The Nature Conservancy

This article is about the charitable organization in the United States. For the Canadian organization, see The Nature Conservancy of Canada. For the former UK government organization, see Nature Conservancy (UK).
The Nature Conservancy
Founded 1951 (1951)[1]
Headquarters Arlington, Virginia, United States
Area served
Global
Method Conservation by Design
Members
More than 1 million[2]
Revenue
US$949 million (2013)[3]
Slogan "Protecting nature. Preserving life"
Website nature.org

The Nature Conservancy is a charitable environmental organization, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

Its mission is to "conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends."[2]

The Conservancy's work focuses on Lands, Water, Climate, Oceans, and Cities.

The Conservancy works with a variety of corporate partners such as 3M Company, Alliant Energy Altria Group, American Electric Power, Bank of America, Barrick Gold Corporation, The Boeing Company, BP, Cargill, Caterpillar Inc., Chevron, The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines, The Dow Chemical Company, Duke Energy Corporation, Eastman Kodak Company, Ecolab Inc., ExxonMobil Corporation, MeadWestvaco Corporation, Monsanto Company, Nestlé Waters North America, PG&E Corporation, Plum Creek Timber Company, SC Johnson & Son, Inc., Temple-Inland, Weyerhaeuser Company, Xerox Corporation.

Founded in Arlington, Virginia, in 1951, The Nature Conservancy now impacts conservation in 69 countries, including all 50 states of the United States. The Conservancy has over one million members, and has protected more than 119,000,000 acres (48,000,000 ha) of land and 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of rivers worldwide. The Nature Conservancy also operates more than 100 marine conservation projects globally.[4] The organization's assets total $6.18 billion as of 2014.[3]

The Nature Conservancy is the largest environmental nonprofit by assets and by revenue in the Americas.[5]

The Nature Conservancy rates as one of the most trusted national organizations in Harris Interactive polls every year since 2005.[6][7][8][9] Forbes magazine rated The Nature Conservancy's fundraising efficiency at 88 percent in its 2005 survey of the largest U.S. charities.[10] The Conservancy received a two-star rating from Charity Navigator in 2012 (three-star in 2010)[11] and was named by that organization in 2005 on their list of "10 of the Best Charities Everyone's Heard Of". The American Institute of Philanthropy gives the Conservancy an A− rating and includes it on its list of "Top-Rated Charities".

The Nature Conservancy is led by President and CEO Mark Tercek, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs, and an adjunct professor at the New York University Stern School of Business.[12] The organization draws from all segments of the community. Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf, the commander of coalition forces during the First Gulf War, was a member of the Conservancy's President's Conservation Council.[13]

Approach

The Nature Conservancy takes a scientific approach to conservation, selecting the areas it seeks to preserve based on analysis of what is needed to ensure the preservation of the local plants, animals, and ecosystems. The Nature Conservancy is one of the world's largest environmental organizations as measured by number of members and area protected. It is a nonprofit organization supported primarily by private donations.

The Nature Conservancy works with all sectors of society including businesses, individuals, communities, partner organizations, and government agencies to achieve its goals. The Nature Conservancy is known for working effectively and collaboratively with traditional land owners such as farmers and ranchers, with whom it partners when such a partnership provides an opportunity to advance mutual goals. The Nature Conservancy is in the forefront of private conservation groups implementing prescribed fire to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems and working to address the threats to biodiversity posed by non-native and invasive plants and animals.

The Nature Conservancy has pioneered new land preservation techniques such as the conservation easement and debt for nature swaps. A conservation easement is a way for land owners to ensure that their land remains in its natural state while capitalizing on some of the land's potential development value. Debt for nature swaps are tools used to encourage natural area preservation in third world countries while assisting the country economically as well: in exchange for setting aside land, some of the country's foreign debt is forgiven.

Featured project sites

Nature Conservancy of Tennessee's William B. Clark, Sr., Nature Preserve on the Wolf River at Rossville, Tennessee

The Nature Conservancy's expanding international conservation efforts include work in North America, Central America, and South America, Africa, the Pacific Rim, the Caribbean, and Asia. Increasingly, the Conservancy focuses on projects at significant scale, recognizing the threat habitat fragmentation brings to plants and animals. Below are a few examples of such work:

The Nature Conservancy was instrumental in the creation in 2004 of the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. The Conservancy's efforts in China's Yunnan province, one of the most vital centers of plant diversity in the northern temperate hemisphere, serve as a model for locally based ecotourism with a global impact. The Nature Conservancy and its conservation partner, Pronatura Peninsula Yucatán, are working to halt deforestation on private lands in and around the 1.8 million acre (7,300 km²) Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, along the Guatemala–Mexico border. In November 2004, 370,000 acres (1,500 km²) of threatened tropical forest in Calakmul were permanently protected under a historic land deal between the Mexican federal and state government, Pronatura Peninsula Yucatán, four local communities and the Conservancy.[14]

