Recent achievements and challenges in WWF’s work to protect biodiversity and reduce humanity’s footprint in priority areas of the global conservation programme

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Since its launch in 2007, WWF’s Earth Hour has become the world’s largest mass participation environmental initiative, active in over 160 countries, and is becoming a platform where people are mobilising action on climate and other global, regional and local environmental priorities.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Earth Hour 2014 set new records for global participation in March, with 162 countries and 7,000 cities celebrating the event. New crowdsourcing and crowdfunding initiatives enable people to use their voices or their money to support
WWF conservation actions.
© Getty Images

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge recognized Cape Town as the Global
Earth Hour Capital 2014. The South
African city took bold steps to move away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The competition attracted 160 cities from 14 countries to promote low carbon development and combat climate change.
© We love cities

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
The idea of mobilizing the voices of the Earth Hour audience in support of environmental actions around the globe took off with
Earth Hour 2014:
 In China, Earth Hour took the theme “Blue Sky” on the need to stop pollution and smog, using a photo-based phone app
• The #maketheswitch Earth Hour message in the UAE reached more than 5 million people, urging a switch to energy efficient lighting
• For the 3rd year running, more than 100,000 Earth Hour fans in
Russia joined an environmental petition, this time calling for increased protection for 5 threatened species including the Far Eastern leopard

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
•Over 2,000 energy-efficient stoves were distributed in Madagascar, to reduce pressure on forests, and crowdfunding on the Earth Hour site raised funds for a further 500 stoves
• In Finland, 20,000 people called for a fair subsidy policy for solar power.
Helping drive the pledge #EarthHourSuomi was the most tweeted hashtag in the country
• 12,000 signatures on a petition against the proposed Ptolemaida V coalfired power station in Greece will go to the government and KfW, the finance bank and sole investor

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF has run many campaigns to focus attention on key issues and solutions. Current global campaigns include a call to shift investments away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, and an emergency campaign to address the threat of oil drilling in
Africa’s prized Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF is campaigning to save Virunga – Africa’s oldest national park and most biodiverse protected area – from oil drilling. Virunga is also a vital resource for local communities, supporting tens of thousands of people. But this iconic place is under threat from irresponsible oil exploration. Some lines should not be crossed, and drilling for oil in Virunga is one of these.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Allegations of human rights violations and breaching of environmental protection by UK oil exploration company Soco International PLC relating to its work in Virunga, are being investigated by an Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) agency.
Announced in February, this follows a complaint from WWF that Soco has breached OECD global corporate responsibility standards.
© Brent Stirton / Reportage by Getty / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Protests against Soco’s plans to start seismic testing for oil in Virunga voiced community concerns this will damage or destroy their livelihoods, and could reignite civil conflict.
More than 675,000 people have joined WWF’s petition to demand that Virunga be protected from the damaging impacts of oil.
© Edgar Mbekemoja

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
French oil giant Total has confirmed it will not explore for oil and gas in World
Heritage Sites (WHS). This was announced in February by the United
Nations agency in charge of WHS. Total’s decision follows an earlier pledge to remain out of Virunga. © Brent Stirton / Reportage by Getty Images / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
BREAKING NEWS:
UK oil company Soco International PLC announced in June it will end its operations in
Africa’s oldest national park and has committed to remain out of all other UNESCO World
Heritage Sites. “Today is a victory for our planet and for good practices in business. This success is the work of government officials, activists within DRC and supporters worldwide who joined together to help remove the most immediate threat to Virunga,” said Marco
Lambertini, Director General of WWF
International.
© Brent Stirton / Reportage by Getty / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF’s Seize Your Power campaign to promote clean, renewable energy aims to mobilize key organisations investing in new energy sources to shift US$40 billion away from fossil fuels into clean renewable energy sources. This shift is crucial to rapidly move the world towards climate-safe energy.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF welcomed the decision by the
European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) to phase out funding of coal-fired power stations, but called for effective implementation.
EBRD is the third major development finance body to move away from coalbased energy projects.
© WWF-Canon / Mauri RAUTKARI

