The International Union for Conservation of Nature

Following a similar line of thought by others in the class, I thought I would branch out a bit from the assigned topic for this blog.  As opposed to looking into the oldest concept or legislation that could be classified as environmental policy, I was interested in researching the oldest global organization that was formed solely on the premise of environmental protection and conservation.  


Subsequently, I discovered that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) was the first such organization. Founded in 1948, the IUCN was a direct result from the actions of Sir Julian Huxley, the first Director General of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as he desired to give UNESCO a greater scientific base. 

At the first congress, held in Fontainebleau, France, in October of 1948, 18 governments, 7 international organizations, and 107 national nature conservation organizations all agreed to form the institution and signed a constitutive act creating the International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN), which was later changed to IUCN.


Not only is this the oldest professional global environmental organization, it is also the largest.  It is a "democratic membership union consisting of more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in almost 160 countries" (1).  It provides a neutral forum for governments, NGOs, scientists, business and local communities to find pragmatic solutions to conservation and development challenges" around the world (1).

The organization's mission statement is as follows:

"Our mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable" (1).

Although the organization carries out thousands of field projects and activities each year, it is perhaps best known for its creation of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.  The Red List is unique in that it provides a comprehensive, accessible index of the world's threatened species.




In sum, I believe that learning about environmental policy specific to one's nation is completely beneficial, yet it is also important to think globally, especially in an era of rapid globalization.  In this capacity, the IUCN is an extremely important organizational body on the global environmental stage in that it retains much clout in international environmental conventions, as well as in contributing to the development of environmental policies and laws of various nations.







Source:

1: http://www.iucn.org/