The Center for Rural Empowerment and the Environment (CREE) is a international non-governmental organization that seeks practical solutions to bridging the gap between sustainable development and environmental conservation. CREE achieves this through programs that focus solely on poverty alleviation and resolving human-wildlife conflict.

CREE's principle goal is to channel human and financial resources from industrialized economies directly into the hands of capable conservation leaders from the developing world. This gives them the ability to design, direct, and ultimately evolve their conservation projects for the benefit of local livelihoods in ways they see fit, given the socio-economic realities surrounding them.

About CREE
CREE's staff are experienced in both traditional and non-traditional methods of social and biological research, project implementation, and conflict mitigation.

CREE draws on expertise from both developed and developing country contexts. They house an interdisciplinary staff and employ consultants with conservation, policy, law, psychology, and socio-anthropological backgrounds.

CREE's Conservation Philosophy
Empowering local communities
CREE recognizes that conservation is above all a political movement, securing land or altering land-use patterns for the benefit of biodiversity, often at the expense of rural peoples. CREE seeks to improve this process by making projects at the human-environment nexus more transparent, equitable, and appropriate for those who have been marginalized through living near biologically diverse lands.

We do not see local actors as minor employees with little say, mere targets for conservation outreach and capacity building schemes. We work exclusively towards opportunities for local people to be in genuine leadership roles such as managers and project directors.

Respect for the land and the people
We strive for a world in which the poorest of communities in developing countries do not bare a disproportionate amount of the costs of environmental conservation often advocated in the developed world. Capacity building is not just a term that is to be applied to 'poor' or 'developing' nations, rather it must first take place in the very organizations who seek to embed themselves in the arduous work of biodiversity conservation.

Beyond traditional conservation
The conservation movement has in many respects become similar to business. As such, in order to succeed in today's market driven economy, it will need to become as creative and adaptable. This means efficient channeling of financial, administrative, and technical resources. Accountability begins with institutional changes at the top.

CREE does not see impoverishment from wildlife and natural resources in solely monetary terms. Economics is a key component of any conflict mitigation scheme. However, a study of the multi-faceted nature of impoverishment and conflict over the use and protection of natural resources involves analyses through the lenses of political, cultural and economic frameworks.

While a thorough synopsis of the literature and history surrounding the social consequences of conservation is beyond the scope of this website, we do wish to highlight several aspects of projects which we see as integral to implementation. Projects which focus on many of the below aspects are more likely to be considered for funding under our scope of work:

-Provision of access to a limited use of resources that are harvested in a non-destructive manner<br />
-Improvement of knowledge of the values of ecosystem services <br />
-Heightened awareness within local environmental agencies of poverty issues in their jurisdiction so that their management activities do not exacerbate poverty<br />
-Ensuring communities involved in decision-making processes have clearly defined rights and can promote and defend community interests without exclusion from intellectual properties<br />
-Recognition of diverse sets of local actors with different and possibly competing interests; do not assume static cultural norms and homogeneity within societies<br />
-Provision of sustainable protein sources in the form of fish, birds, or mammals<br />
-Facilitation of access to healthcare clinics and schools<br />
Improvement and/or diversification of livelihood options, including strengthening resiliency in the face of climate change<br />
-Focus on women and other traditionally under-represented subsets of society<br />
-Conducting environmental education that focuses on heightening awareness within younger generations of their unique cultural and environmental histories<br />

CREE recognizes the power in networking through both grass-roots and top-down approaches. Grass-roots approaches build on solid, democratic traditions directly targeting CREE's focal audiences. At the same time, by utilizing channels of powerful individuals and organizations, CREE recognizes obvious political and economic realities through which the conservation movement has to work. Given the history of failures in the conservation movement with respect to human rights, CREE sees a diverse set of projects linked together through a poverty-environment theme as a start in the right direction.

Why CREE is unique
CREE is the only organization that focuses solely on the relationship between poverty alleviation and environmental conservation as its principal concern and driving force. CREE respects the wishes of our donors. To this end we make sure donations go exactly where the benefactors intend. By browsing specific projects on our website, donors can choose to help finance a specific conservation and development project. In this manner money is channeled directly into work the donor sees as most needed.

Furthermore, we upload annual reports detailing both the successes and challenges faced in the reporting period allowing donors to track the progress of the project they have given to. Our accounting system is transparent and publishable, and donors may see the breakdown of project implementation costs from local salaries to capacity-building exercises. We are a small organization, which greatly diminishes our overhead and administrative costs.

Beginnings

CREE was founded in 2008 by Mike Skuja. Mr. Skuja is a human geographer with broad experience in wildlife conservation, sustainable development, poverty alleviation, and rural livelihoods impacts.

Website
www.conservationforpeople.org