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
A major UN report calls for a more than tripling of investments in clean energy solutions as the main measure to mitigate climate change. The April report, agreed by the IPCC, finds that investment in clean energy sources will have limited economic impact compared to the very significant costs of inaction.
© Kevin Schafer / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF’s regional campaigns range from action on threatened species such as tigers and sharks, to specific challenges against environmentally-damaging development schemes such as dams.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
As apex predators, sharks are crucially important to the health of the world’s oceans, but are being wiped out on a massive scale – an estimated 100 million killed annually, mostly for shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy. Sharks also breed slowly. WWF offices in the
Asia-Pacific region are campaigning to get their countries to stop importing, selling and consuming shark fin.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Key shark fin importing hubs, Hong Kong and Singapore, report reduced demand for shark fin following campaigns against unsustainable shark killing. HK reported a one-third drop in shark fin imports in 2013 compared to 2012. In Singapore shark fin sales to hotels and restaurants also fell by one-third, and prices fell similarly.
© NC Turner / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has donated $3 million for WWF to help double
Nepal’s tiger population by 2022. WWF’s work with local agencies and communities has helped one tiger population almost triple to 50 tigers. Habitat destruction and poaching are the key threats to the 3,200 remaining wild tigers.
© Tom Munro/JBG Photo

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF has a strong and successful track record of challenging development projects that will cause environmental and social damage. Current campaigns are running against ill-planned projects such as ports, roads and dams in conservation priority areas such as the Amazon, Mekong and Danube as well as World
Heritage Sites such as the Great Barrier Reef and Doñana.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
A declaration opposing construction of the
Xayaburi Dam in Laos on the main Mekong
River has been issued by a consortium representing 39 NGOs and civil society groups including WWF. The dam threatens the huge Mekong fishing industry which supports 60 million people in the region with food and livelihoods.
© WWF-Greater Mekong

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF has joined a legal challenge launched in Australia to stop the dumping in the Great
Barrier Reef (GBR) of 3mill m3 of material excavated for development of a megaport for coal exports. The dumping is also opposed by tourism operators: tourism in the GBR generates $5 billion annually.
© WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Croatia has stopped a proposed scheme that would have canalized a 53 km section of the
Danube River along the Croatia-Serbia border, and destroyed key natural sites including a renowned bird paradise.
© WWF-Canon / Anton VORAUER

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
A WWF campaign against construction of small hydropower in high conservation value rivers in
Rumania has gained success with a government commitment to develop a hydropower policy in line with EU standards.
© WWF-România

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
A 22-year battle to save the Acheloos River in
Greece from a massive water diversion scheme has been won with a decision by the country’s supreme administrative court upholding the objections of WWF and a coalition of NGOs and municipal authorities against the diversion.
© Nikoç Metpou

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Spain’s Coto Doñana is one of Europe’s most valuable wetlands, sanctuary for millions of migratory birds. Purchase of the land in 1963 started WWF on the path to protect thousands of priority places and species worldwide. In this 50th anniversary of Doñana’s creation, WWF remains committed to ensure Doñana remains a vital stopover for migratory birds.
© Jorge Sierra / WWF-Spain

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF’s biodiversity meta-goal is to ensure the integrity of the most outstanding natural places on Earth. This includes the protection of biodiversity in high conservation priority areas, and restoring populations of those species with the highest ecological, economic and cultural value.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF recognised Namibia’s communal conservancy programme as a Gift to the
Earth. Wildlife & habitat have recovered and rural communities gain by managing their own environment. The 79 conservancies cover 16 million hectares, help bring half of Namibia under conservation management and involve 1 in 10 Namibians.
© John E. Newby / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Community support vital to secure endangered species 1:
Mountain gorillas
The 3 countries sheltering mountain gorillas, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Rwanda and Uganda, agreed to protect gorilla habitat spanning their shared borders and maximise the value of tourism for local communities. Gorillabased tourism brings income to local communities, whose support is essential to protect the gorillas .
© WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Community support vital to secure endangered species 2:
Saiga antelope
Anti-poaching action helped more than triple Saiga antelope populations in
Mongolia from 3,000 in 1998 to 10,000 in
2013, and the species has expanded into regions where it was wiped out decades ago.
© Wild Wonders / Igor Shpilenhok / WWF

