IUCN...WHO?
By: TG magazine youth journalist, Melissa D`Souza
Auburn Air youth journalist, Scott Hyland
With all the work the IUCN is doing within the four walls
of the congress hall, how much of it really reaches the general
public? According to Salahuddin Imam, a representative from the
Wildlife and Nature conservation society of Bangladesh, very
little is being received outside of Canada and even Canadian media
is receiving little coverage concerning this conference. So why is
this and who is responsible? Imam is certain that it is the fault
of the IUCN. He feels that IUCN has failed to impact the world and
as important as this conference is to the environmental movement,
it has not been properly distributed to not only the world media
but the world as a whole.
It is strongly felt that its no good to just talk about the
problem, you have to make sure that you make others aware of the
problems and the possible remedies for those problems. The media
are the ones who take this information and distribute it to the
rest of the world, but, there are six hundred journalists sitting
in Toronto who are completely unaware that this conference is
taking place. The IUCN is a major environmental organization, yet
it is relatively unknown. The IUCN has three thousand members
world wide, yet no one outside of environmental circles has any
idea who the IUCN is. Furthermore, the IUCN, originally called the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature is now The
World Conservation Union, so shouldn't the initials have been
changed as well?
The IUCN is an important factor in the survival of our
environment, but it is so unknown it is hard to create public
interest for additional support and awareness. It has been in
existence since 1948 but the only way for it to survive into the
next century is to make others, especially youth, aware and
informed.
Back to home page...