The WAZA Executive Office has moved.

The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) embarked on a new phase in its 83-year history this week with the relocation of the Executive Office to Barcelona, Spain.

WAZA had been based in Gland, Switzerland, since 2010.

WAZA’s new office is in a 1905 modernist building near Plaza Catalunya in central Barcelona, and brings together the entire executive staff, which had until now been working separately across the globe.

“We are pleased to have finalised the move and are settling in well here in Barcelona,” said WAZA Chief Executive Officer, Doug Cress. “The past year has been an interesting challenge working across time zones and mostly through digital means, but now that the staff is together in one place we are able to work collaboratively as a unified team. We look forward to continuing our work expanding the impact and reach of zoos and aquariums in animal welfare, wildlife conservation, community engagement and essential global issues.”

WAZA was founded as the International Association of Directors of Zoological Gardens (IUDZG) in Basel, Switzerland, in 1935. The name was changed to the IUDZG – World Zoo Organization in 1992, and relocated to Apple Valley, Minnesotsa, in the United States three years later.

The WAZA moniker was adopted in 2000, and the headquarters were shifted to Berne, Switzerland in 2001.