The Nature Conservancy's programs in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming are working together to build partnerships and enhance the profile of the conservation needs in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem by supporting voluntary, private land conservation of important wildlife habitat. In 2007, the Nature Conservancy made a 161,000-acre (650 km2) purchase of New York forestland from Finch Paper Holdings LLC for $110 million, its largest purchase ever in that state.[15]

In June 2008, The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land announced they reached an agreement to purchase approximately 320,000 acres (1,300 km2) of western Montana forestland from Plum Creek Timber Company (NYSE:PCL) for $510 million. The purchase, known as the Montana Legacy Project, is part of an effort to keep these forests in productive timber management and protect the area's clean water and abundant fish and wildlife habitat, while promoting continued public access to these lands for fishing, hiking, hunting and other recreational pursuits.[16]

Plant a Billion Trees campaign

The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees Campaign is an effort to restore 2,500,000 acres (10,100 km2) of land and plant one billion trees by 2025 in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Each donated dollar results in one planted tree in the Atlantic Forest.[17]

Environmental benefits

The Plant a Billion Trees campaign has also been identified as a tool to help slow climate change, as the Atlantic Forest – one of the biggest tropical forests in the world – helps regulate the atmosphere and stabilize global climate. The reforestation of the Atlantic Forest has the capability to remove 10 million tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year. The Nature Conservancy states that this is equivalent to taking two million cars off the road. The Atlantic Forest's restoration could help to slow the process of climate change that is affecting the earth.

The Nature Conservancy's Plant a Billion Trees Campaign also aims to protect 10 critical watersheds in the Atlantic Forest that provide water and hydro power to more than 70 million people, create 20,000 direct jobs, and an additional 70,000 indirectly as part of this effort. The Plant a Billion Trees Campaign is also associated with The Nature Conservancy's Adopt an Acre program, which consists of nine locations, including Brazil.[18]

Involvement in the community

The Nature Conservancy also features e-cards from the Atlantic Forest, as well as video of the Atlantic Forest and detailed information about the seedlings on their website.[19] The Web site also features a news feed and an interactive map of the Atlantic Forest region in Brazil, as well as information on many of the plants, animals, and people that are impacted by the plight of the forest and who may benefit from its restoration.[20]

Tree planting

The Nature Conservancy plants one tree in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil for each dollar donated by supporters. Some of the seeds being planted consist of:

History of the campaign

The Nature Conservancy launched the Plant a Billion Trees Campaign in 2008 with a micro-site plantabillion.org that is affiliated but not hosted by The Nature Conservancy's website.

As a part of this launch, The Nature Conservancy pledged to plant 25 million trees as part of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)'s Billion Tree Campaign.[21] This campaign encourages individuals and organizations to plant their own trees around the world and record this action on the website as a tally.

On Earth Day 2009, Disneynature's film Earth debuted, promising to plant a tree for every ticket sold to the film in its first week. This resulted in a donation of 2.7 million trees to the Plant a Billion Trees program.[22]

Partnerships

The Plant a Billion Trees Campaign has followed The Nature Conservancy's approach of partnering with larger organizations (such as Disneynature, Planet Green, Penguin Books, Payless Shoesource, AT&T, Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, and Visa) to leverage donations from supporters and increase efficiency and effectiveness of the campaign.[23]

The Nature Conservancy and its scientists also work with other conservation organizations, local landowners, state and federal officials, agencies, and private companies to protect, connect, and buffer what is left of the Atlantic Forest.[21]

Criticism

Over the years, The Nature Conservancy has faced a number of criticisms. They fall into the following main categories:

Too close to business

Some environmentalists consider industrial development to be antagonistic to environmentalism, and disapprove of The Nature Conservancy's policy of permitting oil drilling, timbering, mining, and natural gas drilling on land donated to the Conservancy.[27]

The Nature Conservancy has ties to roughly 1900 corporate sponsors. Its governing board consists of numerous executives and directors of oil companies, chemical producers, auto manufacturers, mining concerns, logging operations, and electric utilities. And it has a reputation for remaining silent on key environmental issues that involve business practices in general. For example, many environmental organizations battled against the Bush Administration's plan to allow oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but the Nature Conservancy did not participate in this fight. It was later discovered that legislation to allow drilling is supported by members of the Conservancy leadership council, which consists of members from BP and ExxonMobil, as well as by Phillips Alaska, Inc. These organizations have also donated over $1 million to the group. Mark Tercek, the current president and CEO of the Nature Conservancy, had little to say about the accusations that ensued. Although there was a lot of pressure for the Conservancy to cut ties with BP, Tercek refused.[28]

