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The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), founded in 1961 as the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, is an international conservation organization that focuses on critically important landscapes in Africa. AWF’s programs and conservation strategies are designed to protect the wildlife and wild lands of Africa and ensure a more sustainable future for Africa’s people. Since its inception, the organization has protected endangered species and land, promoted conservation enterprises that benefit local African communities, and trained hundreds of African nationals in conservation—all to ensure the survival of Africa’s unparalleled wildlife heritage. ==Early years== The African Wildlife Leadership Foundation (AWLF) was founded in 1961 by Russell E. Train, a wealthy judge and hunter, and member of the Washington Safari Club. Other founding members from the Safari Club were Nick Arundel, a former United States Marine Corps combat officer and journalist, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. of the CIA, James S. Bugg, a business man and Maurice Stans, later to be Richard Nixon's finance chairman. Train was worried that European park managers would be replaced by unqualified Africans in conservation work as African countries gained their independence. Twenty African countries became independent in 1960 and 1961. Train wrote "In Tanganyika alone, the government recently ordered 100 percent Africanization of the game service by 1966! ... Replacement of European staff by untrained, unqualified men spells disaster for the game". He felt that it was urgent to train Africans to become wildlife professionals. The first major grant of the AWLF was $47,000 to help found the College of African Wildlife Management at Mweka, Tanzania in 1963. The college was organized by Bruce Kinloch, Chief Game Warden of Tanganyika, as a pioneer institution for the training of African wildlife managers. Funding for Mweka was also provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Frankfurt Zoological Society, with facilities donated by the government of Tanganyika. By 2010 the college had trained over 4,500 wildlife managers from 28 African countries and 18 non-African countries. In 1963 AWLF started a scholarship program to bring young Africans to American universities where they could study biology and wildlife management. The AWLF built a conservation education center in the same year, situated at the entrance to the Nairobi National Park. In 1967 the AWLF provided $50,000 to finance construction of a Research Institute in Tanzania. In 1970 the AWF established a school for wildlife management in Garoua, Cameroon, giving instruction in French. During the 1970s and 1980s the AWLF continued to finance students, and also assisted conservation projects, often giving supplies such as tents, vehicle spare parts, water pumps and photographic equipment rather than cash. In 1969 the AWLF took the lead in a campaign supported by other conservation groups to protect rhinos. In 1974 the foundation began a program to study cheetahs. In 1983 the AWF dropped "Leadership" from its name. Train was disappointed with the change, considering that the organization had lost sight of its original mandate. Instead, it had become just another conservation organization, giving funding to westerners to conduct research on animals. However, research such as Dian Fossey's work on gorillas and Cynthia Moss's work on elephants, both supported by the AWF, was clearly useful. The foundation struggled to raise money. In 1968 the annual budget was less than US$250,000. In 1988, the year in which the AWF launched a campaign against elephant poaching, the foundation had a staff of six and an annual budget of just $2 million. When the AWF turned 30 in 1991, the board of trustees continued to be dominated by prominent and wealthy Americans, many of whom served on other non-profit boards. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「African Wildlife Foundation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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