Conservation Biology in Asia . J. A. McNeely, T. M. McCarthy, A. Smith, L. Olsvig-Whittaker, and E. D. Wikramanayake , editors . Society for Conservation Biology , Asia Section , Kathmandu , Nepal . 455 pp. £29.95 . ISBN 99946-996-9-5 . The Society for Conservation Biology Asia Section (SCB Asia) held its first technical meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal, in November 2005. Entitled Biodiversity Conservation in Asia: Current Status and Future Perspectives, the conference brought together participants from 19 countries. Twenty-nine selected papers contributed by 94 authors have been published as a volume Conservation Biology in Asia. Pralad B. Yonzon, one of the leading Conservation biologists in Asia, in the Introduction, dedicates this book to Asia's finest conservation leaders who lost their lives in a helicopter crash on 23 September 2006 in the high Himalayas. The book, published as student edition with limited copies, precisely defines Asia and has 3 parts: “Conserving Asian Landscapes” (11 chapters), “Conservation Biology of the Species” (11 chapters), and “Applying New Techniques and Technologies to Conservation Biology in Asia” (7 chapters). Landscapes covered are from eastern Himalaya, Nepal, Indian forests, China, Amur-Heilong River Basin (Russia, China, and Mongolia) and Indonesia. A chapter on biodiversity resources governance in times of armed conflict and illicit trade on mega vertebrates of Asia is also included in part 1. The species and other topics covered in part 2 are snow leopards in the Himalayas, tigers in Nepal and Lao, red pandas in Nepal, Asian elephants in Sri Lanka, swamp deer in Kanha National Park, poisoning of small mammals in temperate Asia (China and Mongolia), birds in agricultural land in Bali (Indonesia), and important bird areas on the river Yamuna in Delhi. Part 3 has chapters on satellite telemetry; chronic infectious diseases in reintroduced populations; marine microbial biodiversity and the advanced statistical tools to evaluate it; data networking for conservation biology; inability of community forests in Nepal to receive carbon credits; thinking creatively about conservation biology and ex situ production of sika deer, tiger, musk deer, and Asiatic black bear in China and the associated conservation implications. Conservation of biodiversity in Asia today is extremely challenging because the continent has problems of poverty, rapid population growth, loss of forest cover, political unrest, and endangered nature of many of the charismatic species that as part of their ranging patterns cross international boundaries. As Jeff A. McNeely rightly says, this is the time for conservation biologists to reach out to the corridors of power, and this book also provides excellent armament for such an aggressive approach. I worry, however, when I see the level of corruption in the corridors of power and wonder whether the politicians would allow either the biologists or the managers to work unhampered for the betterment of conservation. Readers are led to understand that governance of natural resources suffered at the time of armed conflict; community-managed forests in Nepal are unable to get their share of carbon credits; biodiversity-based forestry is the need of the hour; persistent poisoning of small native mammals is not based on science; strict habitat protection measures may not be beneficial to a habitat specialist, such as swamp deer; urbanization can be a bane for wildlife; and as elsewhere poaching of tiger and prey depletion are reasons for the decline of tiger population in Lao Peoples Democratic Republic. The authors argue that negative trends in conservation can be minimized if local livelihood needs are addressed, long-distance movement data are crucial for managing wide-ranging species; and regional cooperation is a must for controlling illicit trade. Other suggestions are the creation of reserve networks through corridor restoration, landscape-scale conservation that integrates traditional land uses, and citizen participation in monitoring and patrolling. I wish the authors were much more critical of musk deer, tiger, and bear farming in China. I found this book extremely useful and valuable and can vouch the same for other conservation biologists interested in the biodiversity values of Asia.