About the AEF
The Australian Environment Foundation (AEF) is a non-profit, membership-based organisation. It seeks to protect the environment, while preserving the rule of law, property rights, and the freedom of the individual that underpin the material progress that is required to do so.
We take an evidence-based, solution-focused approach to environmental issues.
While it may be true that "We are all environmentalists now", the great majority of Australians have little or no say in the environmental policies that are most often proposed to Australian governments – federal, state or local. These policies are almost exclusively the domain of a tight network of conservation groups ensuring one view, and one view only, is put forward.
The AEF is a different kind of environment group, caring for both Australia and the Australian people. We value:
Evidence - developing policies and making policy decisions on the basis of facts, evidence and scientific analysis.
Choice - prioritizing issues on the basis of accurate risk assessment and sound economic cost-benefit analysis.
Technology - implementing appropriate and innovative technological solutions.
Management - using active management, when necessary, and acknowledging that landscapes and ecosystems are dynamic by nature.
Diversity - maintaining biological diversity.
People - treating people as integral part of the natural environment.
In applying our values, the AEF embraces the sustainable use principles of the IUCN (World Conservation Union), which are set out below, as they provide an ethically-balanced framework for responding to environmental challenges.
1. Conservation of biological diversity is central to the mission of IUCN, and accordingly IUCN recommends that decisions of whether to use, or not to use, wild living resources should be consistent with this aim.
2. Both consumptive and non-consumptive use of biological diversity are fundamental to the economies, cultures, and well-being of all nations and peoples.
3. Use, if sustainable, can serve human needs on an ongoing basis while contributing to the conservation of biological diversity.
Many of the members of the Australian Environment Foundation are practical environmentalists — people who actively use and also care for the environment. They appreciate that protection and sustainable resource use are generally compatible in providing balanced environmental outcomes.
If you want to be a part of a national movement that places a premium on sound science and rigorous evidence, that values open and honest debate and discussion, and is rethinking what it means to be an environmentalist, then consider joining the AEF. Details on how to join are set our on our Membership page.