Species Conservation

Turtles and Whales

/ ©: WWF-Canon / Cat Holloway
Hawksbill turtle, Fiji. Hawksbill turtles live on coral reefs where their favourite food, sponges, are most plentiful.
© WWF-Canon / Cat Holloway
The WWF Network focuses particular attention on a small number of globally important flagship species including the giant panda, tiger, marine turtles, great apes, whales, elephants and rhinos in both Africa and Asia. WWF South Pacific works with two of the flagship species, whales and turtles, which feature prominently in Pacific culture.
Our objectives are working with communities to ensure sustainable traditional harvesting of turtles, reduce commercial harvesting and incidental fatalities of turtles. WWF also promotes the establishment of Whale Sancturies and research into the status of whale populations in the Pacific and the process that threaten them.
WWF Flagship Species - Read more>>

Gaharu (Eaglewood)

Gaharu (Eaglewood). / ©: WWF
Gaharu (Eaglewood).
© WWF
Papua New Guinea's lowland forests could be the last frontier for the world's substantial wild stocks of Gaharu (Eaglewood). In PNG, the high local prices for top-grade gaharu suggest that, if managed correctly, it could provide local communities with a viable eco-enterprise option to replace the promised benefits of industrial logging agreements.
WWF Papua New Guinea Programme conducts sustainable harvest training for communities that harvest the wood, surveys to determine the distribution of Gaharu in Hunstein, Kerama, Libano and Bosavi. A government policy framework on Gaharu has been established, with minimum trade prices, and a cooperative action plan.
Deep in the perfumed forests of Papua New Guinea>>

Coconut Crabs

Giant coconut crab. / ©: WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY
Giant coconut crab. Coconut or Robber crab, is a world-wide protected species. A large terrestrial hermit crab that can climb trees and that feeds on carrion and vegetation. The crabs inhabit oceanic islets and atolls as well as on the coasts of islands in the tropical Indo-Pacific area. With intensified harvesting of coconuts and environmental change a rapid decline in the number of has been recorded in the past two decades.
© WWF-Canon / Martin HARVEY
Mitiaro Island is one of the 15 remote sparsely populated islands that make up the Cook Islands in the Central Pacific. Its inhabitants rely heavily on the marine life for subsistence and the survival of their economy. When the elders of Mitiaro Island realised that population of the coconut crab (u'nga) was depleting they sought WWF's assistance.
Through drafting a strategic management plan for the coconut crab, coconut conservation is being implemented by community representatives and resource owners. The community has now taken a more proactive role in implementing its own Management Plan for crab conservation.

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
Measure your footprint

see all WWF gifts

Building a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.

Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence.