FAPAS
Who are we?
FAPAS is an organization capable of carrying out conservation work in this field.
Basic information
Founding date
July 21, 1983
Members
7,200
Location
Santo Adriano (Asturias)
Why did it come about?
The beginnings
A group of friends, concerned about the need for nature conservation, began working in 1982 to protect the 8 pairs of vultures that still remained in the Picos de Europa.
Our first action was the implementation of a service to collect dead livestock in the vicinity of the Sierra de Cuera, and the creation of a refuse dump that would function as a feeder for many birds in northern Spain for a long period of time.
As you can imagine, this initiative required a great economic effort. For this reason, we decided to ask for help from other nature lovers through magazines such as Quercus or Naturaleza. Fortunately, the response was immediate. In just one week, 2,000 friends from all over Spain had responded to our call. And so, without intending to, FAPAS was born as an association.
A role model
Roberto Hartasánchez, president and founder of FAPAS. After more than 30 years, he hasn't thrown in the towel and continues to reinvent FAPAS every day, showing the same enthusiasm as on day one. He grants everyone around him the privilege of continuing to work on what they love most: nature conservation.
An anecdote
Interestingly, most FAPAS workers are self-taught and do not have an academic environmental background. However, they constitute a multidisciplinary team with a great capacity for action. They can, for example, set up a television program, design bear-proof beehives, plant more than 500,000 trees in unfavorable conditions, or be pioneers in wildlife monitoring using image capture.
News
Current concerns
- Pressuring the administration to ensure it complies with nature protection laws.
- Fighting poaching, which affects brown bear protection.
- Maintaining financial independence from the administration. FAPAS does not receive public aid.
Current initiatives
- Program for the recovery of pollination in mountain ecosystems. It is associated with brown bear conservation.
- Campaign for planting fruit-producing species, associated with brown bear recovery.
- FAPAS in action, a television program for environmental awareness.
Funding Sources
Partners, foundations, and collaborating companies.
Reflections
A reflection for hope
Humans are intelligent; we just have to educate them, and they will respect nature.
A false myth
Believing that nature can cope with everything. A simple step in the wrong place can be a great disaster for any living being, no matter how insignificant.
How can I help?
Ways to support
You can become a member or collaborator to help us maintain financial independence. This way, we will be able to continue denouncing all these irregular practices committed against nature.
A good habit
Walking through nature in a normal way, without treating it as if it were a giant theme park where you can reach every corner, even with the best of intentions.
Upcoming goals
Objective 1
Continue the work begun 30 years ago.
Objective 2
Surviving without public aid.
Objective 3
Continue to instill in our employees a passion for nature conservation.
A dream
That there are 1,000 bears in northern Spain.
Iberian wolf
Tree planting
Brown bear
Bear-proof beehive
Osprey