It all began in 2005 with the purchase of 92,004 m² of swamp forest in northern Hesse. Naturefund's initial project to purchase land and thus preserve and restore ecosystems secured habitats for over 230 bird species. Since then, Naturefund has implemented numerous nature conservation projects throughout Germany. Even today, we continue to purchase land both throughout Germany and internationally in order to renaturalize it or leave it to its own devices and thus preserve habitats for the diversity of species.
The more than 30 land purchase and conservation projects that Naturefund has been able to implement to date are diverse and range from bird protection on the Baltic Sea island of Kirr to the purchase of land in the Hamberger Moor and the protection of an old beech forest in Thuringia to the conservation of fens and hillside spring moors in Bavaria. These areas are often ecological niches that provide a refuge for endangered species. A local nature conservation organization almost always becomes the owner and guardian of the land.
Katja Wiese, founder and managing director of Naturefund, says: "Ownership is a very strong right that is respected in many countries and with ownership you can almost always decide what happens to the land. And it should be a property for nature. We can actively protect nature on the land we buy. In our projects, we plan with great care and together with our local partners which types of biotope management are best for the ecosystem and thus provide the greatest benefit for biodiversity."
Whether protecting a swamp or beech forest, establishing a forest edge, preserving orchards or creating flowering insect paradises - from the very beginning, the conservation of forests and species-rich grasslands has been a focus of Naturefund's nature conservation work. More than 15 projects have already been successfully completed in this area.
Wetlands are an important part of the global water cycle, contribute to the preservation of groundwater, protect against flooding by storing precipitation, are the habitat of many rare and endangered species - and are important carbon reservoirs in the form of moors or wet meadows, for example. It is therefore clear that Naturefund has also focused on the protection of wetlands from the very beginning. Since the first project in 2006 - the purchase of a wetland meadow in Rhineland-Palatinate - numerous areas of wetlands have been secured for nature conservation, species and climate protection in more than 10 further projects.
Our increasingly cleared landscapes are losing biodiversity. For some years now, we have therefore been developing new approaches with the dynamic agroforestry cultivation method in order to bring diversity and healthy yields back into agriculture, but also into urban green spaces.
In cooperation with local communities and nature conservation organizations, a total of 2.1 million square meters of land have been purchased and secured so far, restoring intact ecosystems and protecting animal and plant habitats. Naturefund's long-term vision is to protect 3.5 million square kilometers for nature.
