The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a global environmental organization founded in 1948 and headquartered in Gland, Switzerland, whose main task is to assess and The IUCN is a global environmental organization founded in 1948 and headquartered in Gland, Switzerland, whose main work is to assess and protect nature and find systematic solutions to the world's most pressing environmental and development challenges, and publishes the famous IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.