OroVerde

OroVerde - The Tropical Forest Foundation
legal form	charitable foundation
founding	April 20, 1989
founder	Wolfgang Engelhardt u. a.
Seat	Bonn
purpose	Nature conservation , species protection , environmental education
Chair	Volkhard Wille
sales	3,785,910 euros (2018)
Employees	22 (2018)
Website	regenwald-schuetzen.org

OroVerde - The Tropical Forest Foundation (dt. Green Gold) is a non-profit nature conservation organization that advocates the preservation of tropical rainforests. For this purpose, rainforest protection projects are designed and implemented together with local partner organizations in the tropical countries. In Germany, projects in the field of environmental education and public relations are carried out to promote sustainable and rainforest-friendly consumption. In this context, OroVerde offers a wide range of information and teaching materials for those interested, teachers and students.

history

OroVerde was founded in 1989 by renowned personalities from business and natural sciences. The initiator and formerly honorary chairman of the foundation board was Wolfgang Engelhardt , who died in 2006 and was honorary president of the German Nature Conservation Association (DNR) . The coordination of the projects takes place today in the head office in Bonn (Burbacher Str.), Until January 2005 OroVerde was based in Frankfurt am Main . In addition to the 10 full-time employees, volunteers and interns regularly support the foundation. The board of directors is Volkhard Wille, the chairman of the foundation board is Harald Kächele, the honorary chairman is Manfred Niekisch , former director of Frankfurt Zoo , member of the German government's advisory council for environmental issues and president of the Society for Tropical Ecology.

Goals and projects

The OroVerde Tropical Forest Foundation initiates, designs and supports projects for the preservation and protection of tropical rainforests, both nationally and internationally.

International projects

OroVerde reforestation project in Central America

The protection projects are carried out by local partner organizations, which are supported and accompanied by OroVerde experts until the projects can sustain themselves. The most important tasks of the project work are the reforestation of destroyed or degraded areas, the establishment of protected areas as well as the environmental education and development of forest-friendly farming methods with the local population, so that the pressure on the tropical forests is reduced - the motto of every project is " Help for self-help ". Cooperation with the local population is particularly important to OroVerde when implementing the projects. When selecting the project regions, the focus is on the hotspots of biodiversity , i.e. on those areas whose extraordinary biological diversity is classified as particularly worthy of protection. Current project countries are:

Cuba : Support for the park staff in the Alexander von Humboldt National Park
Guatemala : Rainforest protection, biomonitoring, reforestation, environmental education, water protection in the Sierra del Lacandón National Park and in the Sierra de las minas
Ecuador : Support of the Kichwa Indians living in Sarayaku in their resistance to the opening up of their home area for oil production as well as in the areas of education, development and strengthening of cultural identity: green forest instead of black gold
Venezuela : Reforestation of degraded areas in one of the last mountain rainforests on the Paria peninsula , designation of rainforest protected areas, environmental education measures with the local population
Dominican Republic : Reforestation and introduction of agroforestry systems in valuable peripheral areas of the rainforest
Indonesia : Protection and preservation of biodiversity in the Raja Ampat archipelago with the help of forest mapping and monitoring . Development and introduction of alternative and environmentally friendly sources of income.

National projects

In Germany, the focus is on environmental education and information on the subject of tropical forests and on promoting the exchange of information between nature conservation organizations, business, science and politics. There are currently projects in the following areas:

Environmental and sustainability communication: In a project around Limbic Map, Limbic Types, Motivation Profiles and Neuromarketing, OroVerde is developing new ways of sustainability communication in order to reach target groups who have not previously felt addressed by topics such as rainforests, the environment and climate protection.

Students work as part of the OroVerde project "Because we are worth it!" on a graffito

Environmental education: Under the patronage of bestselling author Sabine Kuegler (“Dschungelkind”) was the pilot project “Because we are worth it!”, Which was aimed specifically at socially disadvantaged secondary and special school students. They were introduced to the topic of tropical forest protection with practical reference to their everyday life (e.g. via graffiti, rap or hip-hop) and got to know the connections between their consumer behavior and the destruction of the rainforest. The project has received numerous awards, including a. by UNESCO as part of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and as a place in "Germany - Land of Ideas". He was also awarded the “NRW thinks (sustainable))” prize. From the experience gained during the pilot phase of “Because we are worth it!”, A variety of teaching materials for use in school lessons were developed. OroVerde also offers materials for other types of schools.

The annual competition “Schoolchildren protect rainforests” calls on children and young people to get involved in actions for rainforest protection.

Politics and networking: World trade policy and subsidies have a significant impact on tropical countries. This includes, for example, the wood import, the import soybean for factory farming in agriculture and, increasingly, the import of palm oil u. a. for power generation. That is why OroVerde is involved in the political discussion through statements, participation in hearings and discussions with politicians.

Financing the projects

In 2014, € 1,386,417.12 flowed into OroVerde's projects. The expenditure for fundraising corresponded to a share of the total expenditure of 10 percent. The share of administrative expenses was 11 percent. In 2018, a total of € 2,828,277.10 flowed into the projects (83.1%), the administrative portion was 10.9%. The remaining 6% was spent on campaigns, advertising, education and public relations.

OroVerde bears the donation seal of the German Central Institute for Social Issues and is a member of the Transparent Civil Society initiative .