The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's oldest and largest global environmental organization. Conserving biodiversity is central to the mission of IUCN.
 
We demonstrate how biodiversity is fundamental to addressing some of the world's greatest challenges: tackling climate change, achieving sustainable energy, improving human well-being and building a green economy.
 
To deliver conservation and sustainability at both the global and local level, IUCN builds on its strengths in the following areas:
 
Science: 11,000 experts setting global standards in their fields, for example, the definitive international standard for species extinction risk the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
 
Action: hundreds of conservation projects all over the world from the local level to those involving several countries, all aimed at the sustainable management of biodiversity and natural resources.
 
Influence: through the collective strength of more than 1,200 government and non-governmental Member organizations, IUCN influences international environmental conventions, policies and laws. The countries of Eastern and Southern Africa host a vast variety and abundance of the world's biological and natural resources, including seven of the world's biodiversity 'hotspots'. From Ethiopia to the Cape, the region contains several centres of endemism where species of birds, mammals and plants reside nowhere else in the world.
 
One of the most globally important centres of endemism is the coastal mountain range in the eastern part of Madagascar. IUCN has been working in Eastern and Southern Africa for several decades and officially opened its offices in the region in the 1980s, pioneering a number of conservation initiatives. The IUCN East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) works across 22 countries in the Horn of Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa and the Western Indian Ocean including Zimbabwe.