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Island forest in Peru. (Photo by R. Butler)
International Conservation Organizations
Today international conservation organizations serve as environmental consultants for governments and large corporations interested
in reducing pollution, setting aside protected areas, and conserving biodiversity. Organizations like the International
Conservation Union (IUCN), Conservation International (CI), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) act as mediators between various development interests,
policy makers, local peoples, scientists, and activist groups in promoting conservation. These organizations initiate
and support a broad range of conservation-related activities, from arranging international conferences to establishing
community-based conservation projects to maintaining parks and reserves. Keeping attuned to economic realities,
they work to integrate the latest scientific findings into preservation efforts.
Activist Groups
Activist groups, like the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Rainforest Alliance, Amazon Watch, Friends of the
Earth (FOE), and the Sierra Club are publicists and sponsors of rainforest preservation. These organizations support
and initiate community-based conservation projects that involve locals in conservation. They are watchdogs of development
projects that impact the rainforest, and they spread the the word to other organizations, peoples, and governments. They
initiate campaigns against large corporations and governments responsible for deforestation and encourage consumers
to boycott their products. Pressure against these companies from environmental organizations, coupled with boycotts,
will often sway the firm to adopt more ecologically sound methods or abandon plans to clear forest lands for production.
While critics argue that successful boycotts in the North only lead to trade diversion to markets that remain open,
their campaigns draw public attention to deforestation and increase industry's sensitivity to rainforest issues.
The Rainforest Action Network is one of the world's largest organizations completely committed to saving the world's
rainforest. It is based in San Francisco and has countless affiliates throughout the world. The organization
has led numerous campaigns, several of
which have been successful. RAN uses boycotts as a means to pressure companies responsible for rainforest destruction.
RAN, along with other organizations, has been responsible for pressuring companies into less ecologically damaging
practices. The table reflects some of their successes. The first major successful boycott, led by RAN, was a boycott
of Burger King and caused the fast-food giant to cancel $35 million in beef contracts with Central American countries.
Since then, the demand for cattle products has diminished, and these nations have slowed the clearing of rainforest
for pasture land. Recently FOE's "Mahogany is Murder" campaign reduced UK mahogany imports from 31,300
cubic meters in 1992 to 18,900 cubic meters in 1996.
Today RAN and other groups are encouraging boycotts of Chevron-Texaco, Burmese teak ("Teak is Torture" campaign),
mahogany ("mahogany is murder" campaign), and Shell Oil. In the past couple of years several
city governments have refused to purchase goods or services from firms that participate in forest destruction.
In 1995, the city government of Berkeley, California, prohibited firms that operate in Burma—which has witnessed
widespread deforestation and human-rights violations by commercial activities—from selling goods to the city
government. The companies affected by the blockade include Pepsico, Texaco, and Unocal. In 1996, in response to
the hanging of environmentalist leaders in Nigeria, the Toronto metro council rejected Shell Oil's proposal to
fuel city vehicles. In 1997, Berkeley moved to ban companies operating in Nigeria from city government contracts.
According to EDF, municipalities that have banned the use of unsustainably produced tropical timber include Baltimore,
Bellingham, Harrisburg, Los Angeles, Ottowa, San Francisco, Santa Clarita, and Santa Monica.
Private Funding Organizations
In addition to conservation organizations, private corporations have been responsible for funding projects to help the environment.
Recently Motorola allied with the World Wildlife Foundation's conservation effort, by enhancing the organization's
communication capabilities when in remote areas. Now WWF has first-class tracking devices and excellent means of
communication for their fieldwork.
No sacrifices to ending deforestation in the Amazon, only gains
(4/29/2008) Regular columnist and co-creator of Brazil's environmental news website, O Eco, Sergio Abranches has great credibility in Brazil's eco-awakening. A professor of political science, Abranches uses his unique talents to reach a widening audience in Brazil for environmental, energy, and climate change news and discussion. He speaks expertly on any number of topics: from Amazonian deforestation to the current food crises to economic and political transformations for a warming world.
Markets could save forests: An interview with Dr. Tom Lovejoy
(3/20/2008) Market mechanisms are increasingly seen as a way to address environmental problems, including tropical deforestation. In particular, compensation for ecosystem services like carbon sequestration — a concept known by the acronym REDD for "reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation" — may someday make conservation a profitable enterprise in which carbon traders are effectively saving rainforests simply by their pursuit of profit. Protecting rainforests and their resident biodiversity would be an unintentional, but happy byproduct of profit-seeking endeavors.
Saving forgotten species: An interview with Carly Waterman, Program Coordinator of EDGE
(2/28/2008) In January 2007 a new conservation initiative arrived with an unusual level of media attention. The attention was due to the fact that the organization was doing things differently—very differently. Instead of focusing their efforts on the usual conservation-mascots like the panda or tiger, they introduced the public to long-ignored animals: photos of the impossibly unique aye-aye and a baby slender loris wrapped around a finger appeared in newsprint worldwide. The new initiative EDGE (Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered), launched by the Zoological Society of London, was not concerned with an animal's perceived popularity, rather the chose their focal species on a combined measurement of a species' biological uniqueness and its vulnerability to extinction. Consequently, they hoped to make celebrities out of animals (big and small) most people had never heard of: the hairy-eared dwarf lemur, anyone?
