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Background and Development of International Conservation Organizations and Their Role in the Future*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Kai Curry-Lindahl
Affiliation:
Professor, Senior Adviser to the Swedish Government, Royal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Gustaf Adolfs Torg 1, Stockholm 16, Sweden; formerly Senior Adviser in Ecology and Conservation to the United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya.

Extract

The internationalization of conservation activities in the form of organizations is essentially a post-World War I development. The first international initiatives were taken in North America during the first decade of the 20th century, and in 1910 other attempts were made in Europe; but it was not before 1922 that the first truly international conservation organization, the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP), was created. After World War II, ecology evolved rapidly as a discipline and this development led to international cooperation in conservation. U.N. organizations such as FAO and UNESCO became established. In 1948 the latter took the initiative in the creation of IUCN. ICBP founded the International Waterfowl Research Bureau (IWRB), another important organization, and IUCN took the initiative to form in 1961 the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a fund-raising and public relations organization.

Type
Main Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1978

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References

* By none, we feel, with more distinction and effect than Professor Curry-Lindhal himself.—Ed.

* Usually referred to as the ‘Biosphere Conference’.—Ed.

* In response to our query about this, Professor Curry-Lindahl wrote (in lift. 11 July 1978): ‘Natural here is in antithesis to “human environment”, a vague expression. Moreover, most “human environments” can hardly be more simplified!’—Ed.

See, for example, Professor Gabor Vida's paper on ‘Genetic Diversity and Environmental Future’, published in our latest issue, though the editorial footnotes on pages 130 and 131–2 should be noted. — Ed.

* IUCN comments that one of the principal contributions that the World Conservation Strategy is expected to make to the solution of practical conservation problems is by providing a basis for the development of national conservation strategies and plans.—Ed.