katja

Ever since her first visit to Indonesia in 1973, PanEco’s founder, Regina Frey,
has been committed to ensuring that nature conservation and environmental protection measures are accompanied by educational programmes. For this reason, she established the first environ-mental education centre in East Java, the PPLH Seloliman, as early as 1990. It is one of the initia-tives that led to the founding of PanEco.

September 2, 2026, marks 30 years since our foundation’s president Regina Frey and a few like-minded friends founded PanEco and based it in Berg am Irchel. Regina Frey’s goal was to put her commitment to nature conservation in Indonesia and the Zurich Weinland on a solid footing. In this anniversary year, we are looking back—and above all, we will look ahead. Come with us!

The severe flooding in Southeast Asia has seriously impacted the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, where we are working to protect orangutans and their natural habitats. Our partner organizations and countless villages and communities have been severely affected, prompting us to launch an emergency relief effort.

The devastating landslides a year ago destroyed the station’s central infrastructure. Work is in full swing on rebuilding the veterinary clinic, a special intensive care enclosure, several individual enclosures and the infant enclosure. However, a new location is unavoidable due to geomorphological analysis.

In May 2025, Loredana Sorg and Martin Schmid took over the management of PanEco. Since then, they have held numerous discussions with the foundation’s 25 employees. A project trip also took them to the stations of our orangutan conservation programme in Indonesia. Who are they and what are they passionate about?