IUCN- 30th Anniversary document, which must necessarily be revised as time goes by to reflect changes in conservation knowledge and informa- tion. It was therefore decided that it shall be revised, updated and reviewed at all future ordinary sessions of the General Assembly.

The General Assembly, the highest policy organ o f the International Union for the Conservation o f Nature and Na- tural Resources, meets in ordinary ses- sion once every three years. The latest such meeting was held on 26 Septem- ber - 5 October, 1978 in Ashkhabad, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic. As the General Assembly sets the outline for IUCN's programme and activities for the next triennium, this meeting will necessarily have great impact in establish- ing future directions for initiatives in the international conservation field.

The Ashkhabad General Assembly might be best characterized as being productive and businesslike. Following the tumultuous events of the last ordi- nary session in Kinshasa in September 1975, and the resultant extraordinary session in Geneva in 1977 to revise the Statutes of the organization, this atmo- sphere was most welcomed by partici- pants and observers alike. The 14th General Assembly thus fortunately had the future of conservation as its focus, rather than being again preoccupied with internal organizational matters. Such topics as the World Conservation Strat- egy, the Charter for Nature and the gen- eral IUCN programme for the triennium 1979-81 received premier attention by the Assembly. The following is an over- view of the discussion held on these and other points.

The World Conservation Strategy

The General Assembly has as perhaps its main consideration the "World Con- servation Strategy", which is being pre- pared by the Union with the assistance of the United Nations Environment Pro- gramme and the World Wildlife Fund. As the name implies, this endeavor is to be geared to the achievement of, a coher- ent, global plan for the conservation of the living natural resources on which human survival and well-being depend. IUCN is designing the Strategy to iden- tify conservation requirements and to suggest how they might be met, while also developing a system of priorities for the conservation of species and ecosys- tems of special importance and promot-

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ing conservation as an essential element of sustainable development. As such, the Strategy is intended to guide govern- ments and organizations to priorities for action and will, it is hoped, create a situ- ation whereby duplication of effort might be avoided. The Assembly had the opportunity to review at length the second draft of this Strategy. Following extensive discussions it was decided that the comments raised during the Assem- bly be incorporated, as far as possible, into a third draft which should be soon published and widely distributed.

In particular, the Assembly indicated that the Strategy should pay special attention to education and public aware- ness, development aid, the ecological effects of human population increases, and the establishment and protection of World Heritage Sites. It was also strongly stressed that care should be given to the format for presentation of the Strategy to achieve maximum impact. Most im- portantly, the Assembly was concerned that the Union devote significant efforts to see that the Strategy is implemented by Governments, intergovernmental bodies and nongovernmental bodies, as appropriate, as soon and as widely as possible.

The World Conservation Strategy has been promoted by IUCN as a living I UCN General Assembly meeting in Ashkhabad.

Charter for Nature The Charter for Nature is an endeavor

which has been developed pursuant to a call made at the Kinshasa General As- sembly. Conservation Resolution No. 1 adopted at that time recommended that "a Charter for Nature be drafted with the least possible delay". To ensure prompt action on the matter, IUCN's Executive Board requested the Chairman of the Commission on Environmental Policy, Law and Administration (CEPLA) to establish a Task Force to assist in implementing the resolution.

A first draft of this Charter from the Task Force was thus placed before the General Assembly for comment. It was stressed that this document was not to be construed as a binding legal measure, but was rather a declaration of principles, laying down basic responsibilities for the conservation of nature and natural resources. As such, the Charter might be considered as "soft law" to comple- ment the World Conservation Strategy.

A good deal of controversy was evi- dent in the discussion on the Charter. Most noteworthy, perhaps, was the gen- eral concensus among the governmental members addressing the matter that the draft was in certain respects unacceptable because of its far-reaching applicability. Several delegates questioned the need for such a document, although others felt that in view of the rapid destruction

Photo courtesy Deputy Minister of Agriculture, USSR

Environmental Policy and Law, 4 (1978)

of nature throughout the world the Charter would be extremely timely and important.

All comraents raised about the draft, it was agreed, would be forwarded to the Task Force for consideration so that necessary follow-up work might be undertaken.

The IUCN Programme and Budget The General Assembly was presented

with a draft programme and estimates of income and expenditure for the Union for the triennium 1979 - 1981. The programme had been framed in accord- ance with the World Conservation Strat- egy and in particular was directed to:

(a) Conserving areas of land and sea containing representative or exceptional communities of plants or animals or which are habitats of particularly im- portant species, or are of significance for other natural or cultural reasons;

(b) Ensuring that areas not subject to special protection are managed in order to conserve natural resources on a sus- tainable use basis for the present and future benefit of mankind; and

(c) Devising special measures to en- sure that plant and animal species do not become threatened with extinction.

