International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

IDENTIFICATION: Environmental organization devoted to addressing issues of conservation and sustainable development

DATE: Founded on October 5, 1948

The International Union for Conservation of Nature brings together governments, nongovernmental organizations, scientists, communities, and commercial interests in its efforts to protect species and ecosystems and promote sustainable use of natural resources. It has been instrumental in drafting and gaining signatories for a number of important international treaties designed to protect the environment.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the world’s oldest global environmental organization and its largest professional global conservation network. Scientists working within IUCN gather data, identify species and wildlife areas in need of protection, and determine ways to sustain the earth’s resources for present and future generations.

This democratic membership union, headquartered in Gland, Switzerland, serves as a neutral forum where governments, scientists, nongovernmental organizations, commercial interests, and communities come together to find solutions for conservation and development concerns. Its membership of more than 1,400 spans 170 countries and includes more than 200 governmental organizations, more than 800 nongovernmental organizations, and 25 indigenous peoples organizations. IUCN employs the voluntary expertise of almost 16,000 scientists and specialists to provide policy advice on conservation issues. In 2016, it created a membership for Indigenous peoples. A leading authority on sustainability and the environment, the organization develops and supports conservation science and runs thousands of field projects and activities around the world.

The idea for an international conservation organization emerged as early as 1910. Swiss naturalist Paul Sarasin advocated for one and succeeded in establishing it, but it lost momentum during World War I. Sarasin was unable to reestablish a viable organization before his death in 1929, and none of the other persons who had been inspired by his vision were able to make significant headway over the next two decades. The establishment of the United Nations after World War II, however, meant new hope for Sarasin’s dream. In 1948, an international conference on nature conservation was held at Fontainebleu, France, and a majority of the delegates in attendance—representatives from twenty-three governments, 126 national institutions, and eight international organizations—signed a formal act that established the International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN) on October 5.

Originally headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, IUPN pledged to protect endangered species of wildlife on a worldwide scale. It created an international network of conservationists who used the union and its periodic conferences as means for sharing information. In 1950 IUPN launched the Survival Service (later the Species Survival Commission), a group of scientists who worked on a volunteer basis to document the plights of the world’s endangered species. IUPN began to interact directly with government representatives from many nations to promote conservation of their endangered species.

In 1956 IUPN changed its named to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, or IUCN. Between 1990 and 2008, the name World Conservation Union was also used in conjunction with the IUCN name.

The Organization Matures

In 1961, IUCN moved its headquarters from Belgium to Switzerland. That same year it welcomed the fledgling World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to share its new headquarters. WWF was created to raise funds for IUCN and other worldwide conservation efforts, to conduct public relations campaigns, and to gain public support for conservation efforts. Ornithologist Peter Scott, then vice president of IUCN, became WWF’s first chairperson. IUCN was among the earliest recipients of WWF grants, which funded projects such as creating a footpath in a reserved forest of Madagascar, transporting eight endangered white rhinos from South Africa to what is now Zimbabwe for breeding, and saving the rare Arabian oryx from extinction. The two organizations shared accommodations until the burgeoning WWF moved its offices in 1979. (WWF changed its name to the World Wide Fund for Nature in 1986 but retained use of the acronym by which it has been known since its founding.)

In 1962, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the first World List of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves, a list more than three hundred pages long compiled by IUCN’s newly formed Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas (later its World Commission on Protected Areas). The commission subsequently worked to develop detailed criteria for what constitutes a protected area. The UN List of Protected Areas, a listing of the world’s national parks, scientific reserves, and natural monuments, later became a regular publication of IUCN.

In 1963 IUCN began its Red List system for identifying the world’s and assessing conservation efforts. The Red List has since become recognized as the authoritative global listing of plants and animals facing possible extinction.

IUCN and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) codrafted the text of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1972. This convention established the World Heritage List, which names valued natural and cultural sites to be protected. IUCN continues to serve as a technical advisory body to UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee.

In 1975 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) went into force. This international agreement, created to ensure that trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not jeopardize the survival of species, emerged from a 1963 IUCN member resolution. IUCN teamed with WWF in 1976 to set up a network called the Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC). TRAFFIC investigators found that the smuggling and poaching of animal and plant species was occurring throughout the world, even in countries that had signed treaties opposing such activities. Increased awareness of the problem encouraged local governments to work with TRAFFIC to stop illegal commerce in exotic animals and plants.

In 1980 IUCN, WWF, and the United Nations Environment Programme issued a joint publication titled World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development, which emphasized the need for a holistic approach to conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources. Fifty countries soon created their own national conservation strategies based on the recommendations presented in World Conservation Strategy. The three organizations copublished a follow-up strategy document, Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living, in 1993, in which they recommended 132 actions that individuals at all social and political levels can take to protect the and improve quality of life.

Other major IUCN contributions include preparation of the World Charter for Nature (1982), the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), and the draft Covenant on Environment and Development (1995; updated 2000, 2004, and 2010). IUCN also sponsors the World Conservation Congress, which convenes every four years. In the 2020s, IUCN focused on actions to conserve nature and addressed global concerns such as poverty, climate change, and food and water security.

Bibliography

Bräutigam, Amie, and Martin Jenkins. The Red Book: The Extinction Crisis Face to Face. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, 2001. Print.

Challender, Daniel W., et al. "Identifying Species Likely Threatened by International Trade on the IUCN Red List Can Inform CITES Trade Measure." Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 7, 6 June 2023, doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02115-8. Accessed 18 July 2024.

Holdgate, Martin W. From Care to Action: Making a Sustainable World. Washington, DC: Taylor, 1996. Print.

International Union for Conservation of Nature. "Our Union." IUCN, 2024, www.iucn.org/our-union. Accessed 18 July 2024.

International Union for Conservation of Nature, United Nations Environment Programme, and World Wide Fund for Nature. Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living. Gland: IUCN, UNEP, WWF, 1993. Print.

International Union for Conservation of Nature, United Nations Environment Programme, and World Wide Fund for Nature. World Conservation Strategy: Living Resource Conservation for Sustainable Development. Gland: IUCN, UNEP, WWF, 1980.

Morphet, Sally. “NGOs and the Environment.” The Conscience of the World: The Influence of Non-governmental Organizations in the U.N. System. Ed. Pete Willetts. Washington, DC: Brookings Inst. P, 1996. Print.

Norderhaug, Kjell Magnus. "The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List Does Not Account for Intraspecific Diversity." ICES Journal of Marine Science, vol. 81, no. 5, July 2024, doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsae039. Accessed 18 July 2024.

Raimondo, Domitilla, et al. "Using Red List Indices to Monitor Extinction Risk at National Scales." Conservation Science and Practice, vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 2023, DOI: 10.1111/csp2.12854. Accessed 18 July 2024.

Van Dyke, Fred. Conservation Biology: Foundations, Concepts, Applications. 2d ed. New York: Springer, 2008. Print.

Vié, Jean-Christophe, Craig Hilton-Taylor, and Simon N. Stuart, eds. Wildlife in a Changing World: An Analysis of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Gland: IUCN, 2009. Print.