The International Biological Program (IBP) was an effort between 1964 and 1974 to coordinate large-scale ecological and environmental studies and was organized under Waddington's leadership, beginning in 1962 (although officially starting in 1964). Waddington was Vice-President of the International Biological Programme from 1963 to 1966 and claimed the advantage he held as a geneticist was that he was able to be relatively neutral 'as to what was the most important contribution biology could make to man.' The eventual structure of the IBP decided on by the committee was: 'a set of seven sections or subcommittees: three on biological productivity in terrestrial communities (of these three, one on general productivity, the second on the metabolic processes - mainly biosynthesis and nitrogen fixation - on which this productivity depends, and a third on the conservation of threatened communities); then a fourth on productivity in fresh water; a fifth on productivity in marine communities; a sixth on human adaptability (physiological and genetic); and a seventh on public relations and training.'