Protection of Forest and Fauna (PROFAUNA) is a non-profit organisation that promote forest and wildlife protection in Indonesia. It was founded in 1994 by two founded by two environmental activists Rosek Nursahid and Made Astuti in Malang, East Java, Indonesia. The rapid degradation of Indonesia’s forest and raging wildlife exploitation conditions were the factors that motivated the activists to establish PROFAUNA which was previously known as Konservasi Satwa Bagi Kehidupan (Wildlife Conservation for Life).
Today, PROFAUNA has grown into a national and global scale movement and it aims to raise people’s awareness towards the importance of forest and wildlife conservation, protect wildlife from exploitation and abuse and increase public participation in nature conservation, mainly in forest wildlife protection. PROFAUNA achieves its objectives by carrying out conservation programmes through campaign, education, investigation, advocacy, and community empowerment.
Forlorn young lady caged. Source: www.profauna.net
An example of PROFAUNA’s conservation effort is the campaign for Javan Lagur. Activists from PROFAUNA Indonesia engage the people of Yogyakarta to support the conservation efforts of the Javan Langur ( scientific name: Trachypithecus auratus) and its shrinking habitat. As part of the campaign, PROFAUNA’s activists set up a cage with a forlorn young lady inside. Around the cage, stand other figures in Javan Langur masks. The ‘Javan Langurs’ held out banners saying than Javan Langur do not like to be encaged and should be protected from illegal trade and poaching.
Supporters in Javan Langur masks. Source: www.profauna.net