WWF - 50 years of Achievements.

WWF

50 years of achievements

1960’s: In its first decade, WWF raised over US$5.6 million – an enormous sum in the 1960s. this money was distributed as grants to support 356 conservation-related projects around the world – from wildlife surveys to anti-poaching efforts to education. The popular fundraising appeals also, for the first time, brought conservation into the public arena.

1962: Research station established in the Galápagos Islands. Worked with Ecuadorian government for preserving the Galápagos’ unique species. Together with other work by WWF and partners, the passing of the Galápagos Special Law in 1998 and the establishment of the Galapágos Marine Reserve, the second-largest marine reserve at the time. Importance of awareness-raising has contributed in no small part to the current global level of environmental consciousness.

1963: Premier school for park management opens. A WWF grant helped establish the College of African Wildlife Management in Tanzania, which has since trained more than 4,000 park rangers and wildlife managers from over 50 countries in Africa.

1965: Southern white rhino range extended subsequent successful introduction and reintroduction of the subspecies to several other countries , and increase number drastically form 20’s to 1700+.

1969: Land bought in Spain’s Guadalquivir Delta marshes. Purchased by WWF and the Spanish government, this land became Coto Doñana National Park – one of the world's first wetland reserves and an important site for migratory birds.

Protected areas have formed one backbone of WWF’s work, with the organization supporting the establishment of over 1 billion hectares of protected habitat around the world to date.

1970’S:While WWF remained focused on species and habitat preservation throughout the 1970s, its approach began to change. As part of this, WWF stepped up its engagement with governments and international environmental treaties and started to tackle some of the drivers behind environmental threats.

1971: Intergovernmental treaty for wetlands. 18 governments signed the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, which remains the world’s only international environmental treaty for a single biome. WWF continues to support the convention, particularly by encouraging governments to list new Ramsar sites. Indeed, WWF’s work at different levels has contributed to about 75% of new sites since 1999.

1972: Large-scale tiger conservation. WWF’s Operation Tiger was the first-ever global campaign to save a species across its range. One of its first outcomes was the launching of India’s Project Tiger, where a six-year national tiger conservation plan and 15 new tiger reserves saw the county’s tiger population increase by 30% in just seven years.

1975: Rainforest conservation starts : WWF’s Tropical Rainforest Campaign was the first-ever conservation campaign based on an entire biome rather than a single species or individual area of habitat.

1976: Regulation of trade in endangered species. In 1976 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) founded TRAFFIC, a programme to monitor trade in wildlife and wildlife products under the agreements set by CITES . Since its founding, WWF has enabled TRAFFIC to become a global network with offices on 6 continents, protecting species as diverse as orchids and mahogany to lizards and birds.

For example, a ban on international trade in ivory by CITES and ongoing investigations into the illegal ivory trade by TRAFFIC have helped eliminate some of the world’s major ivory markets.

This led to reduced elephant poaching in Africa and the recovery of some populations following dramatic declines in the 1970s and 1980s.

1980’S :

By its 20th anniversary, WWF had supported protected areas on five continents covering 1% of the Earth’s surface and contributed to the continued existence of a number of species.

WWF began more heavily promoting the ideas of its founders: that conservation was in the interest of people and needed to be integrated into, rather than viewed as in conflict with, development. These concepts laid the foundation for sustainable development, a philosophy that now permeates conservation, development, and even corporate strategies. The 1987 Brundtland Report which coined the term “sustainable development”.

1980: First global sustainable development strategy

Published by WWF, IUCN and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and endorsed by the UN Secretary General, the World Conservation Strategy was the first document to integrate conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.

1981: Research into toxic chemicals

1982: Moratorium on commercial whalingThe Save the Whales campaigns of the 1970s made whales – victims of centuries of rampant, uncontrolled hunting – one of the most well-known and visible ‘faces’ of bad environmental governance.

1986: Integrating conservation with development.

1989: New mechanism for financing conservation.

1989: National giant panda conservation plan. As the first conservation organization invited to China, WWF has been involved in giant panda conservation since 1979. just 1,000 individuals survived in isolated populations ,now the giant panda population has increased to an estimated 1,600.

1990’s: The 1990s saw more widespread acceptance of the global links between the environment, human activities and human welfare – as well as the value of biodiversity and the emerging threat of climate change. WWF also began to more actively engage with business and other new partners to promote sustainable resource management.

1992: Treaty to stem biodiversity loss.

1993: Community-based natural resource management Launched by WWF and USAID, the LIFE project empowers rural Namibian communities to actively manage their natural resources. the communities have legal rights over the wildlife on their land – and can directly benefit from their natural resources through tourism, managed hunting and other activities. With wildlife now seen as a community resource to be protected and managed instead of a threat or competition, poaching has significantly decreased and many animal populations have increased.

1997: Global efforts to curb carbon emissions begin. WWF helped design, and played a pivotal role in the ratification and entry into force of, the Kyoto Protocol, the world’s first international agreement to limit carbon emissions in industrialized countries.

1998: First Living Planet Report in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network, the Living Planet Report is one of the world's leading, science-based analyses of biodiversity health and humanity’s pressure on nature, or Ecological Footprint.

2000’s

WWF vastly upscale its ambition, aiming for transformational changes that lead to lasting conservation, sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles.

2002: Large-scale initiative to save the Amazon. WWF worked with the government of Brazil and other partners to launch a 10-year initiative to preserve 12%, or 60 million ha, of the Brazilian Amazon.

2003: Showing the economic value of nature US$30 billion - Coral reefs , including tourism, fisheries and coastal protection annual economic value of the world's wetlands was estimated at US$3.4 billion through their provision of food, freshwater, building materials, water treatment services and erosion control services

2009: Securing a future for the world’s richest marine hotspot. In May 2009 Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste – committed to a comprehensive plan to conserve and sustainably manage coastal and marine resources within the Coral Triangle region, a vast area hosting 76% of the world’s coral species and the world's largest tuna fisheries. Incorporating WWF’s goals for the Coral Triangle,

2010: The world’s largest environmental activism event

Earth Hour - 2007 involved 2.2 million homes

Earth Hour 2010, which reached about one in 6 people on the planet