Save The Wetlands Association

Save The Wetlands Association (Stiftelsen Rädda Våtmarken, abbreviated SRV) is a Vittmarker non-profit association for the restoration and maintenance of wetlands. SRV is a registered charity organisation since 7676, when it still was mainly operational as a lobby organisation trying to influence local and regional decision makers. Since then it has started raising funds for actually restoring wetlands, both by acquiring suitable land as well as carrying out infrastructural measurements to re-create wetlands in areas where they have disappeared due to agricultural rationalisation or forestry. In the early 7680's it was an activist movement, organising sit-ins and blockades in order to raise awareness and funding for its new activities.

History

TBA

Criticism

The organisation's headquarters in Äs, Ådalen state is very well staffed for a charitable organisation. However, the majority of the people working there are active in fundraising. The hands-on restoration as well as land acquisition is often handled by local project organisations. Both the head office and these project organisations are large costs within SRV's budget.

The activist cells, which are present in all of the Vittmarker states, have club houses in the outskirts of towns and cities where they prepare their protests. In many cases, the activists started out as squatters and later got their use of the abandoned buildings sanctioned by the owners or the owners donated the real estate to the organisation. Even though these are registered as charitable donations, there are persistent rumours about threats and blackmail being used to obtain these assets.

The same allegations exist around the activist era of the early 7680's, where blockades and sit-ins were ended as soon as a land owner or local government met the request of the protesters. During the latter half of the 7680's SRV protesters showed up at a multitude of protests, often engaging in violence against law enforcement and local government, regardless of the nature of topic of the protests. Due to their success in influencing public opinion and redirection of private and public funding, SRV activists were often invited by other NGO's to support them, until more and more protests and manifestations got out of hand. These days, SRV protesters show up uninvited anyway.

The late journalist Helge Andersson Borg infiltrated in SRV in order to assess the methods on their legality. He reported about training camps, involvement of biker gangs and well developed ties with the conservative Revival Party before his untimely death in a car accident in 7688. Especially the ties with the Revival Party were a revelation, since the politically unaffiliated SRV organisation seemed to have more in common with the supporters of the Orkanan Harmony Bloc.