PanEco

Founded in 1996, the PanEco Foundation has grown into a professional and highly-qualified organisation. A strong local presence and the persistence and commitment of its founder Regina Frey have turned a small foundation into a recognised environmental institution. 

The biologist Regina Frey has worked since 1973 to preserve the habitat of the Sumatran orang-utans of Indonesia. After completing studies at the University of Zurich, Regina Frey and a fellow student travelled to Sumatra. There the two women built the first orang-utan rehabilitation centre in the Gunung Leuser national park on behalf of WWF International, the Indonesian government and the Frankfurt Zoological Society.

On her return to Switzerland in 1983, Regina Frey continued to support the projects she had worked on in Indonesia. The increasing contact with organisations and government authorities made institutionalising her work necessary and so, in 1996, she established the PanEco Foundation in Berg am Irchel. The main office and infrastructure of the PanEco Foundation are housed in the old school in Berg am Irchel. The character of the period timber house, renovated in 2004, and its central location in the village are a perfect fit with the grounded and local operating style of PanEco. The team in Switzerland currently constitutes 685 percent work divided among eight employees and one intern.

The continuous development and steady growth of the foundation is proof positive of its reliability as a project partner. PanEco is also an attractive partner for the Indonesian government because we are able to build on a broad local base and many years of collaboration with local partner organisations. The key to our international collaboration is support from teams in our two partner organisations in Sumatra and Java, Indonesia. Founded in 2000, the Foundation for a sustainable ecosystem YEL coordinates projects in Sumatra. The YLHS Foundation was founded in 2008 and will help to coordinate projects in Java and Sulawesi.

PanEco has since 2006 been granted the ZEWO seal of quality.