Last year the INTECOL Board decided to increase the services it
provides for members.  As a first step in this process it decided
to invest in a new and improved web site which is now ready.  This
web site will allow each member up to 30MB for their own use,
e.g. to have their own web pages.  It will also allow pages for
group activities such as special interest groups within ecological
science.  The Board is keen to encourage more special interest
groups to rival the activities of our most successful Wetlands
Working Group.  The web site will also allow a facility for
fledgling national ecological societies in countries where they
are either newly formed or about to be formed and currently have
no web-based activity.  The facility of the new web site is called
as the INTECOL's ECO-BLOG which we hope will encourage discussion of current and important ecological issues worldwide.

The Board very much hopes that all members and supporters of
INTECOL will help to make this web facility a great success.  We
hope that you will encourage other ecologist to join INTECOL and
thereby make use of the newly upgraded web site at www.intecol.net. 
Individual membership has been free for several years now, and the
Board hopes to be able to continue this into the future for some time
at least, depending on the success of other fund raising activities. 
New members will be joining a truly international society with
individual members in over 70 different countries, with well over
20 associated national societies, and a Board composed at any one
time from a broad range of countries (currently twelve).

So please help us to make the new web site an outstanding success. 
In order for you to have a glimpse of the sample web site, I
encourage you to visit at http://www.intecol.net/member/?id=kimeuns,
the web site of Professor Eun-Shik Kim, the Secretary General and
Webmaster of INTECOL.  In order for the members to make their
own web site, they should LOGIN from the main page at http://www.intecol.net with their ID and password.  By clicking "My Web Site" button at
the main page, they can initially visit their own web site.  From the
new page, by clicking the "Admin" button, they can initiate editing
their own websites as they want.  Of course, those who are not
members of INTECOL yet should be admitted as the members
by INTECOL, first. 

As ever the Board would be very interested to hear your views. 
These should be addressed initially to Eun-Shik who will contact
you for further details by e-mail, soon.  The Board is greatly
indebted to him for much excellent work in developing the new
web site, and we offer him our warmest congratulations on its
launch.

                               With very best wishes,

                               Professor John A. Lee      
                                 President, INTECOL

03 December 2006