Recently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) invited Dr. Zhang Peng from the School of Sociology and Anthropology at Sun Yat-sen University to join the union as member of primate expert group at IUCN. And Dr. Russell A. Mittermeie from Species Survival Commission(SSC) of IUCN invited Dr. Zhang Peng to join the commission as its member. Up to date, with Dr. Zhang Peng and three other primate experts joining IUCN, there are 17 Chinese primate experts all together serving at IUCN.

IUCN was founded in Gland, Switzerland, in 1948, serving as the international forum for governments and non-governmental organizations to participate and cooperate in the environmental field. It is composed of 81 countries, 120 governmental organizations, more than 800 non-governmental organizations, 10,000 experts and scientists, and has 181 membership countries. IUCN sets itself the objective of conserving the integrity and variety of the environment, and ensuring fair use of natural resources and ecological sustainability. China participated in the World Conservation Congress held in Montreal in 1996 for the first time, and became the 75th membership country of IUCN. IUCN has 6 expert commissions, and SSC is one of them, which provides for IUCN and the world information about species conservation and value and functions of species in a healthy environment, supports cutting-edge conservation science, particularly on biodiversity and ecosystems and how they link to human wellbeing, and promotes the conservation of species so as to avoid the reduction of species variety.