1973 iucn yearbook

The Assembly then heard a report on the UNESCO Technical Symposium,
held before the Conference, by its Chairman, Roger Heim. It
also decided to accept UNESCO's proposal that the Union collaborate
closely in the preparation of the Technical Conference which UNESCO
planned to convene in 1949 after the United Nations Scientific Conference
on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources (UNSCCUR). In this
connection, certain Commissions were constituted, one of which was to
study the problem of educating the public on the subject of nature
protection. A Nomenclature Commission and a Publications Commission
also were formed.
In Brussels the Belgian Government offered quarters at 42, Rue Montoyer,
and some financial assistance. A special advantage accruing to
the Union was the existence of the fine and quite unique library of the
International Office for the Protection of Nature, which had been built
up since its founding in 1928, largely through the efforts of its secretaries,
J. M. Derscheid, Tordis Graim, W. A. J. M. van Waterschoot van der
Gracht and J. H. Westermann. This library was housed in the same
building as the Union's working staff, and today parts of it are incorporated
in the van Tienhoven Library at the Union's headquarters in Morges,
and at IUCN's Environmental Law Centre in Bonn.
Among the first tasks taken up by the new Secretariat was to conclude
a specific contract with UNESCO (4 November 1948) for the
organization of the International Technical Conference on the Protection
of Nature which, under the authority of the General Conference of
UNESCO, was to be held in conjunction with the UNSCCUR Conference.
Early in 1949, a volume of Preparatory Documents was published
and the two Conferences were duly convened at Lake Success in
August.
The importance of the Lake Success Conference to the new Union
was enormous. To a large extent it immediately established the organization
as a going concern, and provided major elements of the Union's
work programme which are still pillars of its international activity
25 years later. One of these concerns threatened and vanishing species
of fauna and flora. Resolution No. 15 called upon the Union to establish
a "Survival Service" to assemble, evaluate and disseminate information
on species of fauna and flora that appeared to be threatened with extinction,
in order to assist governments and appropriate agencies in assuring
their survival. Resolutions No. 16 and 17 dealt with aspects of the same
problem, among other things calling for maintenance of documentation
and promotion of ecological research to make certain reliable and
adequate advice could be given to governments concerned. In March
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