The Environmental Organization for Wildlife and Nature CALLISTO was founded in 2004 in Thessaloniki by scientists with extensive experience and specialization in environmental issues.
Our Key Objectives
– Study, protect and manage the populations and habitats of large carnivores, bears and wolves and other endangered species of wildlife.
– Improve the coexistence of man and wildlife.
– The protection of the environment as a public – collective asset and the exercise of control over the decision – making centers concerning the natural environment and the quality of human life.
Our actions
Our actions concern the conservation of wildlife, emphasizing in large carnivores. Equally important is the coexistence of these species with humans.
We show the beauty of nature, the value of the variety, the right to life.
We raise the awareness of the citizens, calling them to take initiatives in order to contribute to the major, universal, environmental and social problems of our time.
Results
Our knowledge has been tested in practice, with integrated solutions and successful applications on critical issues of ecosystem management, biodiversity and natural resource conservation, contributing to sustainable rural development.
CALLISTO nowadays:
– Monitors the populations of large carnivores in our country and takes initiatives to preserve their populations.
– Intervenes to neutralize or minimize the impact of major technical projects and other human interventions in the natural environment.
– A Bear Emergency Team (BET) team operates and intervenes whenever a wild animal is in danger (cases of trafficking, poaching, etc.) and in the case of wild animals and humans interactions (animal approach to agglomerations, addiction animals in anthropogenic food sources etc.).
– Puts a pressure on the decision-making centers for the establishment and effective operation of Protected Areas, as well as national and international networks of these areas (such as NATURA 2000) and linking ecological corridors.
– Develops synergies with other environmental organizations within and outside Greece.
– Volunteer work programs are organised in order to inform, activate and involve citizens in the efforts to preserve the environment.
– Campaigns and programs for environmental awareness and education are designed and coordinated.
WWF Italia Onlus is an Italian environment protection organization with the aim to stop the degradation of the planet and build a world in which man can live in harmony with nature.
This great goals translate into hundreds of actions aimed at the protection of threatened habitats and the conservation of endangered species. This is made possible by means of nature conservation projects, legal actions, establishment and management of public and private protected areas, environmental awareness and education.
In this framework, the conservation of the Appennine population of brown bears (Marsican brown bear) has been a priority for WWF Italia since its very foundation, in 1966: in these 50 years, we launched the campaign “An apple for bears” , recovery of abandoned orchards, distribution of electric fencing to bee-hivers, and a number of environmental education activities, we collaborated with National Parks, public administrations and the Italian Forestry Corp (now Carabinieri Forestale) in monitoring activities, but we also established a network of lawyers dedicated to the protection of bears against illegal activities and promoted and participated in several projects as the LIFE project “ARCTOS” for the conservation of brown bears: all of this, in order to save the species from the brink of the extinction in Italy and foster its coexistence with local communities.
