A history of the WCH
While at the 25th meeting of the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), international representatives from herpetology societies around the world founded the World Congress of Herpetology (WCH) on August 2, 1982. Kraig Adler and Marinus Hoogmoed were elected founding Secretary General and Treasurer. Initial funding was contributed by herpetology societies around the world, and was put toward the first WCH meeting in at Kent University in Canterbury, UK in 1989. This first meeting, in conjunction with the 32nd annual meeting of SSAR, was the largest meeting of international herpetologists to date.
Purpose
The objectives of the Congress are to promote international interest, collaboration and co-operation in herpetology. These are to be achieved by holding periodic international congresses of herpetology, by establishing specialist committees, by serving as the Section of Herpetology of the International Union of Biological Sciences and by undertaking or encouraging such other activities as will promote these objectives.
The WCH has continued to meet every 3-5 years, as proposed by the constitution.
Details of the meetings are as follows:
