This book offers a comparative analysis of organizations and networks involved in nature protection in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the UK and the USA. It traces their development from their origins, more than a century ago, to the present day. Throughout this period, nature protection has remained an enduring concern to civil society and continues to be a major stream within environmentalism. However, strategies, public support, and political success vary greatly among the countries studied. Combining rich empirical evidence and theoretical analysis, the book sheds light on the important challenges nature protection faces today.

Providing a detailed description of all the major nature protection organizations and networks, including overviews of their current membership, activities, and as far as available, budgets, Protecting Nature will be of great interest to lecturers and postgraduate students in social science fields, as well as researchers in the fields of environmental policy, environmental NGOs, social movements, civil society, nature management and policy. Members of nature protection, environmental and other civil society organizations who seek a better understanding of the historical development of nature protection organizations and networks, as well as the strategies employed by those organizations, will also find much to interest them in this book.