WWF Switzerland

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WWF Switzerland
logo
legal form Foundation, endowment
founding 1961
Seat Zurich ( ⊙ coordinates: 47 ° 22 '46.6 "  N , 8 ° 31' 21"  O ; CH1903:  681 849  /  248206 )
purpose natural reserve
Chair Kurt Schmid
(President of the Board of Trustees )
Managing directors Thomas Vellacott
sales 49.7 million CHF
Website www.wwf.ch

WWF Switzerland is a non-profit foundation based in Zurich that was founded in 1961 as the third national subsidiary of the World Wide Fund for Nature . Its aim is to support WWF's worldwide activities to preserve the natural environment and its various forms. Measured by its number of members, WWF Switzerland is the largest nature conservation organization in the country. There are various independent cantonal sections and regional groups.

history

WWF Switzerland was launched on December 7, 1961, after England and the United States, it was the third national offshoot of the nature conservation organization. The WWF International, based in Gland ( Vaud ) his activities had taken in April of the same year. Initially, the association under Swiss law was chosen as the legal form , in which anyone could become a member, which should support identification with the goals of the organization. The official name was "Association for the Promotion of the World Wildlife Fund". The main initiator of WWF Switzerland was the lawyer Hans Hüssy, who later served as president of the organization for several years. In the first years of its existence, the most important donors of the association came from the Basel and Geneva area . In 1968, WWF Switzerland appointed Roland Wiederkehr as its first full-time managing director, at which time the association had around 6,000 members. Under the leadership of Wiederkehrs, WWF Switzerland developed from a one-man operation to an organization with around 100 employees.

The programmatic positions of WWF and WWF Switzerland were not always identical: In 1973, for example, a controversy broke out between the two organizations after the national section had joined the opponents of nuclear power . Among other things, they took part in demonstrations against the construction of new nuclear power plants, while the Foundation Council of WWF International favored a cooperative attitude. The President of the Foundation Council of WWF Switzerland failed with a motion to move the entire WWF to renounce nuclear power. Ultimately, however, the attitude prevailed in the WWF in the following years. In the 1970s, events such as the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant or the Sevesoung accident led to greater environmental awareness in society, which also led to an increase in the number of members of WWF Switzerland.

In 1972, the members converted the association into a foundation , following the example of other national sections of the WWF , whose name was "World Wildlife Fund Switzerland" and from 1986 "World Wide Fund for Nature". At the same time, the area of environmental education was greatly expanded. In 1976 WWF Switzerland founded the Swiss Center for Environmental Education in Zofingen ( Canton Aargau ), which had a branch in Yverdon-les-Bains ( Canton Vaud ). One cooperated with a working group of both universities in Zurich . In the 1980s, the entire WWF opened up to a broader spectrum of environmental protection , which, in addition to protecting animals and habitats, was intended to cover all of nature and human resource consumption. For this reason the "World Wildlife Fund" changed its name to "World Wide Fund for Nature". The renaming was carried out in 1986 by WWF Switzerland. Due to the large number of supporters, WWF Switzerland had a significant influence on WWF International, for example in the selection of the building for the organization's headquarters. In 1993 a total of 135,000 people were members of the organization.

Since the 1990s, WWF Switzerland's program has had three main objectives: the preservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of natural resources and the curbing of pollution and waste. The foundation tries to achieve this through so-called field projects , public relations including legal means, environmental education and youth work, campaigns and through cooperation with target-related organizations. In 2001, WWF Switzerland made negative headlines after the General Director was dismissed by the Board of Trustees. She had aligned the organization to the topics of forest, water and climate. Both the employees of WWF Switzerland and the cantonal sections criticized the dismissal. Then the head of the Foundation Council left WWF Switzerland, and Hans Hüssy took over the position again. At times WWF Switzerland was led by Christoph Imboden, who was supposed to review the structures of the foundation, but was also publicly criticized by employees. Observers spoke of a serious crisis, even the withdrawal of the license by WWF International was in the room. With effect from January 1, 2004, Hans-Peter Fricker finally took over the position, who during his activity until 2011 primarily sharpened the profile of WWF Switzerland.

