World Union for Protection of Life

The World Union for Protection of Life (German: Weltbund zum Schutz des Lebens, French: Union Mondiale pour la Protection de la Vie, Russian: Всемирный союз для защиты жизни) is an international non-profit organization and non-governmental organization] which was founded 1958 in Salzburg (Austria) by the writer Guenther Schwab. The concept "Protection of Life" is sometimes considered to be different from the protection of the environment as it has been used by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), though that organization was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972.

The founder Guenther Schwab was well known as author of the screenplay for the movie "Der Förster vom Silberwald" (Heimatfilm, literally homeland film), released 25 November 1954 in Vienna (as "Echo der Berge") and 8 Februar 1955 in Munich. In his novel "Der Tanz mit dem Teufel" ("Dance with the Devil") Guenther Schwab gives his expressions to sentiments for nature protection, and in the same time he starts to setup the organization. Schwab decribes the destruction of nature as a plan of a devil who seems really existent. The book was translated in many languages, the first English translation was published 1963.

The "World Union for Protection of Life" was registered in the year 1960 and soon activated branches in more than 30 countries all over the world. International congresses with scientist and church organizations mainly took place in German speaking countries. According to its own publications the WUPL had "sections" in Australia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Belgium, Brasilia, Bulgaria, Finnland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Irland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kanada, Luxemburg, Mexiko, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, South-Korea, Tschechoslowakia, Yugoslavia and USA.

Ten years later the organization had several thousand members in the Federal Republic of Germany.

A scientific advisory board of 400 scientists out of 53 countries supported the work of the organization. Among them were 40 Nobel laureates. President of the board was Linus Pauling. Schwab himself held about 1500 public readings.

One of the famous members in Austria was the biologist Annie Francé-Harrar, in Germany the physicist Karl Bechert [http://www.fes.de/archiv/1abt/beche-k.htm] .

The organization played an active role during the foundation of the German Green Party [Die Beteiligungsformen der Grünen Parteien auf kommunaler Ebene. Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz im Vergleich. Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie, dem Fachbereich Gesellschaftswissenschaften und Philosophie der Philipps-Universität Marburg vorgelegt von Kuei-Hsiang Liao aus Taiwan, 2000] .

References

Further reading

* Radkau, Joachim. "Nature and Power. A Global History of the Environment". Cambridge University Press 2008.
* Schwab, Günther. "Dance with the devil. A dramatic encounter". Geoffrey Bles, London 1963.

External links

* "Der Förster vom Silberwald" in the [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047006 Internet Movie Database]

* UNEP, Official Website [http://www.unep.org www.unep.org]

* WUPL, Official Website [http://www.wsl-int.de wsl-int.de]