The Green Web A Union for World Conservation Martin Holdgate First published in the UK by Earthscan Publications Ltd in 1999 This edition published 2013 by Earthscan For a full list of publications please contact: Earthscan 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Earthscan 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Earthscan is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © 1999 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-85383-595-7(pbk) Typesetting by PCS Mapping & DTP, Newcastle upon Tyne Cover design by Andrew Corbett Contents Figures and Plates iv Preface: The Conservation Worlds Best-kept Secret ν Acknowledgments χ 1 The Springs of Conservation 1 2 The Path to Union 17 3 The Union Established 39 4 A Time for Science 61 5 The New Ark Puts to Sea 79 6 The Environmental Explosion 101 7 A Strategy for World Conservation 130 8 After the Strategy 156 9 Conservation for Development 174 10 The Web Extends 196 11 Power to the Members 225 12 The Balance Sheet 242 Appendix 1 Presidents, Secretary-Generals and Director-Generals oflUPNandlUCN 258 Notes 259 Acronyms and Abbreviations 298 Index 301 Figures and Plates Figures 3.1 The three logos of IUCN 57 4.1 The move to Morges 78 5.1 Biological diversity in action 87 7.1 The World Conservation Strategy takes shape 150 10.1 The increasing representation of developing countries at meetings of the IUCN Executive Board and Council, 1948-1996 198 11.1 Decentralization: the rising proportion of expenditure managed from Regional and Country Offices 232 11.2 The distribution of IUCN expenditure by region, 1994-1996 233 11.3 The distribution of IUCN expenditure by subject, 1994-1996 234 11.4 IUCN publications: 50 years of continuous publishing 236 12.1 Attitudes to nature 252 Plates 1 Paul Sarasin, whose vision inspired the creators of IUPN. He is pictured (standing) in the Swiss National Park 2 Pieter van Tienhoven, 1953 3 Lake Success, 1949. Roger Heim is seated on the left of the table, Charles Bernard and Hal Coolidge are on the right 4 Salzburg, 1953. Charles Bernard, Marguerite Caram, Jean-Paul Harroy and Roger Heim 5 Wolfgang Burhenne and Marguerite Caram, c. 1958 6 Ed Graham, Jean Baer, Julian Huxley and L G Sagini, Nairobi 1963 7 The Executive Board at Les Uttins, Morges, probably in May 1966 8 David Munro and Donald Kuenen, Director-General and President, 1978 9 Françoise Burhenne-Guilmin, Lee Talbot and Don McMichael, c. 1980 10 Jean-Paul Harroy presents Harold Coolidge with a book on World National Parks, 1967 11 Mohammed Kassas, June 1982 12 Peter Scott and Pierre Goeldlin, c. 1980 13 David Munro, Charles de Haes and Lee Talbot, c. 1979 14 Kenton Miller presents Rajiv Gandhi with the John C Phillips Memorial Medal, awarded to his late mother, Indira Gandhi 15 Four Director-Generals and two acting Director-Generals, 1987 16 Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands greets Queen Noor of Jordan at the IUCN 40th anniversary celebrations in 1988 17 Martin Holdgate, Brice Lalonde (French Minister for the Environment), Monkombu Swaminathan and Frederic Briand in Gland in 1988 18 Sir Shridath (Sonny) Ramphal and Martin Holdgate, 1991 19 Jay Hair presents Parvez Hassan with a certificate on his retirement as Councillor, Montreal, 1996 20 Signing a UNEP-IUCN agreement at Wasaa Centre, Nairobi in 1994 21 Maurice Strong (centre) and Jay Hair (right) discuss an IUCN/Harper MacRae Pty Ltd publication in Montreal Preface The Conservation World's Best-kept Secret This book is about the evolution of international action for conservation in the fifty years between 1948 and 1998. The first date was chosen because in that year an International Union for the Protection of Nature was founded. Fifty years later, it has evolved into IUCN - the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources - or, more simply, the World Conservation Union. But the story is more complicated than that. When IUPN was founded it stood alone as the only interna- tional organization concerned with nature protection in the round. The International Council for Bird Preservation, now BirdLife International, established in 1922, was its only active predecessor. None of the global environmental organizations that are household names today - the World Wide Fund for Nature (or World Wildlife Fund), Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth - existed, and there was little awareness of, and still less popular concern over, the impacts of pollution. But since 1948, environmental concerns and bodies demanding environmental action have multiplied dramatically. Almost all governments now have departments or ministries with responsibility for environmental affairs. The 'Earth Summit' (more correctly, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) held in June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro was the occasion for one of the greatest gatherings of heads of state and government ever. Environment is now global business. The evolu- tion of IUCN has to be viewed within this context of surging greenness. Before 1948 there were, of course, numerous natural history societies and organi- zations concerned with safeguarding species and their habitats, creating national parks and protecting wilderness and fine landscapes - but they were national bodies. After the Second World War the United Nations and its agencies were created, and some of those agencies - notably FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - promoted and supported action to develop and use natural resources wisely. They were supported by governments and had money to disburse. IUPN (now IUCN), created in the same period with UNESCO's active backing, had virtually no resources. It was conceived as a meeting ground, a facilitator and a supporter for its members, not as an operational agency in its own right. The primary rationale was to strengthen the whole nature conservation movement by networking - through linking expert individuals and national organizations and pooling informa- tion, assuming that if IUCN helped to share the world's knowledge its national members would work more effectively, and nature would benefit. Any book that has the story of an organization at its centre is likely to be woven of several strands. One - the most important - is a record of achievements: what has vi The Green Web this organization done, and why has it made a difference? This, almost inevitably, demands a comparative assessment: what was the context of that achievement, and what other bodies aided or opposed it? For a networking organization, moreover, success often depends on the elements of the network - have the linkages made them better able to achieve their ends? But another strand, of especial interest to those who want to know how the achievements (and failures) came to be, is internal: who were the people inside the organization who made it all happen, and how far were they supported (or impeded) by management and finance? These strands run through this volume, and the most difficult task in writing it has been to balance them and avoid too strong a dominance by the details (and at times the absurdities) of internal management and conflict. What are the achievements of IUCN? Although the oldest global conservation body, it is not well known. Its name rings no bells in the public mind - and when the presenters of current events programmes on television or radio want a quick comment on the latest environmental disaster or prophecy of doom, they hardly ever turn to it. There are good reasons for this. IUCN has rarely trumpeted its achievements. It remains a 'green web' and its chief legitimacy is to support its members in their own missions. Almost any conservationist you hear on the radio will belong to an IUCN member organization. IUCN's most famous products have been assemblages of knowledge, drawn from the experts it has convened. Its Red Data Books are the most authoritative statements of the status of species - plants as well as animals - threatened by extinction, and its action plans are the best recipes for their salvation. Its Species Survival Commission, with over 8000 members, is not only the largest voluntary network of experts on species conservation in the world - it is the only significant network in that field. Similarly, the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas is the network for the world's 'parks people' with over 1000 members from all regions. The Union has produced the basic classification of national parks and other protected areas, and the rationale behind each category, and since 1959 it has been entrusted by the United Nations with maintaining a global list of protected areas. The IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and the Environmental Law Programme have had a seminal role in the building of the 'new' subject of environmental law,1 and all the recent world- wide nature conservation conventions either began on IUCN's drawing board, or have been influenced by the Union's efforts. An equally important role has been the development of over-arching strategies. The World Conservation Strategy of 1980 - greatly influenced by partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Wildlife Fund (as it then was), UNESCO and FAO - was the first such document to link the conservation of nature to the process of resource development for human needs.