Questionable resale

There have been allegations of The Nature Conservancy obtaining land and reselling it at a profit, sometimes to supporters,[29] who have then made use of it in ways which many perceived as being insufficiently environmentally friendly. The rationale for the resale has been that the profit allows The Nature Conservancy to increase its preservation of what the Nature Conservancy claims are more important locations.[30] However, the Conservancy does have a no-net-profit policy that has been in effect for years for all transactions of this type. It has ways of ensuring that its disbursements will offset any illicitly-generated revenues.[31]

Animal rights

Like many large environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the World Wildlife Fund, the Conservancy has also been criticized for using hunting in its management policies. Retired General Norman Schwarzkopf, the Commander of coalition forces during the First Gulf War, and a member of the President's Conservation Counsel of the Conservancy, was also a member of the trophy hunting organization the Safari Club International.[32]

Junk Mail

The Nature Conservancy asks for monetary contributions, in part by sending out unsolicited promotional letters, calendars, et cetera (i.e., so-called "junk mail"). The practice of sending junk mail wastes millions of trees (per year), produces greenhouse gases equivalent to millions of cars (per year), and wastes billions of gallons of water (per year), according to the environmental impact group 41pounds.org. [33]

Publication

The organization publishes The Nature Conservancy magazine (ISSN 1540-2428; six issues per year).

See also

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Grove, Noel (December 1988). "Quietly Conserving Nature". National Geographic 174 (6): 818–844.
  2. 1 2 "About The Nature Conservancy". Nature.org. January 23, 2014. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  3. 1 2 Archived August 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ "Non Profit Organization | About Us | The Nature Conservancy". Nature.org. January 17, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  5. ↑ "The 200 Largest U.S. Charities List: Environment/Animal". Forbes. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  6. ↑ "2008 Harris Poll". Harrisinteractive.com. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  7. ↑ "2007 Harris poll". Harrisinteractive.com. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  8. ↑ "2006 Harris poll". Harrisinteractive.com. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  9. ↑ "2005 Harris poll". Harrisinteractive.com. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Nature Conservancy". Forbes. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Charity Navigator Rating – The Nature Conservancy". Charity Navigator. Retrieved March 15, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Mark Tercek Bio – Nature Conservancy". Nature.org. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  13. ↑ McNeese, Tim (2009). H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Infobase Publishing. p. 110. ISBN 9781438103297.
  14. ↑ Adams, Lisa (November 13, 2004). "Plan would protect swath of Yucatán forest". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  15. ↑ "The Nature Conservancy and Finch Paper Announce Adirondack Woodlands Transaction" (Press release). The Nature Conservancy. June 18, 2007.
  16. ↑ "Nature Conservancy News Room – The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land to Purchase 320,000 Acres of Plum Creek Forestl". Nature.org. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  17. 1 2 "Plant A Billion Trees – one dollar at a time – with The Nature Conservancy". Plantabillion.org. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Adopt an Acre – The Nature Conservancy". Support.nature.org. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  19. ↑ "Plant A Billion Trees – one dollar at a time – with The Nature Conservancy". Plantabillion.org. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  20. ↑ "Plant A Billion Trees – one dollar at a time – with The Nature Conservancy". Plantabillion.org. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  21. 1 2 3 4 "Conservation & Green News | The Nature Conservancy". Nature.org. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  22. ↑ "Disney joins forces with the nature conservancy to plant 2.7 million trees in conjunction with first week ticket sales for Disneynature's debut feature, 'Earth'" (PDF). Disney.go.com. April 29, 2009. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  23. ↑ "Plant A Billion Trees – one dollar at a time – with The Nature Conservancy". Plantabillion.org. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Plant a Billion Trees – Penguin Classics – Penguin Group (USA)". Us.penguingroup.com. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  25. ↑ "Payless Partners with the Plant a Billion Trees Campaign, Launches Eco-Friendly Line". StyleCaster. April 13, 2009. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Customer Service – Payless Shoes". Payless ShoeSource. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  27. ↑ "The Unsuitablog » Blog Archive » The Nature Conservancy: Partnering With Poisoners". Thesietch.org. April 19, 2008. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  28. ↑ Curd, Bobbie (July 29, 2007). "Garrard Signs Reflect Criticism of Nature Conservancy". Central Kentucky News. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  29. ↑ The Chronicle of Philanthropy. October 18, 2007.
  30. ↑ Staff (June 14, 2003). "In Wake of Criticism, Nature Conservancy Changes Policies". The New York Times. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
  31. ↑ http://www.undueinfluence.com/nature_conservancy.htm
  32. ↑ "Schwarzkopf Shines at Safari Club International Life Members Breakfast". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved February 2, 2013.
  33. ↑ "41pounds.org".
Bibliography

External links

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