Fauna and Flora Preservation Society
Encyclopedia
Fauna & Flora International (FFI), formerly the Fauna and Flora Preservation Society, is an international conservation charity and non-governmental organization
.
FFI was originally founded in 1903 as the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire by a group of British
naturalists and American
statesmen in Africa
. It was then called the Fauna Preservation Society, before being renamed Fauna
and Flora
Preservation Society in 1981. The goal of the society was to safeguard the future of southern Africa’s large mammal populations, which had declined alarmingly due to over-hunting and habitat encroachment. Working in tandem with landowners, government and sport hunters, the Society helped pass legislation which controlled hunting in vast stretches of East Africa
and South Africa
. This ultimately paved the way for the formation of National Park
s, such as Kruger National Park
and Serengeti National Park
.
FFI has been referred to by many historians as the world's first conservation society, and the society's early work in Africa was also trend-setting in ecotourism
. The organization also played a key role in establishing much of today’s global conservation infrastructure - including The World Conservation Union
(IUCN), The World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF), and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
(CITES). FFI has members in over 80 countries.
FFI has a seven-step approach to conserving biodiversity:
The logo of the society is the Arabian Oryx
, after the very successful Operation Oryx, a flagship Arabian oryx captive breeding project undertaken by the society.
Queen Elizabeth II is FFI's Patron and Lindsay Bury is the President of the organization. FFI also has a number of high profile Vice Presidents including Sir David Attenborough, David Bellamy
, Stephen Fry
, Charlotte Uhlenbroek
, Rove McManus
, Lord Browne of Madingley and Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
.
FFI currently works on a project in Ecuador with the charity Cool earth
, working with local groups to ensure the Awacachi corridor is protected.
In line with their seven step approach to conservation, Fauna & Flora International have recently endorsed the Forests Now Declaration
, which calls for new market based mechanisms to protect tropical forests.
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
.
FFI was originally founded in 1903 as the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire by a group of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
naturalists and American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
statesmen in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. It was then called the Fauna Preservation Society, before being renamed Fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
and Flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
Preservation Society in 1981. The goal of the society was to safeguard the future of southern Africa’s large mammal populations, which had declined alarmingly due to over-hunting and habitat encroachment. Working in tandem with landowners, government and sport hunters, the Society helped pass legislation which controlled hunting in vast stretches of East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. This ultimately paved the way for the formation of National Park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
s, such as Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers and extends from north to south and from east to west.To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is...
and Serengeti National Park
Serengeti National Park
The Serengeti National Park is a large national park in Serengeti area, Tanzania. It is most famous for its annual migration of over one and a half million white bearded wildebeest and 250,000 zebra...
.
FFI has been referred to by many historians as the world's first conservation society, and the society's early work in Africa was also trend-setting in ecotourism
Ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...
. The organization also played a key role in establishing much of today’s global conservation infrastructure - including The World Conservation Union
World Conservation Union
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources is an international organization dedicated to finding "pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges." The organization publishes the IUCN Red List, compiling information from a network of...
(IUCN), The World Wide Fund for Nature
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
(WWF), and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
CITES is a multilateral treaty, drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature...
(CITES). FFI has members in over 80 countries.
FFI has a seven-step approach to conserving biodiversity:
- Building local capacity for conservation
- Integrating biodiversity and human needs
- Direct protection of species and habitats
- Securing land for conservation
- Emergency response to conservation needs
- Influencing policy and the practice of conservation
- Bridging the gap between business and biodiversity
The logo of the society is the Arabian Oryx
Arabian Oryx
The Arabian Oryx or White Oryx is a medium sized antelope with a distinct shoulder hump, long straight horns, and a tufted tail. It is a bovid, and the smallest member of Oryx genus, native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian peninsula...
, after the very successful Operation Oryx, a flagship Arabian oryx captive breeding project undertaken by the society.
