IUCN

The IUCN is the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a global membership union of states, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations founded in 1948 and based in Gland, Switzerland. It sets conservation standards used worldwide: the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the protected-area management categories Ia through VI, and the criteria behind Important Marine Mammal Areas and Key Biodiversity Areas. Its commissions, including the World Commission on Protected Areas and the Species Survival Commission, produce the technical guidance that underpins national designations and global instruments such as the CBD and CITES.