About the World Conservation Union (IUCN)

From the IUCN website: http://www.iucn.org/en/about/#2

The World Conservation Union is the world’s largest and most important conservation network. The Union brings together 82 States, 111 government agencies, more than 800 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership.

The Union’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.

The World Conservation Union is a multicultural, multilingual organization with 1000 staff located in 62 countries. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Use of the name “World Conservation Union” began in 1990, but the full name and the acronym are often used together as many people still know the Union as IUCN.