The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
IUCN - The International Union for Conservation of Nature - is a union of non-governmental organisations and state members. The IUCN promotes nature conservation and ecologically sustainable use of natural resources. The IUCN is an important link and source of information for people working with these matters in various parts of the world.
The IUCN has produced, for example, Red Data Books on endangered species in various parts of the globe and the IUCN Protected Area Management Categories.
The Headquarters of the IUCN are situated at Gland, Switzerland. The European operations are coordinated by the IUCN Regional Office for Europe (ROfE) in Brussels, Belgium. One Thousand Member Organisations in 140 Countries
The membership of the IUCN includes over 70 governments, over government-funded organisations and 770 non-governmental organisations.
The Finnish membership includes the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, Finnish Society for Nature and Environment (Natur och miljö), WWW Finland, Hunters’ Central Organisation and the Finnish Government, which is represented in the IUCN by the Ministry of the Environment.
The predecessor of the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, the Finnish Society for Nature Conservation, was one of the founding members of the IUCN on 5 October, 1948. The Finnish Government has been an IUCN member since 1968. Specialist Expertise in Commissions
An important part of the activities of the IUCN are the commissions whose membership includes over 10,000 specialists from over 180 countries. The most significant commissions for Finland are the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the Species Survival Commission (SSC).
There are six commissions:
- Species Survival Commission SSC
- World Commission on Protected Areas WCPA
- Commission on Environmental Law CEL
- Commission on Education and Communication CEC
- Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy CEESP
- Commission on Ecosystem Management CEM
- Finnish IUCN Commission Members 2009-2012 (pdf, 61 kB)
More detailed information is available on the IUCN website under the title Our Work. The IUCN National Committee of Finland
The Finnish members of the IUCN form the IUCN National Committee of Finland. The National Committee is an organ representing the members within the IUCN.
|