The 2nd World Conference on Marine Biodiversity (WCMB) was co-held by the University of Aberdeen and University of St Andrews in Aberdeen, Scotland (UK) on September 26-30.

Themed as “Our Oceans, Our future”, the conference attracted more than 900 attendees from 74 countries, including a delegation led by Dr. SUN Song from the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) who delivered a plenary report at the conference.

The attendees had a discussion on a range of topics including taxonomy, biodiversity, changes in biodiversity with time, marine technology, blue biotechnology, ecosystem services, and climate change.

They also reviewed the knowledge of marine biodiversity and its role in marine ecosystem functioning, assessed the most critical threats to marine systems, discussed sustainable development and socio-economic impacts on the marine sector, and identified future research priorities.　

It was released from the conference that 3rd WCMB will be held by IOCAS in Qingdao 2014.

IOCAS delegation also attended another two workshops “Census of Marine Life Beyond 2010” and “International Association for Biological Oceanography” and discussed the preparation work for the conference with the organizers of the conference.

First held in Spain 2008, WCMB aimed at bringing together scientists, practitioners and the public to discuss and advance the understanding of the issues surrounding the importance of biodiversity in the marine environment.