Conservation Highlights 2008

Take a look at some of our proudest achievements to protect biodiversity and reduce humanity’s footprint in 2008 - and a glance forward to some of what we hope to achieve in 2009.

The Arctic

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Peter Prokosch
Svalbard's pristine Arctic vistas.
© WWF-Canon / Peter Prokosch
(The Arctic Programme)
  • At the European Seafood Expo in Brussels – the world’s largest annual seafood show – WWF congratulated the governments of Norway and Russia for acting together to reduce illegal landings of cod by more than 50 % in the Barents Sea, home to the world’s last large cod stock.
  • This was the result of concerted efforts by WWF, industry and governments.
  • Illegal fishing in the Arctic – home to 70 % of the world’s white fish stock – is a threat to the sustainability of these fisheries, and a priority of the Arctic programme.
  • Also at the Expo, WWF helped secure the announcement by the Russian pollock fishery that it would enter the MSC certification process. Once certified, this will mean more than half the world’s white fish catch is following MSC standards for sustainable fishing.

Amazon

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Roger LeGUEN
Hoatzin, Opisthocomus hoazin, French Guiana.
© WWF-Canon / Roger LeGUEN
  • Significant progress has been made with Brazil’s Amazon Region Protected Area (ARPA) programme, a major partnership including WWF that was launched in 2003 to quadruple Brazil’s Amazon Protected Area cover to 50 million ha.
  • Achievements to date include 32 million ha of new PAs, improved management and a conservation fund. The Brazilian government also reported on the value of ARPA’s PA network in reducing carbon emissions from forest loss and degradation.
  • An increase in the ARPA Protected Area target to 60 million ha has recently been agreed, and in June Brazil announced the creation of an additional 7 million ha of protected forests.

Borneo

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Peter Hofland
There are an estimated 6,900 orang-utans in Sebangau National Park, Borneo, Indonesia.
© WWF-Canon / Peter Hofland
(The "Heart of Borneo" Programme)
  • This year, the three governments of the island of Borneo jointly announced the launch of their national action plans for the 24 million ha of surviving forest in the Bornean highlands which are to be conserved and sustainably managed.
  • The plans include transboundary conservation areas, wildlife corridors, forest restoration and joint agreement on combatting illegal trade in wildlife products are crucial to the delivery of WWF’s Heart of Borneo targets.

Certifying Fisheries

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Ezequiel Navío
AIDCP fishing practises for yellowfin tuna have reduced dolphin by-catch in the Pacific Ocean by 98 per cent over the last 10 years.
© WWF-Canon / Ezequiel Navío
  • The world’s first shrimp and tuna fisheries are now MSC-certified, and more than 125 fisheries – 8% of the world’s edible seafood catch – are engaged in the MSC programme, with 35 certified.
  • 42%  of the world’s wild salmon catch and the world’s prime whitefish catch is now MSC-certified – signaling that sustainable fisheries are powerful incentives for other fisheries to improve or lose market share.
  • Adding weight is the decision of the Dutch retailers association, covering4,500 outlets, to buy only MSC seafood by 2011.
  • Certified sustainable products, including MSC, are an important element of WWF’s Market Transformation programme and its market-based, solutions-oriented approach.

Climate Savers

A solar panel is one way of helping curb climate change. / ©: WWF-Canon/ Adam OSWELL
A solar panel is one way of helping curb climate change.
© WWF-Canon/ Adam OSWELL
  • The Climate Savers programme brought a group of leading multinational companies such as Sony, Nokia and Nike, together to present the Tokyo Declaration - the most far-reaching call to action yet to emerge from the business community.
  • Twelve business leaders announced that the world must reduce carbon emissions by more than 50 % by 2050, and emissions must peak and start declining within 10-15 years to keep global warming below a 2° C threshold.
  • New members include Hewlett Packard, and Coca Cola.

Climate - Coming Up

/ ©: The Fiji Times
WWF South Pacific Regional Climate Change Programme delivers postcards from Tuvalu to the US Embassy and the Australian High Commission.
© The Fiji Times
  • WWF will focus on the accelerating destruction of polar environments due to climate change at an historic Polar Summit, due to be held in the US in April 2009 where members of the Arctic Council will meet with members of the Antarctic Treaty.
  • Through Earth Hour on 28 March 2009, WWF aims to mobilize hundreds of cities, thousands of companies and hundreds of millions of individuals, their families, friends and colleagues, to send a single, powerful and uncompromising message that the Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December 2009 must agree a fair, science-based and effective global climate deal.
  • WWF will match that mass movement appeal with a campaign highlighting the opportunities that combating climate change can bring, profile the people who lead the change, and those who could make a difference.
  • WWF will join with 100 partner organizations to issue a truly global call.

