Founded in 1948 as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), IUCN works with governments, conservation organizations, and industry groups to conserve wildlife and approach the world's environmental problems using "sound scientific insight and the best available information." Its membership, currently over 980, comes from 140 countries and includes 56 sovereign states, as well as government agencies and nongovernmental organizations. IUCN exists to serve its members, representing their views and providing them with the support necessary to achieve their goals. Above all, IUCN works with its members "to achieve development that is sustainable and that provides a lasting improvement in the quality of life for people all over the world." IUCN's three basic conservation objectives are: (1) to secure the conservation of nature, and especially of biological diversity, as an essential foundation for the future; (2) to ensure that...