Dear TDWG friends,
As you may know, due to acts of violence against foreigners in Kenya a number of governments have issued travel advisories to their citizens. The TDWG Executive Committee has been very aware of general concerns about security. This has made planning for a 2014 TDWG conference in Nairobi especially challenging.
Hank Bart (program chair) recently visited Nairobi and he and Lucy Waruingi (chair of local organizing committee) report that life is going on much as usual. They have arranged for a venue with exceptional security and Lucy has obtained a letter of re-assurance from the Kenyan government. There are reasonable cost estimates should we have 200 attendees (there were ~300 in Florence). Many TDWG members may feel comfortable attending the conference; this isn't the first time many of us have travelled under similar conditions.
However, some governments are restricting travel and funding may be pulled for travel supplements or workshops. We are uncertain how many people this affects and how many would choose not to attend even if their travel were not officially restricted. A meeting that is too small and missing key people will not achieve our goals for African outreach or advancing standards. Finally, there is a real risk that a last minute incident might require complete cancellation.
At the request of the Executive Committee, Paul Flemons has confirmed a solid alternate host in Europe this year should we decide to delay the Kenya meeting until next year. This Europe meeting would need to be one week earlier, however. Funding for pre-workshop training in Kenya will still be available for next year. I am confident that Lucy's team can host an excellent meeting either this year or next year.
Please let us know your thoughts by completing a very brief survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L9YRKXQ by *Friday midnight*. We expect to announce a decision early next week. Thanks very much for your patience.
Cyndy Parr TDWG Chair on behalf of the Executive Committee
Cynthia Sims Parr, Chief Scientist Encyclopedia of Life http://eol.org Office: 202.633.9513, Fax: 202.633.8742 Room W118 http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8870-7099 Skype: cyndy.parr http://google.com/+CynthiaParrPhd/ @cydparr
Mailing address: National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution P.O. Box 37012, MRC 106 Washington, DC 20013-7012