List of top three international bodies for wildlife conservation:- 1. World Conservation Union (WCU) 2. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) 3. Red Data Book (RDB).
International Body # 1. World Conservation Union (WCU):
The world conservation union was previously called International Union for Conservations of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). The WCU or IUCN has its headquarters at Morges (Switzerland) and was established in 1948.
IUCN is the premier coordinating body for informational conservation efforts. It is an independent international agency having 650 members from 120 countries, including 60 government and more than 500 non-government organisations (NGOs).
The main objective of WCU is to promote support for the perpetuation of wildlife to all possible parts of the world and this was made possible through the following ways:
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1. Awareness through education which includes the broadcasting of information through the press, radio, films and televisions and also through the publications of WCUs.
2. Extensive research work to discover the best methods for conservation.
3. To assist in providing technical data for conducting practical conservation programmes.
4. Proper action conducted on international and national level by enlisting the cooperation of governments and nongovernment agencies in support of conservation programmes as well as in enforcing and strengthening legislation.
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Every third year, the WCU calls a General Assembly to discuss and act upon current issues. WCU is also the scientific adviser to World Wildlife Fund.
International Body # 2. World Wildlife Fund (WWF):
The World Wildlife Fund, established in 1961, has its headquarters at Gland, Switzerland. The Giant Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleucd) was chosen as its symbol. The WWF has representation of National organisations of many countries including India. From a basic fund raising organisation for protection of individual species such as Arabian oryx, the WWF has grown to a much important role — “care for nature”.
WWF’s approach to conservation has changed over the years, from simple protection measures to a project for systematic approach and management based on the realisation that effective conservation will need to consider the relationship between animals and the local people.
This new approach has been amply reflected in the various projects of WWF’s — such as ‘Project Tiger’. The scope and activity of WWF in case of plant conservation has been provided by launching World Conservation Strategy (WCS) in March, 1988.
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The three main objectives of WCS are:
1. Maintaining essential ecological processes and life support system.
2. Preserving genetic diversity.
3. Ensuring the sustainable utilisation of species and ecosystems.
WWF, after its silver jubilee celebration at Assisi in 1986, was renamed as Worldwide Fund for Nature (WFN).
International Body # 3. Red Data Book (RDB):
The IUCN, to highlight the legal status of rare species for the purpose of conservation, has established five main conservation categories-extinct, endangered, vulnerable, rare and insufficiently known species. The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC), using the IUCN categories, has described about 60,000 plant and 2,000 animal species that are under threat, in its series of Red Data Book.
The Red Data Book, thus, provides information about the threatened species which include those which are endangered, vulnerable and rare in IUCN categories. Thus, to include information and help focus attention on threatened biological species, the IUCN had started publication of Red Data Book on animals and plants. IUCN thus published the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals in 1988. Prior to this, in 1978, IUCN had published the IUCN Plant Red Data Book.
The problem on threatened plants in India was first discussed in the 11th technical meeting of IUCN in 1969. In 1980, a small booklet entitled Threatened Plants of India – A State of the Art Report was published by the Botanical Survey of India. Later, a book entitled The Indian Plant Red Data Book – I, with 125 Data Sheets of Flowering Plants, was published in 1984.
The first volume of the Red Data Book on Indian Plants was published in 1987 by Botanical Survey of India edited by Nayar and Sastry. It included 235 vascular plant species of India, a majority of which are endemic to India.