Conservation Influencers

Eurogroup for Animals

Belgium, Brussels

Eurogroup for Animals is an animal rights federation composed of 70 NGOs, which was cofounded in 1980 by the UK-based Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and five other NGOs based in EU states. Located in Brussels, the Eurogroup’s secretariat focuses on influencing decisions made by the European Commission, Parliament and Council. Moreover, Eurogroup for Animals’ secretariat manages the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals, which brings together MEPs from all political groups.

One of Eurogroup for Animals’ core objectives is to reduce the extent of both the legal and illegal wildlife trade. At every CITES’ CoP, Eurogroup for Animals and the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals calls on the EU to, in its words, ‘apply the precautionary principle’ in all deliberations on working documents and in determining which proposed listings of species in CITES’ appendices to support. Deploying the precautionary principle at CITES’ CoP-17 in 2016, Eurogroup for Animals supported proposals to list all lions and elephants in appendix I, even though there was no case to be made based on the scientific evidence. In the absence of supporting scientific evidence, other than to show that the listings were not warranted, CoP-17 rejected both proposals, which was a rare but welcome victory for rational decision making at CITES.

In 2009, Eurogroup for Animals persuaded the EU to recognize animals in its legislation-making as ‘sentient beings’, something which had no impact on the existing highly regulated treatment of animals on farms and in abattoirs. Nevertheless, this reminder that some animals are sentient is something that, in the interests of animal welfare, morality and ethics, IWMC accepts is a good thing. But this group is also involved in an ongoing campaign to stop or find alternatives to all scientific research and laboratory-based testing methods that involve animals, which had it been acted on would have prevented the rapid development of the Covid vaccines. When it comes to fisheries, Eurogroup for Animals believes that fish are, in its words, ‘complex, social and emotional beings’, a claim that is far from being scientifically proven. Yet Eurogroup for Animals sees its goal as being to raise awareness of this unsubstantiated belief to ensure that ‘fish welfare remains high on the EU’s and the public’s agenda’.

Leaders

CEO Reineke Hameleers.

Governance

Eurogroup for Animals’ General Assembly of members elects a Board, whose President is currently Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion In World Farming.

Finance

According to its annual report, in 2018 its annual turnover was euro 2,371, 360 of which 67 percent of which went on salaries.

About the directory

Conservation Influencers is a searchable directory of the animal activist, environmental and ecological lobby. It examines the history, mission, methodology and reputation of NGOs to assess their impact on the global conservation cause.

Featured

Franz Weber Foundation

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.

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