Fauna and Flora International

The Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire was founded as a private organization in 1903 by a group made up of members of the British aristocracy and American statesmen in colonies in Africa. A central founding figure was Edward Buxton, who had previously sought to protect areas of the UK. The goal of the society was to safeguard the future of southern Africa's large mammal populations, which had declined due to over-hunting and habitat encroachment, within game reserves. From 1903 to 1914, the society lobbied the British colonial government to protect areas of natural resources, control the ivory trade and change the policy of exterminating wildlife to control tsetse flies. The practice of captive breeding and release first pioneered during Operation Oryx are now widely used in conservation initiatives. The society was renamed the Fauna Preservation Society before being renamed Fauna and Flora Preservation Society in 1981 and finally to Fauna and Flora International in 1995. ==Modern activities==

In addition to global headquarters in the David Attenborough Building in Cambridge, Fauna & Flora coordinates conservation programmes in countries across the Caribbean, Central America, Africa, Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific. The society's scientific journal – Oryx – The International Journal of Conservation – is published on its behalf by Cambridge University Press. Since 2008, Fauna & Flora has also published the Cambodian Journal of Natural History, the first peer-reviewed journal in Cambodia, in partnership with the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Fauna & Flora established the Mountain Gorilla Project in Rwanda in 1979 at the request of David Attenborough following the broadcast of Life on Earth. It is now known as the International Gorilla Conservation Programme and is run jointly with the World Wide Fund for Nature. In Portugal, Fauna & Flora worked with Liga para a Proteção da Natureza on the reintroduction of the Iberian lynx. In 2004, Fauna & Flora facilitated the purchase of a former colonial cattle ranch in Kenya and conversion into Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a wildlife sanctuary for black rhinoceros and other rare megafauna. Fauna & Flora also works to reduce human–elephant conflict through working with farmers. In 2000, a Fauna & Flora led expedition in the Cardamom Mountains in Cambodia led to the rediscovery of the critically endangered Siamese crocodile in the wild, previously thought extinct. Since then, Fauna & Flora established and continues to run a captive breeding and release program at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre that has increased the wild population. In 2009, Fauna & Flora, Cambodian authorities and Wildlife Alliance coordinated a crackdown on illegal sassafras oil production, a prerequisite for recreational drug MDMA, in Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary in response to its role in deforestation and the harvesting of the critically endangered Cinnamomum parthenoxylon. This operation is thought to have significantly disrupted the ecstasy market worldwide. Fauna & Flora also coordinates a master's degree in biodiversity conservation in partnership with the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Cambodia designated its first marine protected area around Koh Rong in 2016 following several years of collaboration with Fauna & Flora and other partners. In the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, Fauna & Flora works to reduce poaching of bears and wolves by reducing conflict between farmers and wildlife. Fauna & Flora began work in Myanmar in 2008. In 2010, a research team including Fauna & Flora described the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey, a new species. Fauna & Flora also conducts sea turtle conservation. In 2018, The Guardian published an article claiming that Fauna & Flora was embroiled in a row with ethnic Karen people in Myanmar and indigenous rights groups over plans to protect up to 800,000 acres of pristine forest from poachers, loggers and palm oil companies. The initiative was seen as potentially displacing villages from ancestral lands without free, prior and informed consent, and having the potential to jeopardise a ceasefire agreement between the Myanmar government and the Karen National Union, which could lead to further conflict in the area. Fauna & Flora responded by asserting that indigenous people are "at the heart" of their work and that any protected area boundaries will not be decided without free, prior and informed consent. In 2020, Fauna & Flora were involved in the description of another new primate species, Trachypithecus popa, from Myanmar. There are thought to be around 200 individuals remaining in the wild. Fauna & Flora was one of the organisations that successfully campaigned for the banning of microbeads in cosmetic products in the UK in 2019 over concerns that it contributes to marine plastic pollution. In 2020, Fauna & Flora called on governments worldwide to adopt a moratorium on all deep sea mining, citing its impact on marine life and launched a campaign calling for $500 billion per year to be invested to protecting wildlife. Both campaigns were supported by David Attenborough and the latter was supported by over 130 other organisations. == See also ==