The General Assembly, while finding the draft to be broadly acceptable, pro- vided some specific guidance to IUCN's Director General for the development of this programme.

One crucial aspect of this guidance was that the work of the Commissions of IUCN should be more strongly bol- stered. As such, it was decided that all Commissions should have support for executive capacity and operating ex- penses. In addition, it was decided that the scope, terms of reference, organiza- tion and methods of three of the Com- missions - Ecology, Education and En- vironmental Planning - should be studied to arrive at recommendations for im- proving the effectiveness of these bodies.

Other programme aspects touched upon by the General Assembly included a recognition of the utility of the Re- gional desks of IUCN, a recommendation that greater support be given to the development of IUCN activities in the field of education, a call for IUCN' to examine, analyze and if necessary im- plement a "conservation for develop- ment" programme, and the undertaking of greater efforts to assist tropical coun- tries in the development of national conservation strategies. As a major ini- tiative, the General Assembly directed the Director General to establish a Pro-

Environmental Policy and Law, 4 (1978)

gramme Planning Committee, comprised largely of representatives of the Commis- sions, to provide advice on ongoing pro- gramming and budgeting for greater effi- cacy of the work of the Union.

Conservation Resolutions

The General Assembly of IUCN also provides the opportunity for the inter- national conservation community to develop and publicize various resolutions on subjects of current concern. At Ashkhabad many such documents were promulgated. These included resolutions on such diverse subjects as the conserva- tion of the Wadden Sea, the culling of grey seals, the environmental effects of sulphur dioxide pollution, World Heri- tage Convention sites, marine pollution, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and the implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. For the texts of several of these resolutions, see Selected Documents, this issue, p. 189.

Elections

It is at the General Assembly that the election of the various officers and re- presentatives of the Union for each triennium is carried out. The following individuals were elected in Ashkhabad:

President: Professor M. E1-Kassas (Egypt)

[Recent recipient of the Pahlavi Prize. See p. 157.]

Commission Chairmen: Commission on Ecology: Professor J.

D. Ovington (Australia) Commission on Education: (to be ap-

pointed by the Council) Commission on Environmental Planning:

Professor P. Jacobs (Canada) Commission on Environmental Policy,

Law and Administration: W. E. Burhenne (Germany, FR)

Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas: Dr. K. Miller (USA)

Survival Service Commission: Sir Peter Scott (UK)

Regional Councillors: Central and South America:

C. de Blohm (Venezuela) J. C. de Melo Carvalho (Brazil) A. Donadio (Colombia)

North America and the Caribbean: W. Conway (USA) M. Edwards (Canada) R. Train (USA)

East Asia: Y. Fukushima (Japan) S. W. Hong (Rep. of Korea) N. D. Jayal (India)

West Asia: S. Babar Ali (Pakistan) (two others to be appointed by the Council)

Australia and Oceania: S. Gorio (Papua New Guinea) P. H. C. Lucas (New Zealand) D. McMichael (Australia)

East Europe: A. M. Borodin (USSR) T. Szcesny (Poland) V. N. Vinogradov (USSR)

West Europe: R. Boote (UK) P. Goeldlin (Switzerland) D. yon Hegel (Germany, FR)

Africa: (appointed by the Council) E. O. A. Asibey (Ghana) Muema Ngoy Toka (Zaire) T. R. Odhiambo (Kenya)

In addition, at its first meeting imme- diately following the General Assembly, the new Council co-opted Maurice Strong of Canada to again serve as Chair- man of the IUCN Bureau.

IUCN's 30th Anniversary Celebration

Finally, mention should be made of the ceremony that was held to mark the 30th anniversary of the Union. The occasion was taken to reflect upon some of the achievements of the past three decades, while also taking account of the many weaknesses in conservation that are still existant. As a tribute to their efforts over these formative years, several individuals were given honorary membership in the Union.

Conclusion

The IUCN 14th General Assembly was a success by any measure. A contri- buting reason for this was seen by many participants to be the hospitality pro- vided by the Turkmenian people. This spirit of cooperation was best exempli- fied in the message to the Assembly given by the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic:

We consider the collaboration in the IUCN to be of great importance... The Supreme Soviet and Government of the Republic expresses its gratitude to the IUCN... to have the 14th Gen- eral Assembly in Ashkhabad. We hope that the Assembly will make a considerable contribution to cement- ing cooperation and mutual under- standing which will serve the cause of peace and social progress to control and improve natural resources and nature protection for forthcoming generations. []

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