attended: Don Newman and Mandy Tocher. Congress organisers invited papers on all aspects of herpetology (that is the study of amphibians and reptiles), and no criteria (topics) were pre-set. The final scientific programme therefore reflected current interests amongst herpetologists, and the foremost amongst these was conservation. In previous World Congresses, the then new genetic and molecular taxonomic techniques had attracted greatest interest. Overall, 735 participants from 58 countries presented 772 scientific papers. This report lists New Zealand contributions to the Congress, outlines the full Congress scientific programme, and provides summaries of sessions I was able to attend: Herpetofauna and Environmental Contaminants, Declining Amphibian Populations: Geography and Possible Causes, Impact of Human Activities on Amphibian Populations, Declining Reptilian Populations and Strategies for Conservation, Strategies for Conservation of Amphibia and Reptilia, Conservation Biology of Reptiles, and Population Biology of Reptilia. Important findings and observations are highlighted.