literature

  • World Wide Fund for Nature Switzerland (WWF Switzerland, WWF Suisse, WWF Svizzera) . In: Swiss Social Archive (Ed.): Archive Finding Aids . Zurich (signature: WWF CH).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Klaus-Henning Groth (Ed.): The great book of the WWF . 40 years of nature conservation for and with people. Edition Rasch and Röhring, Steinfurt 2003, ISBN 3-934427-37-5 .
  2. ↑ Financial Report 2013. (PDF) WWF Switzerland, 2013, accessed on October 24, 2014 (731 KB).
  3. ^ WWF story. (No longer available online.) WWF Switzerland, archived from the original on October 19, 2014 ; Retrieved October 20, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / wwf.ch
  4. ↑ List of foundations. (No longer available online.) Federal Department of Home Affairs, archived from the original on October 8, 2014 ; accessed on October 27, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.edi.admin.ch
  5. ↑ WWF continues to be very popular . In: look . December 8, 2009, p. 9 .
  6. ^ A b c d Matthias Daum: Basis versus business. In: The time. April 24, 2011, accessed October 25, 2014 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e World Wide Fund for Nature Switzerland. (PDF) In: Archive Finding Aids. Swiss Social Archives, p. 4 , accessed on October 7, 2014 (212 KB).
  8. ↑ Markus Hofmann: The brown spots of the green. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. August 12, 2014, accessed October 16, 2014 .
  9. ↑ The founders. WWF Switzerland, accessed on October 27, 2014 .
  10. ↑ a b Nicole Emmenegger: "The WWF might sometimes hit the table harder" . In: Aargauer Zeitung (Mittelland Zeitung) . April 17, 2011.
  11. ^ Ruedi Baumann: Ex-WWF boss teaches first graders. In: Tages-Anzeiger. September 7, 2010, accessed October 27, 2014 .
  12. ↑ WWF: From species to climate protection. In: News platform for renewable energies. April 29, 2011, accessed October 22, 2014 .
  13. ↑ Jürgen Dunsch: From a fine animal welfare club to a large environmental lobby . The WWF is 50 years old. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . August 9, 2011, p. 11 .
  14. ^ A b c Regula Kyburz-Graber: Environmental education in the 20th century . Beginnings, present problems, perspectives. Waxmann, Münster, New York, Munich, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89325-892-2 .
  15. ↑ Wolfgang Jaedicke, Kristine Kern, Hellmut Wollmann: International comparison of procedures for setting environmental standards . Erich Schmidt, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-503-03490-0 , p. 24 .
  16. ^ Stefan W. Schuppisser: Stakeholder Management . Relationships between companies and non-market stakeholder organizations; Development and influencing factors. Haupt, Bern, Stuttgart, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-258-06543-8 , pp. 217 .
  17. ↑ Andrea Willmann: Open noise at WWF . In: Neue Luzerner Zeitung . November 2, 2001, p. 7 .
  18. ↑ Helmut Stalder: The WWF heats up the climate . In: Tages-Anzeiger . March 31, 2000, p. 12 .
  19. ↑ Marius Vogelmann: The cantonal sections criticize the headquarters . In: Aargauer Zeitung . November 10, 2001, p. 7 .
  20. ↑ Hüssy takes over firmly . WWF Switzerland - founder heads the board of trustees again. In: Aargauer Zeitung . December 8, 2001, p. 9 .
  21. ↑ WWF: Head ad interim . In: Tages-Anzeiger . January 8, 2002, p. 9 .
  22. ^ Nick Mathias: Serious crisis at WWF Switzerland . Employees send a bloodthirsty email to the media - WWF reacts with legal steps. In: NZZ am Sonntag . May 12, 2002, p. 14 .
  23. ↑ Hans-Peter Fricker new head of WWF Switzerland . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . July 1, 2003, p. 12 .
  24. ↑ WWF Switzerland needs a new managing director. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung. November 14, 2011, accessed October 27, 2014 .