Gov. Neil Abercrombie is hoping Hawaii will be selected to host a major worldwide conservation conference that could attract more than 8,000 delegates in 2016.
A delegation from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, whose members come from more than 160 countries, is visiting Hawaii to consider it as a potential site for the conference, held every four years.
"It’s the leading summit for environmental concerns and conservation," said Abercrombie spokesman Justin Fujioka.
Fujioka said Honolulu is competing with Istanbul to host the summit.
Abercrombie, who is holding a news media conference at the Hawai‘i Convention Center on Wednesday, is expected to talk about Hawaii’s bid for the 2016 World Conservation Conference.
The conference attracts thousands of visitors, including leaders of governments, nongovernmental organizations, businesses and United Nations agencies and social organizations.
Delegates also focus on major world conservation issues.
At the last conference in Jeju, South Korea, the slaughter of at least 25,000 elephants in Africa in 2011 was brought to worldwide attention, as well as the issue of elephant poaching.
As a major stopover in the Pacific, Hawaii has been waging its own war against a worldwide invasion of pests that threaten native wildlife habitat.
Of the 853 plants on the federal endangered species list, 395 (or 46 percent) are native to Hawaii, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The state has enjoyed some success in establishing protective areas that have helped bring humpback whales and nene geese back from the brink of extinction.
Hawaii is also home to Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the single largest conservation area in the United States, encompassing 139,797 square miles.
Besides Abercrombie, others scheduled to be at the news conference include Enrique Lahmann, Congress director for the International Union for Conservation of Nature; Laura Willis, director of the Office of Major Events and Conferences for the State Department; and Chipper Wichman, co-chairman of the Hawaii IUCN 2016 Steering Committee and chief executive officer for the National Tropical Botanical Garden.
