Fauna and Flora International

Fauna & Flora is an international nature conservation charity and non-governmental organisation dedicated to protecting the planet's threatened wildlife and habitats.

Founded as the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire, the society created some of the first game reserves and captive breeding programmes during the 20th century. The society's peer-reviewed scientific journal, now known as Oryx, has been publishing conservation science articles since 1904.

The Society was founded as a private organisation in 1903 by a group of members of the British aristocracy and American statesmen in colonies in Africa. A central founding figure was Edward Buxton, who had previously sought to protect areas of the UK. The goal of the society was to safeguard the future of southern Africa's large mammal populations, which had declined due to over-hunting and habitat encroachment, within game reserves. From 1903-1914, the society lobbied the British colonial government to protect areas of natural resources, control the ivory trade and change the policy of exterminating wildlife to control tsetse flies. The Society played a major part in legislation which controlled hunting and preserved habitat in East Africa and South Africa, paving the way for the formation of some of the first National Parks and influencing the future of nature conservation