Focus Regions





All over the world biodiversity is at risk, and with it the quality of human life. For NABU the motto „nature conversation beyond borders“ means to cooperate with international partners – always enthusiastic, with expertise and together with the local population on site. It also means not only to believe in a sustainable future, but to create it. With our headquarters in Germany and own branches in Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, we enable long-term conservation projects in our focus regions.
Europe
From Baltic peatlands to bird migration over Mediterranean islands, NABU is actively involved in many nature conservation and environmental projects on the continent – together with its BirdLife Partners and other European networks. Most of Germany’s environmental legislation is determined by decisions taken in Brussels. EU agriculture and fishing policies have a heavy impact on how land and seas are used across the continent. Through its political lobbying and campaigns NABU has influenced many important decisions, protecting thousands of important bird areas by EU law, saving precious sites in Poland and reducing illegal hunting in Malta and Cyprus. We saved and increased the EU-LIFE funding programme, which helps to implement important cross-border nature conservation measures such as the LIFE Climate Mitigation project “Peat Restore”.

Examples of our involvement
- Lobbying in Brussels, for a new agricultural policy
- Ecosystem restoration: German River Havel and EU project LIFE Peat Restore
- Protection of migratory birds
Africa - Ethiopia, Madagascar, Kenya
Africa is a continent of contrasts. It harbours a fascinating variety of ethnic groups, traditions, biodiversity, and great national parks with thousands of migrating species. But it is also affected by climate change, natural catastrophes, population growth, and poverty. Because people often depend directly on the natural resources of their environment, many of Africa’s unique habitats and ecosystems suffer from overuse, edging ever closer to collapse. Helping people help themselves – this is NABU’s concept in Africa. Together with local people, authorities, and governments, NABU works on community-based management concepts for use and conservation of endangered ecosystems.

Examples of our involvement
- Green diversification of Ethiopia’s garden coffee value chain
- Partnership for a joint sustainable future of Lake Tana Watershed in Ethiopia
- Green Coasts for Western Madagascar
Central Asia - Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tatjikistan
The widely diverse habitat types of Central Asia – ranging from ice-capped high mountains to hot sandy deserts – harbour a great number of unique species. The Tian Shan, or Heavenly Mountains, with their highly specialised fauna and flora are a global hotspot of species diversity. NABU has been active on the ground since the 1990s to protect those threatened paradises of nature. Beside species conservation projects targeting the likes of the snow leopard, saiga, or striped hyena, the establishment of protected areas and the promotion of ecotourism have been cornerstones of NABU’s work in Central Asia. In this way, conservation profits people, too.

Examples of our involvement
- Snow leopard conservation
- Community-based conservation of saiga antelope
- Environmental education
South East Asia - Indonesia
With four terrestrial biodiversity hotspots and the coral triangle as the epicentre of marine biodiversity South-East Asia is one of the megadiverse regions in the world. By rapid economic development and a steady increase of human population of now nearly 1 billion people, Southeast Asia's biodiversity faces multiple threats, while the region is particularily vulnerable to climate change, pandemics and natural desasters. Since 2008 NABU is active in the region for people and nature. In Indonesia, NABU and its partners focus on protecting and restoring landscape-scale rainforests on Sumatra and Sulawesi. This is not only a globally relevant climate change mitigation measure, but also helps sustaining the livelihood of indigenous communities directly depending from forest.

Examples of our involvement
- Ecosystem restoration in Hutan Harapan - the "Forest of Hope", Sumatra, Indonesia
- Securing landscape-connectivity in the Popayato-Paguat landscape, Gorontalo, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Caucasus – Russia, Armenia
The variegated landscapes of the Caucasus make it one of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots. Its primeval highmountain forests harbour many endangered and recently rare species including brown bears. Poaching during the 1990s reduced the number of Caucasian wisents to just 150 individuals. But the population has bounced back: Today, more than 1,200 wisents live in the Western Caucasus. The crucial step to save them were conservation measures like anti-poaching activities, initiated and supported by NABU. Today, we focus on the protection of boxtree forests – which are facing extinction in the Caucasus. This is complemented by environmental education, sustainable tourism, and organic agriculture.

Examples of our involvement
- World Heritage Site Western Caucasus
- Environmental education
- Sustainable tourism and organic agriculture
what we do in our focus regions
Climate change and biodiversity loss are the most pressing challenges to humanity and people start to realize they are both sides of the same coin. NABU stands with science. We demand and support all efforts to reach a net-zero-carbon economy globally. more →
Ecosystem functioning needs to be seen as a global task: Therefore NABU is active in biodiversity hotspots and beyond. As part of the BirdLife network bird conservation has a long tradition for us. It’s efforts are directed to the whole biodiversity.
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An ecosystem is a complex of living organisms. NABU focuses on restoring ecosystems to their original state and important regulatory functions such as carbon sequestration. Ideally that's done by creating conditions in which the ecosystem can recover on its own. more →
NABU is comitted to promoting sustainable regional development worldwide. Our international projects always include income generating activities, which comprehensively address all three dimensions of sustainability—balancing economy, ecology and social equality. more →
NABU supports the creation, establishment and effective management of protected areas as part of our international activities, not exclusively but with special emphasis to UNESCO biosphere reserves, which are characterised by integrative and segregative approaches. more →
Conservation needs lobbying. That's why at NABU we also take initiative to foster civil society and strengthen NGOs. We are part of the global partnership of conservation organizations like BirdLife International. With many of the partners we work togerther. more →
We aim to shape production sustainably and environmentally-friendly while encouraging companies towards corporate responsibility. NABU is advising entrepreneurs how to improve production, processing and sales for no-harming practices and low carbon foot print. more →