1973 iucn yearbook

Mweka on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, where Africans are
trained in modern methods of conservation.
At the request of ECOSOC, the Union prepared and published
the UN List of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves which is
constantly revised by new editions. On a world basis each protected
area is critically reviewed, thus providing all the essential
information in favour or against any future action which might
be taken in a given country.
The celebrated Red Data Book prepared by the Union's
Survival Service has become a standard reference book for all
concerned with disappearing or menaced species of animals and
plants throughout the world. This represents the only official list
on which all scientists agree. Neither should one forget that it is
the high quality and the scientific value of such information
provided by the Union that made possible the birth of the World
Wildlife Fund to which it remains, together with its various
services, the scientific counsellor, as illustrated by the Morges
Manifesto.
The very important and extensive work accomplished by
Section CT (Conservation of Terrestrial Communities) of the
International Biological Programme has yielded most interesting
results in all parts of the world and these have been now handed
over to the Union which will in the future be responsible for this
part of the Programme which, in itself, is about to come to an end.
Having been closely connected with the Union for most of its
existence, I have enjoyed the privilege of seeing it grow up to
become a universally recognized organization in the field of
conservation. What is even more encouraging is to find that the
ideas and means discussed at various Technical Meetings over the
last 20 years are now considered to be fundamental by conservationists
the world over. Once again the time has come for the
Union to give the benefit of its past experience and activities to
the betterment of the rapidly degrading human environment.
But now, we can no longer afford to wait another 25 years.
The third paper selected for inclusion here was prepared by E. Barton
Worthington (UK), Scientific Director of the International Biological
Programme. He served on the Executive Board from 1960 to 1963 and
as Vice-President of IUCN from 1963-1966.
I am not among those privileged few to have been intimately
concerned with IUCN throughout its life, for the Edinburgh
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