About FON

What is Friends of Nature?
Friends of Nature (FON) is one of the largest and most active non-government Chinese environmental organizations. Established in 1994, FON was China's first non-governmental environmental organization to be formally registered with the Government of the People's Republic of China as the Academy for Green Culture, and is an affiliate of the Academy for Chinese Culture.

Friends of Nature is a not-for-profit organization, and our activities are made financially possible by our membership fees, funds donated by local and international supporters, and our corporate partners (please see our FON Supporters section).

The Story
Many years ago at Linglong Park in Beijing, the founders of FON held their first meeting. It was the first non-governmental environmental protection meeting in China. That was June 5th 1993. Less than a year later, on March 3rd 1994, FON was formally registered with the Department of Civil Administration and China's first Environmental Non-Governmental Organization was born.

Starting off as the "society for green culture etc." FON was founded by Professor Liang Congjie, Professor Yang Dongping, Liang Xiaoyan and Wang Lixiang. Liang Congjie, the Chairman of FON, is a member of the influential CPPCC (Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) and a professor at the Chinese Culture Academy. A well renowned scholar of Social Culture and Education, Professor Yang Dongping, is FON's Vice-Chair.

The stated mission of FON is to, whenever and wherever possible, support the policies, laws, regulations, and measures that protect China's environment. While serving that mission FON has received 15 local and international awards including: the Asian Environmental Award, the Globe award, and the Panda Award.

FON's strength has come from its members. In the past 10 years their numbers have increased to 8000, including 3000 active members and nearly 30 member groups. These FONers enthusiastically engage in a variety of environmental protection work in their local regions and communities. They have founded more than 10 NGOs, and several members have received environmental awards.

With a decade of experience, FON has become one of China's most influential NGOs by both assisting in the establishment of new NGOs and helping them build capacity through training and support. It has become trusted by the public and is a huge contributor to both protection of the environment and development of civil society. FON has become a symbol of a successful Chinese environmental NGO.

Mission and objectives

FON's mission
- To promote environmental protection and sustainable development in China by raising environmental awareness, and contributing to the development of a 'green culture' within the Chinese population

FON's objectives
- To develop participatory environmental education programs to be delivered across China to students of all ages
- To train teachers in environmental education, particularly in rural regions
- To hold lectures, seminars, workshops and exhibitions to increase environmental awareness amongst the general public
- To organize tree plantings, bird watching and other public activities which contribute to environmental protection and awareness
- To network with local and international environmental organizations to maximize co-operation in the pursuit of sustainable development.

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