Who we are
We are a not for profit non governmental grassroots organisation registered as a not for profit company and based in Greece composed of a dedicated group of people driven by our desire to protect the environment through specific courses of action such as environmental conservation projects and scientific research targeted towards sustainable development. Key to this object is the achievement of environmental justice in a given area and the conservation of biological diversity.
Our organisation is governed by a board of directors.A voluntary international advisory board provides advice on various issues . Our organisation is operated primarily by volunteers and a smaller number of members of the organisation.
We achieve our goals by providing solutions to local environmental problems through targeted conservation actions, empowerment and education of local communities to protect their environment, relevant legal actions and the provision of viable sustainable economic alternatives to human practices that are environmentally destructive . The logo of our organisation is a symbolic representation of the focus of the organisation in conserving and restoring organisms and ecosystems that support them that are either relatively large in size, great in age for their species or both and specifically large sized individuals particularly within each of three ecological groups highly threatened by human interference : Cetaceans, terrestrial herbivores and large sized and/or aged floral organisms
Our Location
Kalamos Island: the base of our organization
We are located in Greece. Currently one of the most important places to be in Europe with respect to biological and environmental conservation as decreasing economic prosperity has led to significant challenges and conflicts on both land and sea with respect to environmental conservation and sustainable development. We are situated on the Island of Kalamos a place with several ecosystems and in the heart of the Natura 2000 GR 2220003 conservation area. On land we have an ecosystem of significant biodiversity conservation value and are one of the most important areas for the birds of Greece according to Birdlife International with several endangered species. The relatively small human population ,large uninhabited areas of mostly wild but also agricultural land combined with decreasing pressure from agricultural production have produced a range of habitats such as our unique forest with its very important dead wood habitats .
Our Philosophy
Rewild the world! In a world where the natural world is declining and environmental conservation is gaining increasing ground we dare to take it one step further and accept the increasingly popular opinion that the world needs more wild areas more wild animals more natural ecosystems with large animals that are essential to ecosystem function. In this we never forget that sustainable development is a major driving force to achieve this objective in many areas through sustainable ecosystem management. The right science is lacking though and sometimes our goal will be to fill the gaps in knowledge prior to any action or take temporary action until this is so. We want to make effective change in our region first but we do not forget that we live on spaceship earth and as a group that wants to change the world and we also need to often collaborate with people and groups outside our geographical borders to achieve our objectives both within but also outside the geographical area of focus of a given action. People are the main driving force for sustainable development but we believe that all sustainable development ultimately has an ecological basis. We respect the rights of people who want to live as they have always done so and try to find solutions in cases where biodiversity or other environmental conservation issues of both local and global importance exist. We are open to communication and potential collaborations with anyone in the world.
For more information the Rewild concept we base our philosophy listen to this wonderful talk by George Monbiot click here
What we do
We are and will always remain an above-ground movement. This means we will among other things never become or desire to become involved in illegal activities. We aim for maximum transparency in what we do also with society and off course the public and private sector in general.
To achieve our objective we are either currently or potentially active in advocacy for causes and groups, empowerment of local communities and especially indigenous groups to protect their environment and livelihoods, scientific research, lobbying, peaceful protesting and of course direct conservation actions such as for example tree planting and any non violent actions that is within the limits of the law that is also in line with our ethics .
Above all we believe in peaceful actions and strive for this as much as possible with our own actions.
In this context we believe in and also actively engage in collaborations with like minded individuals and groups of these from potentially anywhere in the world.