End of BBC Wildlife Fund announced by BBC Chairman

Mark Rose, CEO of Fauna & Flora International (FFI), has written to BBC Trust Chairman Lord Patten, adding FFI to a growing league of NGOs publicly condemning the announced cessation of the BBC Wildlife Fund.

“The BBC Wildlife Fund has been an invaluable tool to link the might of the BBC’s natural history broadcasting to the real threats facing the species it so convincingly portrays. From our perspective as a conservation organisation, the Fund has not only been an important source of funds, but also a means to help us communicate the realities of conservation work to a much broader audience.

The BBC Wildlife Fund has made a real difference on the ground across a wide range of species and habitat protection programmes, playing a vital role in helping viewers connect with real conservation initiatives. By profiling a range of conservation projects to a wide audience and enabling viewers to contribute directly, it has found a unique niche in both conservation funding and natural history broadcasting. Please support the campaign to keep this Fund running,” Mark Rose, CEO, Fauna & Flora International.

A large group of highly regarded national and international conservation NGOs have contacted Lord Patten requesting a reversal of the decision, allowing the Fund to remain in operation.

The BBC Wildlife Fund has raised approximately £3 million for conservation since it’s inception in 2007, supporting a total of 87 projects on a global scale. These include several FFI programmes including golden frogs (Madagascar), mountain gorilla, through the International Gorilla Conservation Programme (Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC), Antiguan racer (Antigua), Siamese crocodiles (Cambodia) and Iberian lynx (Portugal).

It is FFI’s hope, as it is the hope of a growing number of conservation and wildlife NGOs that the tremendous work already achieved can continue and that the decision to close the Fund can be reversed.

Please help us be heard and sign the online petition here