For the next three weeks, CGO Ecology's Director & Principal Ecologist Chris Gleed-Owen will be in Madagascar. The primary reason is to attend the ACSAM2 meeting, which will see a conference of amphibian conservation experts convene to discuss pressing issues in Malagasy amphibian conservation.

The first ACSAM - "A Conservation Strategy for the Amphibians of Madagascar" - was held in 2006 in the capital Antananarivo. The organisers say there is  an urgent need to convene a second meeting, to review progress and make plans for tackling new threats such as chytrid, which was discovered in Madagascar in late 2013.

ACSAM2 will be held at the renowned Centre ValBio in Ranomafana, from 18-22 November 2014. The organising committee is Franco Andreone, Angelica Crottini, Jeff Dawson, Eileen Larney, Tsanta F. Rakotonanahary, Falitiana C.E. Rabemananjara, Nirhy Rabibisoa, and Gonçalo M. Rosa.

Among local invitees are the Malagasy NGO Madagasikara Voakajy (http://www.madagasikara-voakajy.org/) directed by Julie Hanta Razafimanahaka. Fundraising for ACSAM2 has been assisted internationally by the Amphibian Survival Alliance (http://www.amphibians.org/acsam2/). CGO Ecology is one of the donors for ACSAM2.

Following the ACSAM2 meeting, CGO Ecology's Chris will be joining Richard Griffiths and Lee Brady from DICE (http://www.kent.ac.uk/dice/), Gerardo Garcia from Chester Zoo, and others, to visit field sites of the critically-endangered harlequin mantella frog (Mantella cowani).

Then, if time allows, he'll hopefully squeeze in a bit of sightseeing to see the famed baobabs and some of Madagascar's other iconic wildlife. Follow Chris's progress on Twitter and Facebook.