parallel to a scientific conference, organized in cooperation with the National Union Committee of the host country. Programmes The scientific programmes of the General Assembly are approved in accordance with the Statutes of the Union. Where necessary and possible, the EU has granted start-up funding for individual programs, that supports the further funding from national or international donors or by negotiated agreements with the Union. Examples of programmes Diversitas, Human Dimensions of Biodiversity, Climate Change Integrative Biology (ICCB), Systematics Agenda, Biological Education (BioED), IUBS Bioethics Ethics Committee earlier, Bionomenclature, Biology and Traditional Knowledge, Biological Consequences of Global Change (BCGC) Darwin200, Biosystematics, Species 2000, Genomics and Evolution, Modernizing the codes to meet future needs of scientific communities (Biocode), Biology Research and Education Resources in Africa, Reproductive Biology, Aquaculture, Bio-Energy and Towards an Integrative Biology (TAIB), Global Species List Working Group (GSLWG). Publications The institution publishes four times a year Biology International and other publications such as IUBS Monograph Series, Methodology Manual Series and the Proceedings of the IUBS General Assemblies. Legal status and finance The International Union of Biological Sciences is non-profit and does not pursue economic goals. It is funded from the following sources: annual dues of full members; assistance received from UNESCO and other international organizations that support the scientific programs of the Union; other sources The activities of the Union are within an annual budget of about 340,000, - € (2006). Of these, the salaries of a director and a secretary are paid, who run the Union's office in Paris. All other offices (President, Secretary General, Treasurer, etc.) are honorary offices for which only the direct expenses will be paid for. History The Union was founded in 1919 following the work of the Conference of Allied Academies of Sciences held in Brussels. Originally the 'S' was not for science but for Societies. After defining its constitution and organization in 1925, the IUBS adheres to the International Research Council (International Council for Science), which is now known by the acronym ICSU (International Council of Scientific Unions). From 1925 to 1939, the IUBS worked on two main themes: information science and the environment. This second project resulted in the creation of the World Conservation Union or IUCN. After being dormant for 1935 to 1949, the IUCB developed a highly original program of international research: In the eighties, it developed a number of scientific programs, such as the Decade of the