Congo Forest Summit

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Martin Harvey
Unless urgent action is taken by the EU, the illegal timber trade in Europe could contribute to large scale depletion of timber in places like the Congo Basin. Forest canopy in the Congo Basin rain forest, Central African Republic.
© WWF-Canon / Martin Harvey
  • WWF is helping the DRC Government together with COMIFAC, the regional secretariat of forest ministers of the Congo Basin to stage a high-level summit in 2009 to mark the 10th anniversary of the WWF-organized Yaounde Summit.
  • Key announcements can include progress with DRC’s 15 million ha PA commitment, regional policies on mining, hydropower and bushmeat and Protected Areas for primates.

Convention on Biological Diversity

/ ©: UNEP
CBD logo
© UNEP
(CBD)
  • The two-yearly CBD Conference of the Parties (COP) – held in Bonn, Germany, in May 2008 – provided WWF with a high-level platform to inspire governments to make far reaching conservation commitments including Brazil, DRC, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, plus pledges from more than 65 ministers to stop deforestation.
  • Donor governments were inspired to make funding commitments to match conservation pledges. The German Government committed 500 million Euro over the next five years for forest conservation initiatives.
  • Planning is already underway for a further series of effective conservation announcements at the CBD COP 10, to be held in Japan in October 2010 – 2010 has been designated the International Year of Biodiversity by the UN General Assembly.

Coral Triangle

Coral Reefs in the Coral Triangle / ©: WWF Canon
Coral Reefs in the Coral Triangle
© WWF Canon
  • Spanning Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste, this extraordinary area holds the richest concentration of iridescent corals, fish, crustaceans, mollusks and marine plants in the world.
  • The heads of state of the six nations of the Coral Triangle have committed to work together to conserve that extraordinary resource. A joint workplan is now being developed and the leading donors – including ADB, GEF and USAID – have pledged U$500 million in support.
  • This collaboration has the potential to transform resource management in the region, helping guarantee a future for the marine ecosystems, their inhabitants and the livelihoods that depend on them.
  • At the World Oceans Conference in Manado, Indonesia in May 2009, WWF is planning to stage a heads-of state summit to launch the Coral Triangle Initiativeand announce major conservation commitments and achievements. These should include new PAs for turtles, tuna, and cetaceans, together with commitments to joint resource management.

Democratic Republic of Congo

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Russell A. Mittermeirer
Bonobos, found only in the Congo Basin rainforests of the central Democratic Republic of Congo, are one of several great ape species under threat from bushmeat hunters and habitat loss.
© WWF-Canon / Russell A. Mittermeirer
(Green Heart of Africa Programme)
  • This year, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced a process to create 15 million ha of new Protected Areas.
  • This will protect the largest block of forest in the Congo Basin as well as important populations of species including gorillas, bonobos and elephants.
  • In June, the Government of the Republic of Congo also declared 5.9 million ha of Grand Affluents wetlands at the confluence of four tributaries of the Congo River to be protected under the Ramsar Convention.
  • In the past decade WWF has played a role in protecting 92 million ha of wetland sites under Ramsar and other mechanisms – almost 10% of the world’s freshwater habitat.

Earth Hour

/ ©: WWF
Earth Hour
© WWF
  • In support of a robust new climate treaty and inspired by the example of Sydney in March 2007, Earth Hour went global in 2008 with more than 50 million people switching off their lights for an hour in a symbolic and powerful message to decision makers.
  • A group of 18 highly-motivated youth leaders recruited from polar countries joined a WWF cruise around Svalbard Archipelago to witness the effects of accelerating climate change. Since returning they are already mobilizing their own communities and reaching out to politicians on the need to stop climate change.
  • The climate crisis is perhaps the ultimate test of WWF’s ability to harness its unique strengths to leverage political commitment at the scale required by an issue that threatens the world as we know it.

