The Hon. N. Cole Simons, JP, MP, was invited by the Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to speak at their Congress entitled ”Planet at the Crossroads” held in Hawaii. The congress, held once every four years, was attended by 9500 people directly involved in conservation through multinational government, private and non-profit sectors. The Union is comprised of a membership of 1300 organisations and 156,000 experts and acts as a unique global environmental parliament dedicated to the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. PS Marva-Jean O’Brien also attended.