In 1964 twelve nations made conservation history when they produced the Agreed Measures for conserving the Antarctic fauna and lora, the first time such an international agreement had been achieved. The movement towards Antarctic conservation stems from the International Geophysical Year, in 1957–58, when the twelve nations, all in the Antarctic, and including the USA and the USSR, achieved an informal political truce and started collaboration in scientific research. After the end of the IGY this collaboration continued, under the aegis of the International Council of Scientific Unions and with the secretariat at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, of which Dr. Roberts is a member. One result was the Antarctic Treaty, which came into force in 1961, and this in turn led to the Agreed Measures.