自然之友成立于1993年，是中国成立最早的环保社会组织之一，目前，全国志愿者数量累计超过30000人，月度捐赠人超过6000人。一直以来，自然之友通过环境教育、生态社区、公众参与、法律行动以及政策倡导等方式，运用一系列创新工作手法和动员方法，重建人与自然的连接，守护珍贵的生态环境，推动越来越多绿色公民的出现与成长。

自然之友的愿景：在人与自然和谐的社会中，每个人都能分享安全的资源和美好的环境。

自然之友的使命：建设公众参与环境保护的平台，让环境保护的意识深入人心并转化成自觉的行动。

自然之友的核心价值观：与大自然为友，尊重自然万物的生命权利；真心实意，身体力行。

Friends of Nature (FON) is established in 1993. As China's first national wide grassroots environmental NGO, it has more than 30,000 registered environmental volunteers across the country, and more than 5,000 small amount monthly donors. While based in Beijing, FON have established 22 local environmental volunteer groups in different cities.

In the past 30 years，through law and policy advocacy, public participations of green citizens, green communications, environmental education and others, FON has been making efforts to rebuild the bond between mankind and nature, preserve the ecosystem and promote the growth of more green citizens. As every 'friend' of nature believes, if we think sincerely and act practically, we will build a better planet.

Our Vision

Everyone can share safe resources and beautiful environment in a harmonious society between human and nature.

Our Mission

Build a platform for public to participate in environmental protection, deeply cultivate awareness of environmental protection and transform it into conscious actions.

Core Values

Be friend of nature, respecting the rights to life of all things in nature; to think sincerely and act practically; the development and improvement of civil society is an important guarantee for environmental protection.

Our Team

Law and policy advocacy

The core strategies of the Law and Policy Advocacy team of Friends of Nature (FON) are environmental public interest litigation, participation in legislation, policy advocacy, and empowering and developing the other ENGO’s capacity on policy advocacy. We are continuously pushing for the resolution of real and specific ecological environment problems related to climate change, biodiversity protection, and the prevention of air, water, soil, and other forms of pollution. We aim to broaden and guarantee channels for public participation in ecological environmental protection and to improve environmental governance.

 By initiating influential environmental public interest litigations, we advocate and address environmental issues that have universal or exemplary significance, while also promoting the establishment, implementation, and improvement of critical ecological environment mechanisms. Drawing on in-depth research and practical experience gained from environmental public interest litigations, we actively engage in the process of environmental legislation, law and regulations amendments, and policy formulation, and we submit legislative proposals. Leveraging the expertise and experience accumulated through our work on environmental issues and action strategies, we empower and support the public and other ENGOs through initiatives such as "study camps," thereby enhancing the overall public participation capacity within the environmental welfare industry.

Green citizen action

The core strategies of the Green Citizen Action Team of Friends of Nature (FON) are empowerment, funding, development, and influence support. Through building a platform for public to participate in ecological environmental protection, FON aims to promote greater public awareness and concerns on climate change, biodiversity conservation, and pollution prevention to response the challenges of ecological environment protection and climate change. Additionally, through voluntary, innovative, and diverse approaches, we seek to influence more people to adopt green lifestyles and make environmentally friendly consumption choices, encouraging widespread and profound public engagement in ecological environmental protection.

 FON continuously supports environmental volunteer groups across the country, with volunteers as the main driving force. We organize environmental education and public activities related to ecological environmental protection in an active, innovative, and diverse manner. This approach helps us identify, nurture, and support more individuals in actively participating in local environmental protection efforts.

 Through the "Public Climate Action Project-Linglong Project”, FON discovers, nurtures, and supports citizen activists and leaders in the field of climate change, enabling them to address climate change issues effectively. Simultaneously, we aim to influence more green citizens to focus, participate, and respond to climate change challenges.

 FON has designed and developed a curriculum system and toolkit for public participation in wetland conservation and zero-waste lifestyle. By providing empowering and supporting systems, we encourage more members of the public to actively engage in wetland protection and adopt zero-waste lifestyles.

Brand communication

The Friends of Nature brand communication team is responsible for institutional brand strategy and brand system construction, media strategy and media relations, as well as social media creativity and operations. Through continuous development, partnership consolidation, and proactive team capacity improvement, we aim to achieve our influence goals.

 We understand the power of "compelling stories" in public communication. Therefore, we continuously explore representative individuals and events in the organization's business, projects, and activities, facilitating high-quality mainstream media and new media platforms to report and thereby promoting the enhancement of Friends of Nature's industry and social influence.

