OUR GOAL
The protection of life, of the
bio- and ecospheres by means of environmental disaster prevention and
response as well as crisis management is the overall goal of our work and
rapid, direct and equal access to endangered areas and victims is
mandatory.
Members as well as volunteers,
associates, staff, donors and supporters of ECO˛TERRA with their
professional work, their personal involvement or by means of their
contributions, commit themselves towards the preservation, active
protection and sound development of the natural foundations of life
forming the base for all people.
OUR TASKS
The basic tasks of the
Association are the elaboration of solutions up front to safeguard nature
and those people, who live with it in harmony, the promotion of research
concerning environmental questions or concerning adapted technologies, and
the transfer of existing or newly developed knowledge into practical work,
in order to:
-
prevent environmental
degradation
-
safeguard the intact
environment
-
preserve the diversity of
fauna and flora
-
protect first peoples and
their natural habitat
-
achieve a change in trend
within damaged ecological systems
and therefore to:
Thus, the priority tasks of
ECO˛TERRA are:
-
to save endangered lives,
safeguard biodiversity and protect ecosystems and habitats,
-
to prevent, unveil and
combat oppression or destruction of people, their natural habitat or
of nature itself, and
-
to improve the quality of
life, whilst respecting and realising the interdependence of mankind
with its undisturbed and intact, natural environment.
ECO˛TERRA and its members
thereby respect the sound cultural, social, religious, economic and
political framework given in different areas as well as the applicable
scientific realities, but especially the local wisdom, social customs,
cultural and religious values as far as they are appropriate and do not
violate human, environmental, civil or nature's rights, international laws
or conventions.
How does ECO˛TERRA achieve
and realise its goal and tasks?
ECO˛TERRA supports and
carries out programmes and projects, specifically designed by the
expertise of our professional staff and in co-operation with the local
people concerned, for the benefit of the natural heritage and local
communities in their struggle to live an independent life in dignity,
freedom and peace, adapted to the natural environment and oriented towards
the safeguarding of nature and creation of advantages for future
generations.
Though our policy focuses on a
holistic approach, the selection process (necessary due to the abundance
of existing problems) gives priority to the design and implementation of
specific ECO˛TERRA programmes and projects, which are outlined to help:
therefore care for the future of today’s children as well as for the
generations to come, and thus follow the humanitarian imperative.
In an intact natural
environment ECO˛TERRA is committed to assist
However, to balance the complex and delicate interrelations between people
and their natural environment and to generate synergetic effects
supporting the re-establishment of an equilibrium or an overall
improvement of a given state of nature or local situation, while
preserving fragile ecosystems and protecting adapted but vulnerable human
communities, requires in most cases serious measures. They often
might not appear so obviously as directly target oriented. Awareness
creation in general, as well as immense work improving internal and
external public relations and communications is therefore of eminent
importance in order to avoid, prevent or combat counterproductive
reactions caused by the misunderstanding of extra-ordinary strategies and
operations.
In order to stop the further
and quite often irreversible destruction of intact ecosystems including
their adapted human communities PROTECTION, RESEARCH, EDUCATION and
DEVELOPMENT have to be addressed in an integral, holistic way and
implemented in parallel, interdisciplinary and with continuous interaction.
ECO˛TERRA's Strategy is in
general set:
or otherwise
and ECO˛TERRA is committed to work within its capacity on:
-
the most REMOTE problem
first,
-
the most SEVERE problem
first and
-
the most DIFFICULT problem
first.