The six IUCN Commissions involve 16,000 volunteer experts from a range of disciplines. They ‘assess the state of the world’s natural resources and provide the Union with sound know-how and policy advice on conservation issues’.[23]
- Commission on Education and Communication (CEC): communication, learning and knowledge management in IUCN and the wider conservation community.
- Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy (CEESP): economic and social factors for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.
- World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL): developing new legal concepts and instruments, and building the capacity of societies to employ environmental law for conservation and sustainable development.
- Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM): integrated ecosystem approaches to the management of natural and modified ecosystems.
- Species Survival Commission (SSC): technical aspects of species conservation and action for species that are threatened with extinction.
- World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA): establishment and effective management of a network of terrestrial and marine protected areas.