Focus on pro natura, switzerland

rheinwaldhorn

The world of Pro Natura

Pro Natura – FoE Switzerland is one of the largest NGOs dealing with nature in Switzerland, and includes 100,000 members and 40,000 donors. The organization was founded in 1909 in order, to raise money to found the first national park of Switzerland. It is still the only park in this densely populated country. Therefore, Pro Natura started a new campaign in 2001. The principal goal is to create more national parks in Switzerland in order to save this country’s great biodiversity and mountainous landscapes. At the moment, 4 projects are underway. . There is still a long way to go, as Pro Natura takes a bottom-up approach. Every park has to be democratically legitimized before it can be established in the regions concerned. With a little help from Pro Natura, the initiatives to establish more protected areas are being taken up by local and regional communities.

Currently, Pro Natura is running a second campaign to save the nation’s rarest butterflies. Butterflies are superb flagship species for demonstrating the crisis of farmland ecosystems.

Besides the main campaigns, Pro Natura is managing over 670 protected areas all over the country, covering more than 990 square kilometres. The creation and management of reserves is still one of the main tasks of Pro Natura.

Environmental education is an important field of activities for Pro Natura. Campaigns designed for schools and a documentation service for teachers give ideas and involve thousands of children every year. The Pro Natura Centers in Aletsch (Valais, Alps) and Champ-Pittet (on Lake Neuchatel) offer special programs for schools and youth groups. A youth magazine is offered to all young members of Pro Natura.

Communication is more important than ever. Pro Natura explains the wonders of nature and the need for conservation. The Pro Natura Magazine is published five times a year and distributed free to all members. Media work, regular press releases and a variety of other publications contribute to our communication effort.

Pro Natura stands for sustainable policy in all nature-related fields. It forms a pressure and lobbying group in cooperation with other national and international environmental organizations. Legal action is taken if necessary to protect nature's rights. During the last few years, Pro Natura has been putting more and more emphasis on globalization and its negative impacts on the environment. Pro Natura is taking part in international actions against corporate greed.

Besides being the Swiss member of Friends of the Earth, Pro Natura is founding member of The World Conservation Union IUCN Pro Natura takes part in regional networks such as Friends of the Earth Europe and the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps, CIPRA. Projects are under way in Bulgaria (Bulgarian-Swiss-Biodiversity-Conservation Programme) and in Macedonia (FOE Macedonia NGO capacity building).

Pro Natura has an annual turnover of 10 million Euros. 70% of this amount comes from donations, collections and membership fees. There are 60 employees at the head office and about 30 employees in the cantonal offices.