Hong Kong Bloom Association (BA) was founded in 2005 by the French environmental journalist Claire Nouvian to, in Bloom’s words, ‘create a collective conscience to tip public opinion in favour of the protection of the deep sea’. BA believes that ‘emotion is the indispensable preamble to oceanic protection’. And BA says it exists ‘to reconnect… Continue reading Bloom Association
USA Founded in 1924, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is an independent accrediting organization for the world’s zoos and aquariums. Its rigorous standards are dedicated to supporting research and conservation of, and education about, in situ and ex situ populations of animal species. In 2020 just 217 zoos and aquariums in the USA met AZA’s standards… Continue reading Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Bloomington, MN, USA Species360 (formerly known as International Species Inventory System or ISIS) was founded in 1974 by 55 Zoos in Europe and the United States. According to its website, its mission is to ‘facilitate international collaboration in the collection and sharing of knowledge on animals and their environments for zoos, aquariums and related conservation organizations’. It… Continue reading Species 360
USA The Natural Resources Defense Council emerged on the back of a hard-fought legal battle to put a stop to a renewable energy project in the 1960s. The project in question was a proposed two-gigawatt hydroelectric power station at Storm King Mountain, New York, on the banks of the Hudson river. The litigants were a… Continue reading Natural Resources Defense Council
Mataro, Barcelona The Nakawe Project based in Barcelona, Spain, has been in existence since 2015. It describes itself as a small group of professionals from different sectors committed to the environment and humanity, who share a passion for the ocean. But the majority of its work is focused almost exclusively on just one species, sharks,… Continue reading Nakawe Project
South Carolina, USA The International Primate Protection League (IPPL) was founded in 1973 by Dr. Shirley McGreal, a British-born animal rights campaigner who was then based in Thailand. Its global mission is to counter primate abuse and international traffickers. It also operates a sanctuary for gibbons in the USA. From 1979 onward McGeal, as the boss… Continue reading International Primate Protection League
Washington, DC, USA The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) was founded in 1969 by Brian Davies, a Welshman who immigrated to Canada in 1995. Its original purpose was to stop the commercial hunt of seals on the east coast of Canada. Today, IFAW operates 40 countries, employing in excess of 300 people and is one of… Continue reading International Fund For Animal Welfare
Founded in Canada and USA At CITES’ meetings Sea Shepherd claims to be on the side of the angels in the fight between ‘good and evil’. On the side of ‘evil’, it believes, stand China and Japan, especially on the issue of sharks and their fins. But it directs most of its outrage against Japan… Continue reading Sea Shepherd
Washington DC, USA The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) was founded in 1954 by four dissenting members of the American Humane Society (today known as American Humane, which has no links to HSUS). HSUS’s purpose, according to its website, is to end suffering for all animals from puppy mills, factory farms, the fur trade, trophy… Continue reading Humane Society Of The United States
From 1990 until 2015, Franz Weber Foundation (FFW) managed the Fazao-Malfakassa National Park in Togo, which was, according to an in-depth investigation by Duke University, ‘established by forcing the local communities off their land and without taking into consideration their point of view’. That same study cited convincing evidence from reports published in 1990, confirming that competition for land use was already ‘creating conflict between the local communities and park managers’. In 2015 Togo refused to renew FFW’s contract because, the report says, ‘local communities were still excluded from the management of the natural resources of their land’ and FFW had ‘failed to fulfil its contract’. Franz Weber Foundation plays a major role within CITES because it funds and manages from Switzerland the African Elephant Coalition (AEC), which represents 32 African range states, some of which have barely any elephants and others none at all. Contrary to the wishes of the range states in Southern Africa, which manage most of the world’s wild elephant populations, the AEC at CITES’ CoPs repeatedly tables proposals to put all of the world’s elephants in appendix I. And the AEC uses its voting power to keep in place prohibitions on ivory sales and all other trade in elephant-related derivatives, including skins and hair, which Southern African nations wish to legalise.
