1973 iucn yearbook

y the International Commission on National Parks should be applied.
It was in the light of these recommendations that in 1963 the United
Nations requested the ICNP to prepare a second edition of the List.
The achievement of this task required three years of unremitting work
which was carried out by the then Vice-Chairman *, Jean-Paul Harroy,
and his small staff. First published in French in 1967, a revised and
illustrated English version of the Second Edition followed in 1971 and
an Addendum in 1972. Since 1973, a new formula has been adopted to
keep pace with the constantly changing situation, whereby a simple
catalogue of the listed areas is published annually. There is no doubt
that the publication of the List has done much to encourage member
countries of UNO to improve and strengthen their National Parks, and
has exerted a steadily growing influence on the world's conscious appreciation
of the extreme importance of national parks from the economic,
social, scientific and aesthetic points of view.
The sixth and last of IUCN's existing Commissions, the Commission
on Environmental Policy, Law and Administration, can be said to have
had its origin in 1960, when the General Assembly at Warsaw formed a
Committee on Legislation and Administration. This Group became a
Commission at Nairobi in 1963 under the direction of Wolfgang E.
Burhenne, who had been Chairman of the Committee. After the 10th
General Assembly at New Delhi and in line with the expanded programme
authorized there, the Commission was reorganized into its
present form with Lynton K. Caldwell as Chairman. The previous
Commission on Legislation then became the permanent Committee on
Environmental Law, one of the three major divisions of the Commission.
Some highlights in retrospect
It would out of keeping with a short review to attempt to catalogue all
the Union's activities and specific actions during the past quarter century.
We have chosen instead to publish statements prepared by several
of the distinguished men who have had major roles in the life of IUCN.
Their remarks take note of trends, mention many projects and accomplishments,
and bear witness to the continuity and goals.
The first statement, dealing with the early years, is by Jean-Paul
Harroy, one of the surviving delegates of the Fontainebleau Conference,
and the Union's first Secretary-General (1948-1955), prior to a distin-
* Jean-Paul Harroy became Chairman of ICNP in July 1966.
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