In March, the ministers responsible for
environment in Austria, Croatia, Hungary,
Serbia and Slovenia signed a declaration
committing the five countries to establish a
transboundary UNESCO Biosphere reserve
along the Drava, Mura and Danube rivers.
This paves the way to create the world’s
first five-country protected area (PA)
and, at 800,000ha, the largest riverine
PA in Europe. The signing – attended by
EU Environment Commissioner Janez
Potoznik and held as part of Hungary’s EU
presidency – was recognised by WWF with
a ‘Wild Heart of Europe’ certificate, to help
build recognition of this important new
PA which is visited by 250,000 migratory
waterfowl annually and is vital for the socioeconomic
well-being of the culturally rich
transboundary region.
Conservation 2011: Biodiversity
New transboundary riverine protected area
Mixed news on mountain gorillas
In recent months there’s news of a significant
increase in the largest mountain gorilla
population in the three contiguous national
parks in the Virunga mountains shared by
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
Rwanda and Uganda. The survey counted
480 gorillas, an increase of 100 since the
last count in 2003. This has been achieved
despite widespread civil unrest, and much
credit is due to the bravery of the forest
rangers who risk their lives to protect the
gorillas and the park. Tragically eight rangers
and soldiers were killed in an attack on their
vehicle in January in DRC. And in a move in
the right direction to prevent oil exploitation
damaging this unique and fragile area,
permission for oil exploration was suspended
subject to a strategic environmental
assessment.
Marine protection in Mozambique
WWF and Mozambique have agreed ways to
boost marine conservation and sustainable
fisheries management along the country’s
3,000km coastline. WWF will provide
guidelines for achieving certification for
well-managed fisheries and methods to
reduce bycatch. Fisheries are a key element
in addressing poverty and securing foreign
earnings. Linked to this agreement, WWF is
working with fisheries to achieve certification
of the wild-caught Mozambique shrimp, and
with the government to establish the proposed
1,7 million ha Primeiras and Secundas
Archipelago marine protected area – which
will be the largest in Africa and is planned
for later this year. This builds on extensive
recent conservation success in Mozambique,
highlighted by the creation of the Quirimbas
National Park in 2002.
Conservation of rhino still a priority
WWF has been closely associated with
rhino conservation since its founding. Our
effort to increase the number of Indian
rhinos continues with the translocation
of two females to Manas National Park in
Assam, India. These translocations aim
to build strong new breeding populations.
In Java, Indonesia, camera traps recently
caught footage of critically endangered
Javan rhinos. Two females, each with a calf,
provide hope for the species, which likely
numbers less than 50. In Africa, a renewed
poaching wave driven by demand for horns
in Asia threatens hard-won gains. Since we
launched the African Rhino Programme in
1996, rhino numbers have almost doubled to
17,400 white, and 4,800 black. But in South
Africa in 2010, 333 rhino were lost - almost
one a day – plus a further 87 this year.
Suspected rhino gang held
An alleged poaching syndicate appeared
in a South African court in early April on
charges concerning the killing of rhino and
trafficking of their horns. The 11 suspects
include a safari tour operator, his wife, two
veterinarians, an animal clinic employee,
a pilot, a professional hunter and farm
workers. Police investigators believe the
group could be responsible for the deaths
of hundreds of rhinos in recent years. “We
anticipate a rigorous prosecution that will set
the bar for future cases,” says WWF African
Rhino Programme Coordinator Dr. Joseph
Okori. Because of its severity, it is believed
the case will be remanded to a higher court
for trial in 2012.
Poaching escalation demands WWF action
Five men in Gabon have been arrested
accused of possessing endangered species
products, including a gorilla head and
hands, 12 chimpanzee heads, and 12 leopard
skins. “This is highly disturbing. It’s one of
the largest seizures of great ape body parts
in Central Africa in the last 10 years,” said
David Greer, WWF African Great Apes
Manager.
WWF and TRAFFIC experts met in Nepal
in January to discuss how best to tackle the
huge increase in poaching which threatens
several of WWF’s flagship species, such
as rhino, great apes and Asian big cats
especially the tiger. Building on mechanisms
such as the Species Action Plans and the
TRAFFIC network, WWF will launch an
overarching initiative to tackle this menace.
Hope for the saola
Indochina’s elusive saola, a recently
discovered and critically endangered relative
of antelopes, has new hope for survival with
the establishment of a dedicated nature
reserve on the border of Vietnam and Laos.
The saola was discovered only in 1992 by
a joint WWF and Vietnam Department
of Forestry survey. Threatened by illegal
hunting for its horn, the saola population
is believed to range from a few dozen to a
few hundred. The establishment of three
protected areas completes a WWF vision
for a continuous protected area landscape,
traversing the Annamite Mountains from
Vietnam’s east coast into Laos, that will
protect the important forests of the region,
ensure the survival of the saola, and promote
adaptability of the Annamites ecoregion to
climate change.
WWF returns to Doñana
In January, an international mission
including IUCN, UNESCO and the Ramsar
Secretariat, supported by WWF, visted the
Doñana National Park in southern Spain
to review critical threats to the park’s
ecological integrity. Doñana – the first
protected area WWF helped establish in
1969 – is a crucial stopover wetland for
millions of birds travelling huge distances
annually on the east Atlantic flyway between
northern Europe and southern Africa. Key
threats include dredging of the Guadalquivir
River, construction of an oil pipeline and
ground water abstraction for farming,
especially strawberries. The visit has already
prompted release of a land use plan for
strawberry farming, promised in 2007, and
has demonstrated global concern for the
embattled wetland.
Ramsar turns 40
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands – the
world’s first global environmental treaty –
celebrated its 40th anniversary in March
in the Iranian city of Ramsar where it was
founded. A personal note was read out from
Dr Luc Hoffmann, a WWF founder, who
was key to creation of the Convention. It has
played a crucial role protecting wetlands
worldwide: the Ramsar List of Wetlands of
International Importance contains over
1900 sites, covering nearly 188 million ha –
and WWF has helped protect almost
half this area.
The Romanian Government is designating
the 115,666 ha Iron Gates Natural Park as the
sixth Ramsar wetland, along 134 km of the
Danube River’s gorges. Romania will host
the Ramsar COP11 in June 2012.
Partnerships multiply conservation value
The MAVA-funded Protected Areas for
a Living Planet project is demonstrating
that support for CBD implementation
has leveraged spectacular conservation
results in five ecoregions over the last 12
months. Russia’s regions committed to
avoid unsustainable activities in 175 of 566
important marine and terrestrial areas
identified as requiring protection in the
national gap analysis published by WWF in
2009. The Carpathians raised some CHF 15
million in co-financing and 1.1 million ha of
new PAs were gazetted in the Altai-Sayan
and Caucasus. In 2011, the final year of the
project, PA4LP is prioritising fundraising
to deliver CBD goals, through donor
engagement and by replicating the approach
in other WWF Priority Places.
Norway values nature over oil
Following high level representations from
WWF on the importance of avoiding oil
and gas activity in highly sensitive and
biodiversity rich ecosystems such as the
Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja archipelagos,
the Norwegian government announced its
decision to prevent an environmental impact
assessment – a precursor to oil/gas activities.
The decision shows the government values
nature before oil development and it is
possible to leave valuable oil resources in the
ground – especially where this helps protect
the jobs of key sectors such as fishing and
tourism. The Lofoten area holds unique coldwater
reefs, pods of sperm whales and killer
whales, some of the largest seabird colonies
in Europe and the spawning grounds of the
largest remaining cod stock in the world.
