Movement "For Nature"

Movement "For Nature" is a non-profit organization which unites people from the wide spectrum of Lithuanian society. From opera primadonas to bikers. From theatre directors to leading scientists. From teachers to students. The main aim of our Movement is to protect nature of

Lithuania in all of it's variety. To protect from greed and excessive use, illegal logging, destruction of nests and nest sites of endangered species of birds. To protect from incompetent, quick profit seeking and callous businesses. To protect from ingenious and clever ignorance of Law by such bodies where situations often are like detective stories. To protect nature from the widespread corruption on many levels of those in control.

Movement "For Nature" is a totally independent body and does not seek any funding from Lithuanian government (which many organization here do, thus making them dependant on their financial sources and acting in their interests). We are happy to greet everybody who supports our goals. Our thanks go to a number of people across the country who quickly inform us about illegal activities of logging companies. Such people often put themselves in jeopardy and do fear of loosing their jobs.
In 2008 we have organized numerous publications in mass media, radio and TV programmes as well as protests. Our actions forced the Ministry of Environment to include a new rule of logging. The new rule forbids all logging activities from 15.04 till 15.06. But with a change of government this new rule is still not enforced. During our protest action near the Ministry of Environment famous Lithuanian actor Rolandas Kazlas compared the situation in Lithuania's forests to that of beating a pregnant woman.

Short history of our Movement is reflected in a series of articles written by dr. Algirdas Knystautas in Lrytas.lt, which are available on this site. The start of our Movement came unexpectedly. We discovered that during logging in June a tree with a nest of Pygmy Owl was destroyed and the young died. We made the matter public which resulted in a Petiton "Against forest logging in summer and protection of birds". It was signed by nearly 10.000 people.

Movement "For Nature" acts strictly within existing Law. It is not radical to the extent so as to seek its goals by any means available.

The main task of our Movement is to unite people of Lithuania of different spectrum of our society in order to protect nature and biodiversity.

Our main aims are as follows:

To make a maximum impact on environmental policy making by means of lobbying, organizing actions and exposing illegal activities in mass media.
To draw attention of international organizations to various problems which occur in Lithuania regarding nature conservation.
To inform Lithuanian and international media as fast as possible about increasing problems regarding nature conservation in our country.
To create reliable net of our supporters in different parts of Lithuania who would inform us about any illegal activities regarding nature.
To keep in close contact with similar organizations abroad in order to share experience and knowledge and to take part in joint conferences and other meetings.
To inform adequate EU bodies if the EU environmental law is not enforced here.
To organize protests and educational actions to draw attention of our people about the urgency of nature protection.
To inform our supporters both in Lithuania and abroad about our activities, their results as well as future actions.
To organize conferences and seminars on natural history and nature protection in Lithuania.

We very much hope that you will become a supporter and will help us in reaching our goals. Thus ensuring, that our children and grandchildren will be able to enjoy the true wonders of nature. And also that we will not be held responsible for our inaction. Since we did not do much apart from consuming.

Committee:

Director - dr. Algirdas Knystautas (www.algirdasknystautas.lt)
Members:

dr. Tomas Kovėra
Arunė Taunyte
Aušra Vaitauskaite
Gintaras Varnas