If you want to join over 200 speakers and over 800 participants from 80 countries around the world, you have exactly five (5!) days in which to register. On January 31st at 23:00 IST (17:30 GMT) we will be closing the registration portal of World Congress on Agroforestry 2014. Please hurry!

For those of you have registered but not yet paid, you have two options – pay through the web page until January 31st or you can pay on the spot when you arrive at the venue. However, this will mean that you will probably have to miss the inaugural session of the Congress on that day.  To understand why, read on.

India is according agroforestry extraordinary importance in its strategy to feed and green the country. As a sign of this the Hon. President of India, along with the Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment and Forestry will be inaugurating the Congress. While this is a great honour for the Congress it also means that there will be very high security at the venue, Vigyan Bhavan, on February 10th. All foreign participants wishing to participate on February 10th inaugural session must send a scan of their passport to the Congress Secretariat by January 31st. These will be used to get security clearance and invitations to the opening ceremony. The email address to forward the passport scan to is: wca2014@mci-group.com

Those of you who have not registered by 31 January, may register and pay at either of the venues (Vigyan Bhavan on the 10th or Kempinski Ambience 11th onwards). However you will only be allowed access to Vigyan Bhavan after departure of the President of India for security reasons.

The full Programme of the Congress will be available on the Congress website (www.wca2014.org) shortly. Here is an overview:

10th February: Inauguration, opening ceremony, Breakout Sessions 1&2 at Vigyan Bhawan. Followed by cocktail reception and dinner at Ashok Hotel.
11th-13th February: Plenaries and Breakout Sessions 3-6 at Kempinski Ambience Hotel, followed by side events on February 13th, also at Kempinski Ambience Hotel
14th February onwards: Optional field trips and participants return home.

Here is some more pertinent information:

• To upload a scan your passport log in to the registration portal with the ID and password you generated at the time of registration. If you are having problems with this please email the relevant file to wca2014@mci-group.com with your registration ID.
• Carry a copy of ‘registration confirmation’ with you to the Congress venues. This has your unique identifier in it. You will be given your Congress badge based on this.
• Do carry your passport with you at all times, especially when coming to Vigyan Bhavan on 10 February 2014
• Do not bring your camera or cell phone with you to Vigyan Bhavan on February 10th, as their use is prohibited for security reasons.
• If you have any queries or need any help at all please contact secretariat at wca2014@mci-group.com and we will do our best to help!

We look forward seeing you at WCA2014!