Posted on April, 30 2011

As WWF staff and supporters gathered in Zurich last Friday to celebrate 50 years of conservation, guest of honour Archbishop Desmond Tutu – a long-time champion of fair and sustainable development – warned we live in a world threatened by greed and consumerism.

"Our desire to consume everything of value, to extract every precious stone, every drop of oil and every creature from the sea knows no bounds," said the Archbishop.

"This quest for profit subverts our present and our future. There are too many people who are getting better and better at exploiting the environmental heritage which belongs to us all. We are not heading for an environmental disaster - we have already created one."

"We are meant to live in a world which we share, and we are meant to live as members of one family," said Archbishop Tutu.

"And yet whenever we look around, isn't it devastating to see the inequities and levels of poverty? Our population is increasing, environmental degradation is increasing. How do we resolve these inequities when all we are told is growth, growth, growth?"

Enough to share

However the Archbishop sounded an optimistic note and said he believed humankind could learn to live within its limits. "There is enough for everyone – but not enough for our greed," he said. "There's enough for us all to live a full life – so why do we want to destroy the only home we have?"

Celebrating 50 years of conservation success

Since 1961, WWF has been instrumental in getting more than a billion hectares protected, several species brought back from the brink of extinction, and raising more than one billion dollars in conservation finance. The organisation is now supported by more than five million people and is active in over 100 countries on five continents.

More on WWF's 50th anniversary




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