Members working for the Nature Conservation Association fight the increasing extinction of species and take care of certain animal species. The history of the association began with the fight for endangered bird species.
Big worries
Bigger worries, more important topics: discussions about species loss, air and water pollution, urban sprawl and the negative consequences of intensive agriculture determine our everyday lives.
Already 125 years ago, volunteers were committed to saving the lives of living beings.
They have always wanted to protect the animals from the consequences of human intervention. That’s why the German Nature Conservation Association – Nabu – was brought into being.
Committed beginnings
A pioneer of the nature conservation association is the industrialist’s wife Lina Hähnle, who headed the association for bird protection founded in Stuttgart on February 1, 1899. The mother of six quickly developed a reputation as a “bird mother” who managed to assert herself in a society dominated by men. In 1966, the BfV transformed itself into the DBV, the German Association for Bird Protection.
At the beginning, the bird conservation group had around 1,000 members. This led to the development of Nabu when the DBV and the newly founded GDR Nature Conservation Association united in November 1990. Today, the environmental association with the largest number of members in Germany has over 900,000 members and supporters.
It all started with bird protection
Over time, the purpose of the statutes also changed. 125 years ago, members of the association made it their mission to be comprehensively active “for the benefit of our useful birds”.
Today the idealists focus on protecting many more animal species.
But small ponds in the village are also the focus of the nature conservation association’s work.
Awards, campaigns and lectures
The bird protectors celebrated their first successes, for example, with the establishment of the first managed protected area, the bird island near Giengen in the Brenz. A campaign to save great egrets and birds of paradise also attracted attention. Back then, people used their colorful feathers to make jewelry for women’s hats.
As a result, bird conservationists managed to enforce a hunting ban in some areas in 1914. In addition to nature conservation areas and bird islands, Nabu also operates nature conservation centers. The association regularly organizes excursions, lectures or projects. The “Bird of the Year” has been chosen once a year since 1971. Over time, the campaign also expanded to honor trees or the cave animals of the year.
Successful initiatives
As current Nabu President Jörg-Andreas Krüger confirms, the founding of the Nabu International Nature Conservation Foundation and the Nabu Foundation for National Natural Heritage is one of the association’s greatest successes to date.
The foundations have set themselves the task of buying up natural areas nationwide and preserving these areas as a habitat for endangered animal and plant species.
The other organization also works to protect nature beyond German borders.
Lots of tasks for the future
In the eyes of Nabu, however, nature conservation has not yet been sufficiently integrated into economic processes. In addition, in Nabu’s opinion, not enough protected areas are being protected and financed, even though these areas now make up 17 percent of land and inland waters.
Problems such as forest dieback, loss of species, increasing droughts or other weather catastrophes are predominantly viewed as negative consequences of climate change. That is why members of the Nature Conservation Association emphasize that they are under great pressure to act. Nabu has therefore planned many more tasks for the future.
2024-02-22 21:03:29