International Union for the Conservation of Nature

Mission

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

Created in 1948, IUCN has evolved into the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network. It harnesses the experience, resources and reach of its 1,300 Member organisations and the input of over 10,000 experts. IUCN is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. The union’s experts are organised into six commissions dedicated to species survival, environmental law, protected areas, social and economic policy, ecosystem management, and education and communication.

By facilitating these solutions, IUCN provides governments and institutions at all levels with the impetus to achieve universal goals, including on biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development, which IUCN was instrumental in defining.

The new IUCN Programme 2013-2016 highlights the need for “Deploying nature-based solutions to global challenges in climate, food and development”. Through its work on Disaster Risk Reduction, the IUCN Ecosystem Management Programme aims to promote integration of ecosystem management, livelihoods, community vulnerability and climate change adaptation to disaster management.