Priority conservation projects given the green light by renowned Swiss foundation

The new Fondation Segré Conservation Fund has allocated a total of €6 million, over a five year period, to support a portfolio of priority conservation projects of huge global significance. These projects will deliver meaningful and sustainable gains for threatened habitats and species around the world.

The Fund has been designed with flexibility at the fore, allowing immediate response to current threats and resilience in the face of uncertain conditions in the future. Projects will be afforded the very best chance of sustainability, while creating replicable models of conservation for the benefit of other projects and organisations. Project implementation will be a collaborative effort between Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and in-country partner organisations, drawn from across FFI’s extensive global network.

Northern Rangelands Trust. Credit: Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI

FFI Chief Executive Mark Rose said, “Claudio Segré and Fondation Segré are enabling a portfolio of conservation interventions to be developed that we know will result in positive outcomes for the natural world. Together we will succeed in not only protecting species and habitats immediately, but the work the Fund has committed to will also reap sustained conservation successes, well into the future. We have great hopes for our common work: Claudio is now a vice-president of FFI and will actively participate in our development.”

It is the intention of the Fund that the founding projects will be expanded in years to come, to include other priority conservation areas and species, but the initial portfolio consists of:

• The establishment of two new protected areas in Myanmar – one terrestrial and one marine – and safeguarding the biodiversity of the wider landscape of the Tanintharyi region.

Lake Indawgi in Myanmar. Credit: Jeremy Holden/FFI

• Protecting wildlife in Kenya through three community conservancies, in partnership with the Northern Rangelands Trust. This project will support both the development and ongoing operations of the conservancies – Sera and Melako in northern Kenya and Pate Island on the northern Kenyan coast – with an aim of self sufficiency. It will also support the conservation of the beisa oryx.

Elephant in Northern Rangelands Trust. Credit: Juan Pablo Moreiras/FFI

• Supporting Chuilexi Conservancy within Niassa Reserve in Mozambique, including the development of the Misangese Concession and the implementation of vital anti-poaching mechanisms urgently needed to combat current threats to existing wildlife. Sustainable tourism will also be developed for Chuilexi, with an effective programme forming a model for further tourism throughout Mozambique and the region, which will provide long-term, sustainable income revenue for the conservancy.

• Securing the next generation of conservationists by empowering 170 young people, by building a tangible skillset for promising conservation leaders. This project will also support the institutional development of a series of emerging conservation organisations from developing countries. In-country capacity building and investment in local people is an FFI mainstay and a hallmark of our global programme models.

As a non-profit Foundation, Fondation Segré has broad institutional goals, particularly the support of nature conservation, environmental, scientific and educational activities.