IUCN is a global organisation made up of many thousands of members. These members fall into three groups: State governments, non-governmental organisations, and individuals. It seeks to work with all of these constituents to promote conservation and sustainability in the world. It is influential on global and national policies in these areas through a partnership approach. You can find out more about IUCN at www.iucn.org.

 
An organisation of this scale cannot operate effectively without many different partners delivering different elements of its work. One such partner is the National Committee. National Committees are intended as a focus for each nation’s government and those IUCN Member organisations, both governmental and non-governmental, based in that nation. In the UK’s case, this includes responsibility for its Overseas Territories. The National Committee is also a focus for individuals who are Members of IUCN Commissions and who reside in that country. IUCN NCUK represents the UK in the IUCN European region, one of the eight global regions in which IUCN operates. 
 
The IUCN National Committee for the United Kingdom (IUCN NCUK) works as a convening body, aiming to bring together members from across the IUCN spectrum and from outside in order to share information and to discuss approaches to influencing conservation policy and practice. IUCN NCUK also seeks to add value to UK conservation work by developing projects linked to IUCN activity.

 
The Committee has a Chair, elected for a four-year term, and the Committee’s business is managed by an Executive Committee (ExCo) that is elected annually. The National Committee itself is open to anyone who qualifies as described above. UK organisations who are subscribing Members to IUCN internationally, are encouraged to subscribe to the National Committee in order to fund a secretariat run by a Chief Executive and to finance meetings and projects.
 
In summary, the UK Committee of IUCN is a broad partnership working to further the conservation of natural resources in the UK, Europe and globally. It does this by building alliances with others, stimulating projects and providing the opportunity for sharing experiences in order to focus policy advice efforts. It has a formal constitution that governs its actions, with a Chief Executive, Secretariat and an elected Executive Committee to run its business.