What Makes the IUCN Tick?

By Scott Hyland, Auburn Air youth journalist

The World Conservation Congress: A meeting place where delegates from around the world can come to discuss the environment on friendly ground. The conference allows the delegates to hear opinions and arguements from the perspectives of 133 different countries, resulting in an immense amount of circulated information and debate.

The IUCN is the oldest conservation union in the world. It was formed in 1948 to confront an environmental armaggedon sparked by World War II and the near disappearance of several animal species. The result was a union that brings together Non- Government Organizations, such as the World Wildlife Foundation, and Governments that may not otherwise communicate, or are perhaps even hostile towards one another. This conference lets them converse and make an attempt at environmental salvation on neutral ground.

The IUCN contains several commissions made up of volunteer experts, each of these commissions specialize in a certain aspect of the environment. Some of these commissions include: Species Survival; National Park and Protected areas; Environmental Law; Education and Communication; Ecosystems management and Environmental Stratagies and Planning. The commissions tackle these issues in the hopes of finding a solution or alternative to the problems they specialize in.

The purpose of the World Conservation Congress is to find ways to save our planet for tommorows generations. Through the IUCN there is hope for finding International unity and to solve the environmental problems that are sending us all to an early grave.