A powerful Union
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Our Members
IUCN Members include national and subnational governments and government agencies as well as non-governmental and indigenous peoples’ organisations from over 160 countries.
The latest from our members
Hundreds of committed staff in more than 60 countries provide data, analysis and convening support to Members, and implement direct conservation action.
IUCN Commissions are networks of scientists and experts providing IUCN and its Members with technical and policy advice to drive conservation and sustainable development.
What we do
Our knowledge and tools are based on the most up-to-date science. They enable society, economies and nature to thrive together.
IUCN monitors species and ecosystems, and steers policy and action to protect and restore the natural world.
Biodiversity
Human wellbeing depends on nature and economic development can no longer come at nature’s expense. IUCN works to help countries mainstream nature into economic decisions, including making the private sector part of the solution for people and nature.
Business, finance and economics
IUCN monitors the impacts of climate change on nature, and guides the conservation and restoration of ecosystems to help mitigate and adapt to it.
Climate change
IUCN works to provide everyone with fair access to clean water, and to protect the freshwater ecosystems on which humanity depends.
Freshwater and water security
Equality and equity underpin sustainable development. IUCN works to enhance the agency of all those who are marginalised due to factors such as gender, class, age, (dis)ability, ethnicity, race or sexuality, and to ensure environmental law is effective and just.
Governance - law and rights
Nature-based SolutionsTM leverage nature and the power of healthy ecosystems to protect people, optimise infrastructure and safeguard a stable and biodiverse future.
Nature-based Solutions
IUCN works to conserve coastal, marine and polar ecosystems, and the many benefits they provide for humanity.
Ocean and coasts
IUCN works to protect ecosystems, promote the sustainable use of landscapes and advance justice and equity in conservation.
Protected areas and land use
The IUCN World Conservation Congress is where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action. More than 9,000 people participated in the 2021 Congress in Marseille. Experts shared the latest science and best practice, and IUCN Members voted on 39 motions to guide humanity’s relationship with our planet for the decades ahead.
Driving policy and action for people and planet
600+
sitesin 60 countries with or working towards certification on the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas
Our history
75 years of vision and impact
75 years of vision and impact
Shortly after the Second World War, IUCN’s founders came together under the shared belief that no single government or organisation can address the challenges facing our planet alone. Each of the seven and a half decades since has reinforced the truth of that belief, and proved the value of a global Union dedicated to solving the issues facing humanity and its relationship with nature, on which humanity depends.