World Association of Zoos and Aquariums

World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA)

Founded	1935
Focus	To provide leadership and support for zoos, aquariums, and partner organizations of the world in animal care and welfare, conservation of biodiversity, environmental education and global sustainability.
Location	Gland, Switzerland
Area served	Worldwide
Method	Accreditation
Volunteers	1000+
Slogan	United for Conservation
Website	www.WAZA.org
Member of IUCN

Conservation status by IUCN Red List category

Extinct
Extinct (EX) Extinct in the Wild (EW)	(list) (list)
Threatened
Critically Endangered (CR) Endangered (EN) Vulnerable (VU)	(list) (list) (list)
Lower Risk
Near Threatened (NT) Conservation Dependent (CD) Least Concern (LC)	(list) (list)
Other categories
Data Deficient (DD) Not Evaluated (NE)	(list)
Related topics International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) IUCN Red List Lists of organisms by population

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) is the "umbrella" organisation for the world zoo and aquarium community. Its mission is to provide leadership and support for zoos, aquariums, and partner organizations of the world in animal care and welfare, conservation of biodiversity, environmental education and global sustainability.

The organisation is based in Gland, Switzerland.

After an earlier International Union of Directors of Zoological Gardens (IUDZG), founded in 1935 at Basel, Switzerland, ceased to exist during World War II, a new IUDZG was founded in Rotterdam in 1946 by a group of zoo directors from allied or neutral countries. In 1950 IUDZG became an international organisation member of International Union for the Protection of Nature (IUPN), later International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUDZG adopted a new name, World Zoo Organization, in 1991 and revised its membership rules to include regional zoo associations. In 2000 IUDZG was renamed as WAZA to reflect a more modern institution working together at a global level, to build cooperative approaches to common needs, to tackle common issues, to share information and knowledge, and represent this community in other international bodies such as the World Conservation Union (IUCN) or at Conferences of the Parties to global Conventions, such as CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) or CMS (Convention on Migrating Species). Between IUCN and CMS or the secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, there even exist formal Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs).

When a number of regional zoo and aquarium associations were founded in different parts of the world (such as AZA, EAZA, BIAZA, PAAZAB, ARAZPA, AMACZOOA, JAZA, SEAZA) the IUDZG had to rethink its structure and functions. A decision for major changes was taken, in particular to shift membership from personal to institutional, to establish formal links with the regional associations, to be more proactive in various respects and to become more conservation oriented.

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Wikipedia