Greater Black Sea basin

/ ©: WWF-Austria
Drava River before the river regulation and gravel extraction work began.
© WWF-Austria
  • The governments of Hungary and Croatia have agreed to establish a 250,000 ha Transboundary Riverine Protected Area along the stretches of the Drava, Mura and Danube rivers, which they share.
  • WWF is discussing the next step with both governments. This involves an extension into Austria, Slovenia and Serbia, creating a 400,000 ha riverine Protected Area shared by five countries that would be the biggest in Europe

Indonesia

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Alain Compost
Over the last 50 years, Indonesia has lost over 40 per cent of its forest cover.
© WWF-Canon / Alain Compost
  • The Indonesian government will no longer permit forest conversion for agricultural crop plantations such as oil palm.
  • Measures to halt carbon emissions due to deforestation and degradation were discussed by WWF with senior Indonesian officials right up to the time of the announcement in Barcelona at the IUCN World Congress.
  • This provides WWF with a powerful platform to follow up with the government to implement the commitments.

Living Planet Report

Moving image showing that a number of planet Earths and these shrinking into the only one that we ... / ©: NASA / WWF
How many planets do we need and how many have we got?
© NASA / WWF
  • The core message – that we are continuing to use the Earth’s renewable resources at an unsustainable rate – warned that humanity is approaching an “ecological credit crunch” and the report outlined wedge analyses for avoiding this.
  • Linking closely with concerns over the global financial crisis, the LPR was covered widely in the business media.

The Mediterranean

/ ©: WWF-Mediterranean / P.Guglielmi
Vis, Dalmatian coast, Croatia.
© WWF-Mediterranean / P.Guglielmi
The MAVA- funded WWF campaign to achieve regional conservation in the Dinaric Arc – a Mediterranean priority – has brought the six governments of this former conflict zone together to agree a joint approach to conservation
and sustainable development.

The governments have announced national and transboundary conservation commitments, including 13 new PAs and extensions to nine others.

Mediterranean bluefin tuna

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Ezequiel NAVÍO
The 2007 quota for Mediterranean bluefin tuna is more than double that recommended by scientists to avoid the high risk of collapse.
© WWF-Canon / Ezequiel NAVÍO
  • Just ahead of the crucial meeting of ICCAT, the body responsible for the fishery, it was described in anindependent report commissioned by ICCAT as “an international disgrace” and immediate closure was recommended.
  • WWF’s campaign has mobilized huge support from governments, fishing and scientific organizations, as wellas NGOs and IUCN, all calling for urgent action to prevent the collapse of this iconic and hugely valuable fishery.

New Protected Areas

/ ©: Nick Nadeau
The view from my boulder, Madagascar.
© Nick Nadeau
  • Madagascar has doubled its PA cover, to 4 million ha, since the 2003 World Parks Congress. The conservation foundation established with WWF help in 2005 has already raised US$50 million to fund the management of these PAs.
  • In New Guinea, 700,000 ha of new PAs have been added in Papua and Papua New Guinea.
  • Viet Nam established two new PAs to protect watershed forests and the rare saola wild ox discovered only in 1992.
  • Two new PAs in the Russian part of the Amur-Heilong region further protect the Siberian tiger which has recovered to 500 individuals

Paraguay Atlantic forests

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Edward Parker
The Atlantic Forest has extemely high biodiversity, but is also one of the most endangered rainforests on earth.
© WWF-Canon / Edward Parker
  • The Government of Paraguay announced a firm commitment to achieve zero net deforestation by 2020, including an extension of the Forest Conversion Moratorium by a further five years, beginning in 2009. This moratorium is supported by WWF as a priority for the Atlantic forests.
  • Together with mechanisms such as payment for services to compensate landowners for maintaining intact forest, this initiative has achieved an 85% drop in deforestation since 2005, when Paraguay had the world’s second highest deforestation rate

Rhino protection

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Martin Harvey
A black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) in Zimbabwe.
© WWF-Canon / Martin Harvey
  • WWF celebrated the 10th anniversary of the African Rhino Programme which has helped build healthy populations of both the black and white rhino across four range states – Kenya, Namibia, South Africaand Zimbabwe. Numbers have doubled in 10 years for both black and white rhinos, increasing to 4,240 and 17,500 respectively.
  • Adult Asian one-horned rhinos were successfully translocated from a densely populated reserve to re-establish a new population in Manas National Park in India’s Assam State.This is a key step in a joint programme of the Assam Government and other partners with WWF to achieve a minimum population of 3,000 rhino in seven Assam PAs.

