World Conservation Union Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) was founded in 1948 following an international conference in France (Fontainebleau) under the name International Union for Protection of Nature (IUPN). However, the name was changed to IUCN in 1956. The name was once again changed to World Conservation Union in 1990, but it is still called by its old name and acronym. It is still known as the Union or IUCN. The Union’s 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.”

The World Conservation Union has its headquarter in Gland, Switzerland, and is headed by a director general. The IUCN has offices in 62 different countries with a staff of 1,000. As a result, it brings together 82 states, 111 governmental agencies, more than 800 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership, making the IUCN the world’s most important conservation network. Aside from a director general in Switzerland, there are three directors who look after global operations, global programs, and global strategies, respectively. There are eight regional directors, each responsible for Meso-America, west/ central Asia and north Africa, south America, Asia, eastern Africa, Europe, south Africa, and central Africa. The one in the United States has the designation of executive director. Members within a country or region often organize themselves into national and regional committees to facilitate cooperation and help coordinate the work of the Union. Networks of volunteer scientists and experts are principal sources of guidance on conservation knowledge, policy, and technical advice, and implement parts of the Union’s work program. They are divided into the following six commissions:

Ecosystem Management: The purpose of the Commission on Ecosystems Management is to ensure the sustainable and efficient management of ecosystems, integrating social, economic, and environmental aims at local, national, and transboundary levels. It consists of almost 500 volunteer ecosystem management experts from around the world.
Education and Communication: The Commission on Education and Communication is IUCN’s knowledge network concerned with ways to involve people in learning and changes toward more sustainable development through biodiversity and natural resources management. It consists of a network of almost 600 volunteers who are experts in learning, education, communication, capacity building, and change management.
Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy: The Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy consists of professionals who are experts in environmental, economic, social, and cultural factors that affect natural resources and biological diversity. The group of experts provides guidance and support toward effective policies and practices in envi-

ronmental conservation and sustainable development.

Environmental Law: The Commission on Environmental Law consists of volunteers who are experts in environmental law and policy from all over the world. It acts as the principal source of legal technical advice to the Union on all aspects of environmental law.
Protected Areas: The Commission on Protected Areas consists of almost 1,200 volunteers involved in promoting the establishment and effective management of a worldwide representative network of terrestrial and marine protected areas. It provides strategic advice to policy makers; helps strengthen capacity and investment in protected areas; and gathers the diverse constituency of protected area stakeholders to address challenging issues.
Species Survival: The Commission on Species Survival consists of almost 7,000 volunteers who are experts on plants, birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates and are interested in the conservation of biodiversity in plants and animals. The commission provides information on biodiversity conservation, the inherent value of species, their role in ecosystem health and functioning, the provision of ecosystem services, and their support to human livelihoods.

The priorities and work of the commissions are set every four years at the World Conservation Congress, where the members of the Union also elect each 32-member council together with a president, treasurer, and three representatives from each of the eight regions of the Union. The council also includes the chairs of the six commissions. The council operates like a board of directors meeting once or twice a year to direct Union policy, approve finances, and decide on strategy. The council may appoint up to six additional councilors. Accountable to the council, the secretariat is led by a director general and has a decentralized structure with regional, outpost, and country offices around the world.

The IUCN has been criticized in recent years for its slowness in coming to understand the relationship of indigenous rights, environmental justice, and political ecology to successfully implementing conservation efforts. Associated with sometimes-draconian conservation efforts (somewhat unfairly), the IUCN has made recent efforts to broaden its investigation into, and support of, participatory and justice-oriented efforts in conservation. By maintaining databases, assessments, guidelines, and case studies on all environmental issues, and providing scientific understanding of what natural ecosystems provide to humans, the IUCN brings together scientists, policy makers, business leaders and NGOs in ways that increasingly acknowledge the complex social and economic issues that surround conservation problems. The Union is actively engaged in managing and restoring ecosystems, but also is increasingly geared toward improving human lives, economies, and societies where the interests of conservation coincide with the interests of protecting human resources and the rights of local people.

Bibliography:

P.R. Gil et , The Red Book: The Extinction Crisis Face to Face (Agrupacion Sierra Madre, 2001);
Kenton R. Miller and W.V. Reid, Conserving the World’s Biological Diversity (World Bank, 1990);
World Conservation Union, www.iucn.org.