The 1986 National Forum on BioDiversity carried the urgent warning that the habitats and environments necessary to foster biodiversity were rapidly being altered. The Second National Forum on Biodiversity was held in Washington, DC, on October 27–30, 1997, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). It conveyed the positive message that we had learned and were making efforts to conserve biodiversity—that it does not have to be a win-lose situation. It highlighted a number of outstanding efforts to conserve biodiversity in ways that are amenable to all parties involved.

The second forum was envisaged to celebrate how much we had achieved since the 1986 forum. We hoped to target the general public as the audience, using dynamic means to catch their interest. It was to be a dialogue, using, for instance, a town meeting, live chat rooms on the Web, and a live-action camera in the Amazon rain forest canopy. The speeches would be peppered throughout to convey our progress and the direction we needed to head in. Although we could not secure the funds necessary to support such a venture, we believe that that format should be used for a third forum. It will be valuable to assemble top scientists to discuss where we are and where we should go. We were impressed and pleased by how easily we secured eminent speakers; many of them had to rearrange their schedules to speak but did so eagerly because of the importance of the topic.

We were confounded by the difficulty of presenting all the desired topics at the 3-day forum in such a way that there would be enough time to cover them fully and to allow question and answer sessions with the audience. To fit more topics in, we held several brown-bag luncheon discussions each day; these discussions received favorable comments because they allowed adequate give and take in an intimate atmosphere. When we were putting this volume together, we took the opportunity to address some of the lesser-known groups of organisms that had not been well covered, such as protists, mites, and fungi. We also held a number of events to increase outreach to the public and Congress: several speakers were sent to Capitol Hill to brief congressional members and staff, others participated in radio news events, and all participated in a lunch with the press.

The body of the program, including lectures and brown-bag sessions, was held at NAS. An opening evening lecture was held at the Baird Auditorium of the National Museum of Natural History. The Library of Congress hosted a special dinner and exhibit for the speakers. And the premier screening of the National Geographic film, Don't Say Goodbye, and an accompanying exhibit of the photographic work of Susan Middleton and David Liittschwager were held at AAAS. Over 750 people registered for the 3-day forum, and all the events were well attended.

Numerous people were involved in organizing the forum. The National Research Council empaneled a committee to serve as science advisers. That panel enlisted the help of David Wilcove, George Woodwell, and Walt Reid to finalize the program. Staff of the convening organizations did the brunt of the planning: Tania Williams of the National Research Council directed the staff efforts with the invaluable assistance of Donna Gerardi, Erika Shugart, and Kathleen Beil, also of the National Research Council; Prosser Gifford of the Library of Congress; Lynne Corn of the Congressional Research Service; Don Wilson of the Smithsonian Institution; and Dick Gertzinger, Victoria Dompka, and Lars Bromley of AAAS. Ruth O'Brien of the National Research Council organized the complicated arrangements that led to a smoothly conducted meeting; she was assisted by Stacey Burkhardt of the National Research Council. Authors were sent completed and edited manuscripts in late 1998 so that they could update the references. Hence in this volume, there are many references to work published after the forum was held.

We wish to thank the Mansanto Company, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Winslow Foundation, National Science Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Homeland Foundation, Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation, V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation, The World Conservation Union, Trillium Corporation, and The Jenifer Altman Foundation for their support of this effort.