Our grant to Fauna & Flora International supports its Arcadia Fund. Fauna & Flora International (FFI) acts to conserve threatened species and ecosystems world-wide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take into account human needs. Founded in 1903, FFI is the longest established international conservation organisation in the world, supporting conservation projects in more than 40 countries worldwide.

Facing ever-increasing pressure from human development, many of the world's most important areas of biodiversity are on the verge of being lost forever. Despite international agreements, these areas often lack legal protection. Lisbet Rausing invented and endowed FFI Arcadia Fund in 1998. It provides a dedicated resource for emergency action to secure and preserve fragile ecosystems. It acts strategically by securing key habitats, creating wildlife corridors and bridging essential gaps in land ownership. Land is only bought outright where it is no longer in traditional or community usage and under extreme threat. FFI ensures local sustainable management of these protected areas by empowering local groups to address conservation needs themselves. Arcadia Fund projects always work towards handing over land management/ownership to an appropriate in-country group, with a commitment to provide support until this is sustainable.

Among other projects, the Arcadia Fund has helped transform 85,000 hectares of Patagonia into a nature reserve; created wildlife corridors in Tanzania, northern Kenya, Ecuador and Uganda; saved areas of the Brazilian Amazon from deforestation; preserved tracts of forest on the southern coast of Belize; protected unique vegetation in South Africa’s Flower Valley, one of the world’s six botanical kingdoms; saved rare dry tropical forest on the South Pacific coast of Nicaragua; and established Mozambique’s first functioning national park.

The Arcadia fund has directly contributed to conserving over 5 million hectares, an area larger than Denmark and more than twice the size of Wales. Since receiving our grant of $5 million, the Arcadia Fund has raised over $44 million: for every dollar we donated, FFI has raised another nine. In 2006, we renewed our commitment to the Arcadia Fund with a further grant of $5 million.