Queen Elizabeth II is FFI's Patron and Lindsay Bury is the President of the organization. FFI also has a number of high profile Vice Presidents including Sir David Attenborough, David Bellamy
David Bellamy
David James Bellamy OBE is a British author, broadcaster, environmental campaigner and botanist. He has lived in County Durham since 1960.-Career:...
, Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, Charlotte Uhlenbroek
Charlotte Uhlenbroek
Charlotte Jane Uhlenbroek is a British zoologist and BBC television presenter.-Early life:Her Dutch father was an agricultural specialist with the United Nations who took his English wife and their family round the world with him. Uhlenbroek was born in London, but her parents moved to Ghana when...
, Rove McManus
Rove McManus
John Henry Michael "Rove" McManus is an Australian comedian, television presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the self-titled variety show Rove, and is the owner of the production company Roving Enterprises...
, Lord Browne of Madingley and Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands is the wife of Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, the third son of Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Jonkheer van Amsberg.-Early life:Petra Laurentien Brinkhorst was born in Leiden on 25 May 1966, the daughter of the former Dutch minister...
.
FFI currently works on a project in Ecuador with the charity Cool earth
Cool Earth
Cool Earth is a UK based international non-governmental organization that protects endangered rainforest to combat global warming, protect ecosystems and provide sustainable jobs for local people...
, working with local groups to ensure the Awacachi corridor is protected.
In line with their seven step approach to conservation, Fauna & Flora International have recently endorsed the Forests Now Declaration
Forests Now Declaration
The Forests Now Declaration is a declaration that advocates using carbon credits to protect tropical forests. The Declaration was created by the Global Canopy Programme, and has been signed by over 200 NGOs, business leaders, scientists and conservationists...
, which calls for new market based mechanisms to protect tropical forests.
Significant Landmarks
- 1903 - First publication of the society’s journal, the precursor of Oryx - The International Journal of Conservation
- 1962 - Operation Oryx helps rescue the Arabian Oryx from extinctionExtinctionIn biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
through a captive breedingCaptive breedingCaptive breedingis the process of breeding animals in human controlled environments with restricted settings, such as wildlife reserves, zoos and other conservation facilities; sometimes the process is construed to include release of individual organisms to the wild, when there is sufficient...
program, with successful reintroductions into the wild in JordanJordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, OmanOmanOman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
and Saudi ArabiaSaudi ArabiaThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. This was one of the world's first successful captive breeding and reintroduction efforts for an endangered species. - 1966 - Peter ScottPeter ScottSir Peter Markham Scott, CH, CBE, DSC and Bar, MID, FRS, FZS, was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer and sportsman....
, Chairman of IUCN Species Survival Commission, becomes Chairman of FFI and devises the Red Data BookIUCN Red ListThe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
s, a systematic study of all endangered species. - 1971 - Launch of the 100% Fund (now the Flagship Species Fund), set up to support small-scale projects where urgent conservation action is needed to protect endangered species around the world.
- 1972 - Gerald DurrellGerald DurrellGerald "Gerry" Malcolm Durrell, OBE was a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author and television presenter...
's initiative caused the society to start the World Conference on Breeding Endangered Species in Captivity as an Aid to their SurvivalWorld Conference on Breeding Endangered Species in Captivity as an Aid to their SurvivalThe World Conference on Breeding Endangered Species in Captivity as an Aid to their Survival is the world's first conference on Captive breeding...
at JerseyJerseyJersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
, the first knowledge sharing among scientists regarding ideas of captive breeding. - 2000 - Alexander Peal, President of the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia, whose work FFI has supported since 1996, receives the Goldman Environmental PrizeGoldman Environmental PrizeThe Goldman Environmental Prize is a prize awarded annually to grassroots environmental activists, one from each of the world's six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The prize includes a no-strings-attached award of...
, one of the highest honours for a conservationist.
External links
- Fauna and Flora International - Home page.
- http://www.coolearth.org/ Cool Earth