WWF Italia founder Fulco Pratesi has
died at 90, the organisation announced Saturday.
Pratesi died in a Rome clinic overnight, it said.
"Architect, journalist, author, designer, founder of WWF Italy
of which he was president for a long time as well as a living
example of active environmentalism, Fulco Pratesi was the guide
for an entire generation of naturalists", writes WWF Italy in a
statement, and "embraces with emotion the Pratesi family: his
children Isabella, Carlo Alberto, Francesco and Olympia and all
his grandchildren".
"Born in Rome in 1934 and displaced in early childhood with his
family to a country property in the Viterbo area, he came into
contact with nature early on - the association recalls.
"After a youthful infatuation with hunting, he converted his
interest in nature and animals into conservation. His second
life began in 1963, in the forests of Anatolia, in Turkey, where
he had gone hunting. A bear with three cubs appeared before him.
It was a 'dazzling' encounter as he himself defined it", and
which "made him completely change his perspective.
Back in Italy, he sold his rifle and bought a camera".
Then, "having learned of the birth of the World Wildlife Fund in
Switzerland, he contacted them to create the Italian section.
'But you will have to find the money needed for the project' was
the answer. With a family and already 4 children, it was not
easy.
"Gathering some enlightened friends in his architectural studio,
WWF Italy was born in 1966, with little money and a lot of
enthusiasm. Enthusiasm that always remained his distinctive
trait until the last days of his life".
"His contribution to the definition and approval of fundamental
laws for the protection of Italian nature was fundamental, from
law 157 on fauna to that on parks in 1991. But his greatest
pride was the over 100 WWF Oases that he loved and knew one by
one", it said further.
Pratesi was also a member of parliament from 1995 to 1997 with
the Greens. He was Honorary President of WWF Italy and
Editor-in-Chief of the historic Panda magazine since its
foundation. His contribution was active until the end.
"He loved his family deeply and he loved nature and the WWF with
a deep love, 'my fifth son', as he himself defined us",
commented Luciano Di Tizio, president of WWF Italy.
And "if the entire WWF is in some way Fulco's child - added
Alessandra Prampolini, general director of WWF Italy -, and if
today we have all lost a founding pillar of our family, for some
including me Fulco is part of the memories of the most ancient
childhood, with his elegant signature at the bottom of the
letters that made us dream by telling of animals and wonderful
places and with the unmistakable style of his drawings".
The Italian political world paid tribute to Pratesi with Green
leader Angelo Bonelli saying "farewell to my friend Pratesi, the
father of Italian environmentalism".
Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein said "today, more than
ever, Pratesi's legacy is crucial".
5-Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte said "Pratesi was a true
pioneer of Italian environmentalism".
Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto said Pratesi had shown
"great sensibility in difficult times" while the president of
the Italian League for the Defense of Animals and the
Environment, Michela Vittoria Brambilla, said "Pratesi was an
example for those who want to protect the Earth, and contributed
to the creation of an environmental and pro-animal culture".
Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said Pratesi had been "an
authentic interpreter of of Article 9 of the Constitution, where
by including the landscape among the elements of our cultural
heritage it establishes that indispensable harmony in the
relationship between man and nature necessary for the
sustainable development of the country".
The Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS) said
Pratesi had been a "fundamental reference point".
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