Robert Charles Wallace
It was during his tenure at Queen’s that Wallace became highly regarded nationally (and internationally) as an extremely effective and efficient academic administrator. He was one of just three Canadians chosen to represent the country at the United Nations Conference for the establishment of an educational and cultural organization (ECO/CONF) held in London in November 1945. It was at this conference that the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Educational Organization (UNESCO) was created. Additionally, Wallace received honorary degrees from twenty different universities.
International Union for Conservation of Nature
IUCN was established on 5 October 1948, in Fontainebleau, France, when representatives of governments and conservation organizations signed a formal act constituting the International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN). The initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. The objectives of the new Union were to encourage international cooperation in the protection of nature, to promote national and international action and to compile, analyse and distribute information. At the time of its founding IUPN was the only international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation (an international organisation for the protection of birds, now BirdLife International, had been established in 1922.)