FIFA Fails to Promote Preservation of Armadillo, World Cup 2014 Mascot

FIFA, in an effort to raise awareness about Brazil's most imperiled species, named the three-banded armadillo the official World Cup 2014 mascot, but now environmental organizations are saying the organization is failing to promote the preservation of the species.

"There's not even simple dialogue with [FIFA], which seems to have no interest in getting involved with issues in the host country. There is much to be critical of about the commercial exploitation of the three-banded armadillo to the international media with no return for the conservation of the species," Rodrigo Castro, executive secretary from the environmental group Caatinga, said, according to The Dodo. "It's not fair to Brazilian Society."

Brazil is expected to announce this November the change of the armadillo's status from "vulnerable" to the more serious "endangered."

The alert follows a scientific study from 2011-2012 saying that the species declined by 30 percent over the last few decades, mainly due to habitat loss in Brazil's arid Caatinga and Cerrado regions. Conservationists say the armadillo could become extinct within the next 25 years.

World Cup audience members named their armadillo mascot Fuelco (combining the Spanish words for "football" and "ecology"). While all in good fun, FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or International Federation of Association Football) is failing to uphold its promise of promoting the preservation of this imperiled species. For example, Castro told Globo News, the mascot did not appear at the World Cup opening ceremony June 12, held at the Arena Corinthians in São Paolo.

In light of complaints, FIFA has since offered to donate some of its profits to a five-year National Action Plan to strengthen armadillo recovery efforts. But, Castro says, this generous offer would have contributed less than five percent of the $2.75 million needed to enact the plan, so the offer was deemed "insufficient."

"The proposal was rejected because it would not contribute minimally to protect the three-banded armadillo," he added.

According to Castro, there will be future talks with FIFA over the matter.