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Eight south-east Europe countries, from
Albania in the south to Slovenia in the north, have agreed regional cooperation on conservation and to increase protected area by 13% including two new national parks. Conservation goals will be included in national development plans and nature-based tourism promoted.
© Wild Wonders / Ruben Smit / WWF

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
The five countries host to polar bear populations committed to ensure the future of this species as climate change hugely threatens its ice habitat. At a high level forum in Moscow in December,
Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and
US agreed to implement a circumpolar action plan for polar bear conservation.
© WWF / David Jenkins

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Forty-six countries committed to “decisive and urgent action” at the London
Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade in
February with stronger enforcement, reduced consumer demand and sustainable livelihoods for communities living alongside wildlife. Poaching threatens wildlife, rangers and civil society by promoting criminality.
© James Morgan / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Poachers killed 1004 rhinos in South
Africa in 2013 -- a sharp increase from
668 lost in 2012. Recent conservation success in rebuilding rhino numbers is now at risk. South Africa, home to about
80% of Africa’s rhinos, is working with key countries including Viet Nam to counter the illegal trade, through tougher sentences and reduced demand.
© WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF honoured the work of 9 organizations in Nepal with Leaders for a
Living Planet awards for having achieved zero poaching of elephant, rhino and tiger for a second 12 month period. The organizations, including protected area agencies, military and police units, show poaching can be stopped, wildlife crime curbed, and tourism can benefit.
© Akash Shrestha / WWF Nepal

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF has been active in Latin America and the Caribbean since its creation, as this region hosts tremendous biodiversity riches including the world's largest tropical rainforest, the Amazon. To mark the holding of WWF's 2014 Annual Conference in Brazil, a selection of conservation highlights from the region is presented.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Bolivia has committed to wisely manage the
6.9 million-hectare Llanos de Moxos wetland, headwaters for the priority Madeira
River – major southern tributary of the
Amazon River. WWF recognized this globally significant action as a Gift to the
Earth. Bolivia leads the world with almost 15 mill ha of wetlands designated under the
Ramsar Convention.
© WWF-Bolivia / Omar Rocha

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
For four consecutive years, numbers of migratory gray whales are up in the main coastal lagoons of Mexico’s Baja California.
Researchers in one lagoon counted 2017 individuals in February compared to 1178 in
2013 – a 44% increase. Gray whales congregate in the lagoons during the winter breeding season .
© WWF-Canon / Michel Terrettaz

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Successes of WWF’s five year partnership with the Carlos Slim Foundation include
300,000 ha of protected areas, better management of a further million ha, and reduced logging in the core zone of the monarch butterfly reserve. WWF seeks to protect the butterfly migration route across
North America – a major natural wonder.
© WWF-Canon / Kevin Schafer

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Creation by Chile of a new marine protected area (MPA) helps secure a local blue whale population – the largest mammal on Earth – following 15 years of effort by WWF and other organizations to protect the area from salmon farming and damaging development. The MPA is a vital feeding and nursery area for blue whales and several other cetacean species .
© Naturepl.com / David Fleetham / WWF
.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Colombia has created a new coastal protected area to secure important nesting beaches for endangered leatherback and hawksbill turtles, in collaboration with local community councils
© Nils Aukan / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Almost onethird of the world’s beef is produced in Latin America and demand for beef drives forest loss in many of WWF’s priority areas. WWF seeks implementation of the Global Roundtable on Sustainable
Beef principles to achieve less damaging cattle ranching practices through improved land-use and consumer demand.
© Adriano Gambarini/ WWF-Brazil

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
After several years of declining deforestation rates, Brazil’s annual deforestation rate has risen 28 percent.
Forests are cleared for reasons including illegal mining and soy production. The Brazil
Government stated its commitment to reverse increased deforestation and eliminate illegal logging in the Amazon.
© Brent Stirton / Getty images / WWF

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Deforestation of the WWF priority Atlantic
Forest in Argentina’s Misiones Province has decreased by 70% since new regulations in
2010 to stop rampant forest clearance. The landuse law forbids clear-cutting and imposes other restrictions in the remaining forest, reducing annual forest loss from
18,000 ha to 5,300 ha.
© WWF-Canon / Michel Gunther

