The Programme Office for South-Eastern Europe (IUCN SEE) was established in June 2004 in the premises of the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, an IUCN member organisation. It serves the IUCN constituency in the region between EU in the West, CIS in the North-East and Mediterranean Sea in the South.
Based on the European Programme Goal to save biodiversity, IUCN SEE applies the “Conservation without frontiers”-Strategy based on transboundary cooperation and integrated biodiversity conservation. Organic agriculture, sustainable forestry management and eco-tourism are some of the project foci at IUCN SEE. Binding natural elements such as rivers and mountain ridges are utilised to bring communities together and to overcome political barriers after disintegration of former Iron Curtain. In the frame of Countdown 2010, the European Greenbelt, an ecological backbone along the former Iron Curtain throughout Europe is another important tool of IUCN for integrating local stakeholders into nature conservation, which is managed by IUCN SEE. Based on joint project development and implementation IUCN SEE cooperates with local authorities and civil societies as well as with international organisations such as FAO, REC, UNESCO, UNEP, UNDP, WWF and others.
