Posted on November, 15 2006

Gland, Switzerland – With over one billion stamps printed and close to 400 issues by the end of October 2006, the sale of stamps from the WWF conservation stamp collection has raised over 20 million Swiss Francs in royalties and has become an important source of funding for WWF's conservation activities.

The WWF stamp collection is the largest thematic collection in the world. Since 1983, some 1,500 different stamps — all produced by Groth AG of Unteraegeri (Switzerland) — have been issued in 211 countries.

Proceeds from the sale of the stamps have helped fund a range of activities — from the conservation of endangered species to helping forest and coastal-dwelling communities improve their standards of living through sustainable use of their natural resources.

Each year, up to 18 different countries have issued stamps featuring their own threatened animals. Most recently, Australia has featured different whale species, Democratic Republic of the Congo the hippo, Croatia the little tern, Gibraltar the devil ray and Montserrat the mountain chicken frog.

Each stamp set includes four postcards illustrated with photographs of the species, four first-day covers with sketches by well-known wildlife artists, and an illustrated text about the species written by scientists. Available in ten languages, the text describes the species’ habitats, characteristics, behaviour, relationship with humans and other animals, as well as the main threats and protective measures taken for their conservation. In addition, albums are provided for easy storage of the collection.

In November 1998, WWF awarded Hans Groth the Gold Panda Award, the global conservation organization's highest environmental prize.

For further information:
Julie Debisschop, WWF International
Tel: +41 22 364 9318
E-mail: jdebisschop@wwfint.org

Hans Groth, Groth AG
Tel: +41 41 750 4572
Email: hans.groth@groth.ch