GWS & IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas

Since 1992 the George Wright Society has been a member of IUCN, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the world's oldest (founded in 1948) and largest environmental networks.  IUCN is one of the leading nongovernmental organizations involved with international protected natural areas.

Our activities with IUCN are channeled through its World Commission on Protected Areas, a global volunteer network of park professionals.  GWS members either currently serve, or recently have served, as members of the WCPA Steering Committee, chairs of some of its Task Forces, or members of the WCPA at large.  We have worked with WCPA to:

• Review matters related to World Heritage Sites
• Produce publications and communications strategies
• Administer the WCPA North America/Caribbean Region
• Peer-review major publications, such as the global guide to connectivity conservation and the global protected areas management manual
• Organize and host Steering Committee meetings
• Coordinate the IUCN Protected Area Categories with the US Geological Survey's protected area database

and more.

The GWS strongly supports international conservation, and looks to broaden the perspective professionals working here in North America about advances in protected area management elsewhere.  IUCN is our main institutional connection to the rest of the world.