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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.