Rice

Planting rice in the rice fields of the west coast, Sri Lanka. / ©: WWF-Canon / Mauri RAUTKARI
Planting rice in the rice fields of the west coast, Sri Lanka.
© WWF-Canon / Mauri RAUTKARI
  • SRI would enable India to meet its grain objective of 220 million tonnes by 2012 instead of 2050, mitigating the need for more dams.
  • The partnership of WWF, agricultural, academic authorities and rice researchers is urging SRI expansion to take pressure off freshwater ecosystems in Indonesia and China

Smart Fishing

/ ©: Monica Echeverria / WWF-US
Circle hooks (right) have proven to be more turtle-friendly than traditional "J" hooks.
© Monica Echeverria / WWF-US
  • In more than a million fisher-led trials, circle hooks have been successful in reducing turtle bycatch by upto 90% providing a solution to bycatch that leverages partnerships and creates the groundwork towards sustainable artisanal long-line fishing in the region.
  • This is one of the ultimate targets of WWF’s Smart Fishing tuna strategy.

Sumatra

Portrait of a young Orang-utan (<i>Pongo pygmaeus</i>). / ©: WWF-Canon / Alain COMPOST
Portrait of a young Orang-utan (Pongo pygmaeus).
© WWF-Canon / Alain COMPOST
  • In an historic commitment at the IUCN World Congress in Barcelona, Sumatra’s 10 governors and four government ministries (Environment, Forests, Interior and Public Works) committed to a sustainable development model.
  • This agreement commits Sumatra to protect areas with high conservation values, restore important ecosystems on the island and re-establish connectivity between forests and habitats.
  • Surviving forest sits atop carbon-rich peat soils which must be protected to avoid significant carbon emissions further worsening climate change.

Tigers

/ ©: Vladimir Filonov
© Vladimir Filonov
  • A key element of WWF's tiger work is the elimination of the threat from trade.WWF lobbying and advocacy with TRAFFIC helped obtain a complete ban on trade in tiger parts, including from captive tigers, and a call from CITES to China to phase out tiger farms.
  • Working with the relevant authorities in China, WWF has produced a series of maps identifying important habitatto be protected for tigers, including corridors to increase connectivity of habitats and protected areas.
  • Across the Amur, Russia has just established a PA for theFar East leopard, feared to number only 30, building on its success with tigers.
  • To mark the Year of the Tiger in 2010, a summit of heads of state of tiger range states is proposed to help build the political will required to protect surviving tiger populations and restore these to healthy levels.
  • WWF will aim to mobilize key tiger range states to commit to improved protection; increased connectivity of habitat especially across borders, for example China/ Russia, Thailand/Malaysia and Nepal/India; recovering prey populations; and stopping the threat from trade.

Transforming markets

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Hartmut Jungius
Harvesting palm oil fruits.
© WWF-Canon / Hartmut Jungius
  • New partnerships, promoted by WWF, are setting new environmental standards for key commodities and promoting responsible corporate purchasing of key products including palm oil, soy, timber, cotton, sugarcane, and bio-fuels.
  • WWF is working with industry, brands, financial institutions, retailers, and NGOs to ensure that growing demand for these commodities does not destroy the environment.
  • Several of WWF’s corporate partners – IKEA, Coca-Cola, and Unilever – are leading the movement to buy only from certified sources, reducing our footprint on the world’s special places.

Yangtze wetlands

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Yifei ZHANG
Jiangjiazui Port, West Dongting Lake, Hunan: the Yangtze Basin is also densely populated and heavily utilised for transpor
© WWF-Canon / Yifei ZHANG
  • More than 100 delegates including local and international VIPs,
  • WWF China, and media witnessed the signing of an agreement on effective management and wise use of the wetlands.
  • These 20 linked Nature Reserves, totalling 1,200,000 ha, represent diverse habitat of crucial support to local communities.

Zero Deforestation

/ ©: Joseline NYANGOMA / WWF EARPO
Excessive use of fuel wood for distilling waragi has led to deforestation.
© Joseline NYANGOMA / WWF EARPO
  • WWF obtained pledges from more than 65 government ministers for their countries to achieve net zero deforestation by 2020.
  • Deforestation, particularly in the tropics, is the third largest source of greenhouse gasemissions, generating almost 20 per cent of all carbon emissions worldwide.
  • These pledges – which included priority forest countries such as Indonesia and DRC, as well as developed countries including those of the EU and Japan – are now being followed up individually to develop implementation plans.

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