 We are committed to elevating environmental issues beyond the usual circles and breaking through barriers. By collaborating with influential brands, organizations, and KOLs in cross-border fields, we aim to make environmental protection a beloved part of the public's lifestyle. Our communication methods are more vivid, interesting, and heartwarming, which in turn impacts younger generations.

 We closely follow and value successful cases and emerging trends on the internet and business sectors. This motivates us to continuously explore sustainable new media platforms. We integrate "creative communication" with "scientific marketing" and strive to uncover effective approaches and possibilities for platform financing.

 We aim to make citizen donations a sustainable method of institutional financing by creating multi-platform and multi-channel public donation opportunities. We are working towards increasing public participation and donation support, enhancing the institution's public influence in financing channels, and actively pursuing the strategic development goal of nurturing green citizens through donors and volunteers.

Fundraising Development

We help to make citizen donations as one of sustainable ways of institutional finance by creating a multi-platform and multi-channel public donation moment. 

We are striving for more public participation and donation support, enhance the public influence of institutions in financing channels, and practicing the strategic development goal of fostering green citizens with donors and volunteers.

Operations

The main responsibility of the Friends of Nature operations team is to ensure the smooth operation of the organization. This includes handling the institution's annual inspection report and evaluation, as well as communicating with relevant authorities. We also focus on ensuring information security, sound systems, and compliance in terms of processes and internal controls. The team is responsible for the organization's administrative, financial, human resources, IT, legal, and compliance work. Additionally, we assist in organizing activities that align with the values and organizational culture of Friends of Nature while upholding the organization's mission.

Important Achievements

As of December 31st, 2022, Friends of Nature has initiated 62 environmental public interest litigation cases, covering various fields such as air, water, soil, ocean, biodiversity conservation, and climate change. Among these, 55 cases have been accepted by the court, and 34 cases have been successfully concluded. Many of these cases have had a profound impact nationwide and within their respective industries:

Green Peafowl Habitat Protection Case

China's first preventive public interest litigation for the protection of endangered wild animals. This case was recognized as one of the "Top Ten Biodiversity Cases in the World" by the World Judicial Conference on Environment.

Changzhou "poisonous land" Case

This case established the legal principle of "Polluter's Responsibility" which helped facilitate the introduction of relevant provisions in the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law.

Fujian Nanping ecological destruction Case

Marked the first public interest litigation in China under the Revised Environmental Protection Law and was selected by People's Daily as one of the "40 Firsts" during the first 40 years of China's reform and opening-up.

Qujing Chromium Slag Pollution Case

The first grassroots environmental public interest litigation initiated by a non-governmental environmental protection organization in China.

Participated in more than 60 environmental legislation and public policy formulation and revision processes, including the Environmental Protection Law, the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information, the Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China, the Soil Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China, the Wild Animal Conservation Law, and the Yangtze River Protection Law. The organization has actively taken on legislative tasks from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Supreme People's Court, and other departments, and played a significant role in the development of the national "14th Five-Year Plan" for ecological and environmental protection. Friends of Nature has submitted more than 70 proposals for legislation, amendments, and policies.

Leveraged more than 3 billion RMB in environmental governance and ecological restoration funds through professional environmental legal services.

The national registered volunteers have exceeded 30,000, and there are 22 volunteer action groups in 18 cities. The activities cover various areas, including bird protection, river and wetland conservation, plant protection, waste reduction/recycling/zero waste community, leave no trace activities, mountain and beach cleaning, ocean conservation, parent-child environment/nature education, and more. The activity forms include outdoor activities, surveys, popular science lectures, scientific propaganda, scientific research monitoring, nature education/experience courses, etc.

Over the years, our important work has been covered by People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, Central People's Broadcasting Station, Guangming Daily, China Environment News, Legal Daily, People's Court News, China Green Times, Public Welfare Times, China Youth Daily, Caixin, Caijing, Southern Weekly, Tencent News, The Paper, Jiemian News, Sanlian Life Weekly, China News Weekly, and other high-quality mainstream media. We have also garnered more than 670,000 followers on China's mainstream social media platforms and led many environmental hot topics, such as "Save the Green Peafowl" and "Contributing to the Revision of the Wild Animal Conservation Law ."

Opened 8 public donation portals on 7 platforms, including Tencent, Bytedance, and Alipay, with more than 6,000 monthly donors.

Incubated and established 3 social enterprises, covering environmental education, ecological design, participatory construction, and green solutions for large-scale public events.