The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) is an organisation for the European zoo and aquarium community that links over 340 member organisations in 41 countries. EAZA membership is open to all zoos and aquaria across Europe that comply with EAZA's standards. The organisation is administered and headquartered at

Natura Artis Magistra Natura Artis Magistra (Latin for "Nature is the teacher of art"), commonly known just as Artis (), is a zoo and botanical garden in the centre of Amsterdam. It is the oldest zoo in the Netherlands and fifth oldest zoo in the world. In addition ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The mission of the association is to promote cooperation for furthering regional collection planning and wildlife conservation. EAZA also promotes educational activities and advises EU lawmakers through

standing committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

and the

European Council The European Council (informally EUCO) is a collegiate body (directorial system) and a symbolic collective head of state, that defines the overall political direction and general priorities of the European Union (EU). It is composed of the he ...

EAZA Ex-situ Programme

EAZA manages the EAZA Ex-situ Programme (EEP), a population management and conservation programme. As of 2022, over 400 animal species are represented in the programme. Each EEP has a coordinator who is assisted by a species committee. The coordinator collects information on the status of all the animals kept in EAZA zoos and aquariums of the species for which they are responsible, produces a

studbook A breed registry, also known as a herdbook, studbook or register, in animal husbandry, the hobby of animal fancy, is an official list of animals within a specific breed whose parents are known. Animals are usually registered by their breeders w ...

, carries out demographic and genetic analyses, produces a plan for the future management of the species and provides recommendations to participating institutions.

Thematic conservation campaigns

Every two years EAZA launches a campaign dedicated to a threatened

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

or a threatened Environment. The campaign's aims are to draw attention to the problem, to promote

biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

awareness, raise funds for special projects and to do lobbying work in national

governments A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a m ...

and international organizations. The campaigns address EAZA members to get involved in the themes and to spread information about the importance of biodiversity and its conservation to the visitors.

Campaign for the Ukrainian zoos

In 2022, during the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, EAZA launched a funding campaign to save animals from Ukrainian zoos. In June 2022 EAZA had collected €1 324 884 from over 130 institutional and 11 000 private donors, and funds have been provided to nearly 20 institutions in Ukraine. Funds were allocated on the basis of need according to the requests received from zoos, and were distributed to recipients through channels subject to change due to possible war-time disruptions.

List of EAZA member institutions

Source: As of October 2023, EAZA has 308 Full Members, 20 Temporary Members, 20 Candidates for Membership, 55 Corporate Members and 38 Associate Members represented in 47 countries.

Full members

Temporary members

Candidates for membership

Associate members

Indirect members

These zoos and aquariums are members through an aforementioned associate organization.

Former members

References

External links

EAZA Homepage

Zootierliste
- Unofficial database of animal husbandry and species records in European and EAZA/EEP member zoos, in English language {{Authority control Organizations established in 1992 Zoo associations