With 600 million people visiting zoos around the world each year, the potential to influence, educate and help make a difference should not be ignored, delegates at Chester Zoo’s first Climate Change event will be told. Hosted by Chester Zoo’s Director General Prof Gordon McGregor Reid and Bristol Zoo Director, Dr Jo Gipps, the conference will pull together a panel of experts from across the region. Decision makers from local and regional authorities will be invited to the ‘Question Time’ style event.

Chester Zoo’s Head of Discovery and Learning, Stephen McKeown, warned that the issue of climate change should be ignored at peril. “There is an urgency around climate change and we need to raise awareness of that fact at local, regional and national levels. We have all heard the doom and gloom stories but what we need to do is to look at positive ways of making a difference and to see what each and every one of us can do to help. The meeting will have a call to action for attendees but zoos also have to take responsibility; globally they have an annual audience of 600 million people and are in an ideal position to explain that extinction is forever.”

The event is being sponsored by Chester-based solicitors Hill Dickinson. Robin Jones, Head of Hill Dickinson’s Chester office, said: “We are very pleased to be involved in the Climate Change Event and are happy to provide sponsorship to help to support the Zoo in its ambitions to reduce climate change and its impact upon the environment.”

The meeting will be held in the Zoo’s Lecture Hall on the 18th March from 6pm and is free. To book your place contact Kate Brankin on 01244 389444.

If you have a question that you would like to be put to the panel please email learning@chesterzoo.org

Chester Zoo is a registered conservation charity and supports projects around the world and closer to home in Cheshire.  Welcoming 1.3 million visitors a year, it is the largest zoo in the UK; home to 7000 animals and 400 different species, many of which are endangered. Full details of the event can be found here.