South America has the highest crocodilian species richness in the world, and Brazil has 6 of the 23 extant crocodilian species (Caiman crocodilus, C. latirostris, C. yacare, Paleosuchus palpebrosus, P. trigonatus, Melanosuchus niger). Within the Brazilian Amazon, the city of Manaus , situated on the Amazon River itself, has been chosen as the venue for the 20th Working Meeting of the IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group, from 12 to 17 September 2010. Manaus is the most ideal location to showcase crocodilian habitat, the high diversity of crocodilian species, and the potential for sustainable management of caimans.
 
Brazil has a long history of conservation, research and management of caimans, and has been developing a sustainable use program based on the Black caiman (M. niger ). If fully implemented across the whole country, the program has the potential to be one of the largest crocodilian use programs in the world. zHolding the 20th CSG meeting in Manaus will facilitate the involvement of conservationists, researchers, students, managers, industry, rural communities and others, and discussions should contribute to a better understanding of caiman conservation and management generally, and allow the strengths and weaknesses of the developing M. niger program to be evaluated.
 
However, as always, the CSG Working Meeting will provide a forum to advance crocodilian conservation and management issues for all crocodilian species, and we look forward to your participation in Manaus , in the heart of the Amazon. The official languages of the Congress are Portuguese and English, there will be translation just to English.