1973 iucn yearbook

Conservation of Endangered Species
One of the major activities of IUCN throughout its existence has been
its work with species of fauna and flora which are threatened with
depletion or extinction because of exploitation or degredation of their
habitat. This concern has centered in the wide-ranging work of the
Survival Service Commission, carried out through a variety of activities.
These include the collection and evaluation of data on species and their
habitats, preparation and publication of this information in readily
usable form, and project activities dealing with individual species or
group of species and various measures for their protection.
Many of the individual projects handled by IUCN/WWF Joint
Project Operations are concerned directly or indirectly with the conservation
of threatened species, and a considerable part of the large
number of conservationists working with IUCN are associated with the
Specialist Groups appointed under the SSC. These projects are reported
on at length in the WWF Yearbook; reference is made in this section to
a selection of those projects that are linked to continuing activities of
particular interest to IUCN.
Considerable emphasis has continued to be given to the basic requirement
of habitat protection. This is implicit, of course, in any matter
concerning endangered species in the wild, and at times it must dominate
a specific project. There was growing concern, too, for long-term ecosystem
conservation.
Internationally, the major action related to this broad area was the
conclusion of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, adopted in Washington in February.
This has been discussed earlier in this review of Union activities.
Also of importance was the Agreement on the Conservation of Polar
Bears, approved at a three-day meeting of the five Arctic states in
November. IUCN has been seeking a basis for this agreement for some
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