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF’s second meta-goal is to reduce humankind’s Ecological
Footprint so that we live within the renewable resource limits of our planet. This builds on strong foundations and targets humanity’s carbon, commodity and water footprints which have the greatest impact on biodiversity.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF is partnering with global fashion company H&M and the Mondi Group, one of the world’s largest pulp and paper producers, to implement water stewardship and support wise water management in priority river basins.
© WWF

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
The European Parliament voted in
October for measures to support sustainable fishing and against destructive practices along lines proposed by WWF.
A WWF pilot project shows satellite surveillance of fishing activities can promote legal and transparent fishing operations – especially to counter illegal, unreported and unregulated
(IUU) fishing.
© Mike R. Jackson / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Twentyfive of the world’s major pulp and paper manufacturers, with a combined annual output of 85 million tonnes, joined the WWF Environmental Paper Company
Index 2013 and disclosed the footprints of
40 product categories, reporting on targets and performance. This industry is key to conserving forests.
© Edward Parker / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Atlantic salmon from Norway certified by the
Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is now available for consumers in Japan, a major seafood consumer. Farmed fish now makes up half of all seafood and demand is growing. ASC sets robust standards to minimise impacts on local communities and environments
© WWF-Canon / Jo BENN

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF calls for continued pressure on
Indonesia’s pulp and paper industry to ensure recent commitments on responsible forest management and reduced deforestation are implemented.
Companies such as APRIL and APP can restore critical forest and wetland areas, reduce climate emissions, and compensate affected communities.
© Eyes on the Forest

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Since 1994, the Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC) has certified 180 million ha of forest across 81 countries worldwide as sustainably managed. WWF helped create the FSC to mobilize market forces, including consumer choice, in support of responsible forest management that delivers social and environmental benefits
© N.C. Turner / WWF-Canon

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
The climate crisis is perhaps the ultimate test of WWF’s ability to harness its strengths to leverage political commitment at the scale required by an issue that threatens the world as we know it.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF has recognised as a Gift to the
Earth Denmark’s inspiring leadership and example addressing climate change with its highly ambitious commitments to reduce carbon emissions, phase out fossil fuels, and switch to renewable energy. Denmark has committed to achieve 100% clean renewable energy by 2050 with coal phased out by 2030 .
© National Geographic Stock/Sarah Leen/WWF

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
World leaders agreed a finance package to provide funds for tropical forest nations which are reducing CO2 emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). This addresses the 20% of global emissions caused by forest loss and is a major victory for the world’s tropical forests, forest communities and our climate.
© Brent Stirton / Getty Images

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
A UN climate impact report prepared by the world’s leading scientific authorities in the IPCC shows climate change is is affecting the lives of people worldwide and the ecosystems sustaining life. The report sets a stark choice: cut emissions and face challenging and barely manageable risks - or do nothing and face
© Juan Carlos Del Olmo / WWF a world of devastating risks and impacts.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Perhaps WWF’s greatest strength is its people - the staff and officers who together with our partners strive for a living planet.
And there are many leaders and champions playing key roles outside WWF to achieve conservation success and sustainable development. By highlighting these environmental champions
WWF recognises their contribution, profiles conservation success and inspires others to take up the challenge to secure a living planet.

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Paul Polman, CEO of global consumer group Unilever, has been recognised by
WWF for his global leadership in making sustainability a key issue within the global retail sector with the 2013 WWF
Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal.
Polman led the drive to reduce Unilever’s environmental impact.
© WWF / Jay Louvion Studio Casagrande

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
Nina Jensen, CEO of WWF- Norway has been recognised as one of 200 young global leaders 2014 by the World
Economic Forum for her community involvement and inspired leadership.
WWF paid tribute to former South African
President Nelson Mandela who died in
December. Mandela received WWF’s Gift to the Earth award in 1998 for creation of
Table Mountain National Park.
© Getty Images

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
WWF announced the appointment of Dr
Marco Lambertini as Director General of
WWF International. With 25 years of global conservation leadership, Marco began as a WWF youth volunteer in Italy.
Marco officiated at the opening in March of the new WWF-Korea office which will focus on footprint issues such as climate change, and sustainable fisheries.
© Gemma Parkes / WWF

Conservation Highlights, May 2014
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