[From the Preface] The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), then known as the International Union of the Directors of Zoological Gardens, produced its first conservation strategy in 1993. This ground-breaking document articulated a vision of the role of zoos and aquariums in conservation for the next 10 years; it was the first time that the world zoo and aquarium community had attempted such an exercise. The document was the result of international collaboration by many eminent professionals, was translated into many languages, and has been the conservation guide for zoos and aquariums ever since. In 2002, in preparation for the 10th anniversary of the original strategy, a small but important meeting was held. Ulie Seal, then Chairman of the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG) of IUCN, now sadly deceased, Bill Conway, then Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Bert de Boer, Coordinator of the 1993 strategy and Gunther Nogge, Director of the Cologne Zoo, met to discuss the structure of a new strategic document that would build on the success of the original, but also demonstrate other ways in which zoos and aquariums could successfully support conservation activities. This document is the fruit of their deliberation and an enormous amount of work by a large number of people since that initial meeting. When CBSG and WAZA met for their joint annual meetings in Vienna in August 2002, workshops were held to determine what the contents of a new strategy should be and how it should be structured. Chapter coordinators were appointed and a wide selection of collaborators identified for each chapter. Under the auspices of the WAZA Conservation Committee, chaired by Jo Gipps, the two-year process of creating, reading, editing, rewriting, changing and improving each chapter led to the formal adoption of the new draft strategy at the WAZA annual meeting in Taipei in November 2004.