| A point of integrity: Background |
The World Conservation Union is the world's largest and most important conservation network. The Union brings
together 82 States, 111 government agencies, more than 800 non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and some
10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership.
The Union's mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the
integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and
ecologically sustainable.
The World Conservation Union is a multicultural, multilingual organization with 1000 staff located in 62
countries. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.
Oh, and by the way, they find the seal hunt acceptable but then again they are not making any money off it.
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| A point of integrity: The Issues |
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In 1996 the IFAW was refused entry into the union by a vote of 30 to 1. The argument against
the IFAW was this from Finn Lynge of Greenland, a member of the Danish delegation,
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"They are there to see to it that it doesn't take place at all .... They don't care whether wildlife
harvesting is well-managed or sustainable, or whether animal populations are truly endangered, but only
whether they are photogenic. On top of that, they don't care about the cost to others in so doing."
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I think Mr. Lynge has done a wonderful job in summing up the integrity of the organization. The only part
he left out was that they do it all for the almighty dollar.
It is interesting to note that when Mr. Lynge said, "they don't care about the cost to others in so doing.",
he was mainly talking about the Inuit who had lobbied the union to refuse the IFAW entry.
The President of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference said,
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"Although Inuit were never directly a target of the anti-sealing campaigns, we became perhaps their biggest
victims...With the collapse of the world markets for seal skins in the 1970s and `80s, our world changed
forever. This loss had devastating and enduring impacts on the Inuit of Greenland and Arctic Canada."
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This is just another example about how some of these groups have no concern for the people they affect when
attacking issues. There are groups, those which are part of the World Conservation Union, that look at all
facets of an issue and approach it in a manner to get the desired results while respecting the people involved.
Those groups like the IFAW, HSUS and many others take a draconian approach which has no care or respect for
the individuals involved. Just another case of the haves disregard for the have nots.
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