The Environment Chronicle

From 4-13 September 1968, an intergovernmental conference of experts took place at UNESCO House in Paris on 'the scientific basis for the rational use and conservation of the resources of the biosphere'. The 'Biosphere Conference', as it became to be known, was organized by UNESCO, with the active participation of the United Nations, FAO and WHO , and in co-operation with IUCN and ICSU's International Biological Programme (IBP). More than 300 delegates from 60 countries took part, coming from a wide variety of scientific fields, management and diplomacy. This was the first world-wide meeting at the intergovernmental level to adopt a series of recommendations concerning environmental problems and to highlight their growing importance and their global nature. The conference was the occasion on which the n ow familiar word 'biosphere' made its entry into international life and where it w o n its recognition in our present language, having been confined previously to those limited circles familiar with the writings of Vernadsky or Teilhard de Chardin.