WWF

HighlightsIssue 2, May 2005

The last few months have been a busy and exciting time for the conservationcommunity. We supported Russia in its decision to ratify the Kyoto Protocol byworking closely with Russian officials, non-governmental organizations, and thebusiness community. We also played an active role at a conference of theConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora andFauna (CITES), which saw many threatened species given much-neededprotection.

Some other big “wins” include a commitment by several countries, particularly inSouth America and Africa, to protect millions of hectares of forested areas, whichnot only helps conserve irreplaceable biodiversity, but also improves theconditions of local communities living in or near the forests. And we arecontinuing to play a key role in protecting and sustainably managing the CongoBasin, which was the focus of the recent Brazzaville Heads of State ForestSummit. WWF lobbying efforts also saw the introduction of bans on destructivelong-line and bottom-trawling fishing in the high seas.

So much has been done, but, as always, so much more needs to be done in ourefforts to conserve the world’s biological diversity, and to build a future in whichhumans live in harmony with nature – none of which could be achieved withoutyour ongoing support. On behalf of the WWF family, I thank you for that supportand look forward to working with you well into the future.

Dr Claude Martin,Director GeneralWWF International

WWF Highlights is a biannual newsletter giving an overview of WWF’sconservation successes in the past six months. More successes can be found atwww.panda.org/successes

Index>> Page 1: Who speaks for the trees...

Conserving forests means conserving lifeWWF and forest certification

>> Page 2: ...and for the seas?Trawling to a haltOcean protection in a post-tsunami world

>> Page 3: Survival of the speciesWWF at CITESOther good news for species

>> Page 4: A climate under siegeA changing climateThere are always alternatives

WWF Highlights - Issue 2, May 2005 Index

Who speaks for the trees...

Conserving forests means conserving lifeHome to two-thirds of all plant and animal species, forests are the hubof biological diversity. That is why WWF has for years focused itsefforts on protecting the most significant and threatened forests. In thepast six months alone, millions of hectares of forests throughout theworld have become protected.

In Brazil, WWF contributed to the creation of a 3 million-hectare mosaicof protected areas in Amazonas State. Shortly thereafter, BrazilianPresident Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced the establishment oftwo other new major protected areas in the Amazon — Terra do MeioEcological Station and the Serra do Pardo National Park — totalling3.7 million hectares. WWF had been pressing for these new protectedareas for several years as a way of easing conflicts over logging andland use, protecting the rights of local residents, and conserving theregion's irreplaceable biodiversity.

In Peru, WWF was involved in the establishment of the 2.7 million-hectare Alto Purús Reserved Zone in the Amazon. With financial andtechnical support from WWF, Peru is also reforming its forestconcession bidding processes in the Peruvian Amazon.

In southern Chile, WWF helped inaugurate the new Valdivian CoastalReserve — 59,691ha of coastal temperate rainforest. WWF is one ofthe organizations managing the reserve and working with localpartners on developing community projects.

And in Africa, at the initiative of WWF, six governments of the CongoBasin region met at the 2nd Heads of State Forest Summit, held inFebruary in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, and agreed to protect andsustainably manage more than 7 per cent of the basin, home to theworld’s second-largest rainforest after the Amazon.

Conserving forests is not just about protected areas, it is also aboutimproving the way forests are managed. WWF’s work on forestcertification – particularly its support for the Forest StewardshipCouncil (FSC) it helped to create in 1993 – has led to greaterrecognition of the importance of environmentally and socially-soundwood products and has engaged producers, consumers, andretailers in an effort to make the timber industry more responsible.

WWF and forest certification• Pallisco, Decolvenaere, and Transformation Reef Cameroon becamethe first three timber companies in Cameroon to apply for membershipof the Central Africa Forest and Trade Network (CAFTN), a part ofWWF's Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN).

• An innovative WWF project promoting sustainable wood carvingsfrom "good woods" achieved Kenya's first FSC certification.

• WWF worked with Futuro Forestal to help it become the firstPanamanian forest company to commit to sustainable forestmanagement, selling tropical hardwoods, such as teak and amarillo,according to FSC certification standards.

• A 7,250ha forest area in Acre, Brazil, managed by the São Luiz doRemanso Extractive Reserve Rubber Tappers Association, receivedFSC certification for several timber species.

• Bauhaus AG, one of Europe’s leading "Do it Yourself" retail stores,became a member of the German WWF Wood Group following a WWFe-mail campaign aimed at getting the company to ensure its woodsupply is not from illegal sources or from endangered primeval forests.

• Canadian forest products company Tembec was awarded an FSCcertificate for its forest management practices in British Columbia.

Wood carvings in Kenya made fromneem rather than over-harvested

hardwoods like ebony can now carrythe Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

logo. The FSC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization,providing standard-setting, trademarkassurance, and accreditation services

to companies and organizationsinterested in responsible forestry.

FSC’s mission is to promoteenvironmentally appropriate, socially

beneficial, and economically viablemanagement of the world’s forests.

© Good Woods Project / David Maingi

The lack of veteran trees anddeadwood in Europe's forestsis a major cause of biodiversityloss, according to a new reportby WWF. The report,Deadwood – Living Forests,reveals that a third of forest-dwelling species rely on deador dying trees, logs, andbranches for their survival.WWF is calling on Europeangovernments, forest owners,and industry to help conservebiodiversity by increasing theamount of deadwood inmanaged forests by up to20–30 cubic metres perhectare by 2030.

Links on panda.org/highlights

>> Report: Deadwood –Living Forests

>> Brazil's Apui mosaic >> Peru's Alto Purús

Reserved Zone >> Chile's Valdivian Coastal

Reserve >> Brazzaville Forest Summit >> WWF Gift to the Earth:

Central Africa >> WWF Gift to the Earth:

Indonesia >> Kenya and FSC >> Panama and FSC >> Brazil and FSC >> Canada and FSC

WWF Highlights - Issue 2, May 2005 Page 1

...and for the seas?

Trawling to a haltThe oceans are a vast productive expanse from which we draw manyresources, but fishery resources are finite. WWF is working with fishingorganizations, scientists, and governments to ensure that the world’sfisheries are healthy and sustainably managed. Eliminating bottomtrawling — a method of fishing in which heavily weighted nets towed byboats are dragged across the ocean floor — in sensitive habitats isone of WWF’s objectives to achieve this:

• WWF’s work in protecting deep-sea ecosystems in the MediterraneanSea provided evidence to the General Fisheries Commission for theMediterranean (GFCM) to ban bottom trawling at depths beyond1,000m. The GFCM also banned the use of driftnets in theMediterranean, making all 2.5 million km² of the sea driftnet-free.

• Years of lobbying by WWF led to a ban on bottom trawling and long-line fishing in five vulnerable deep-sea areas in the Northeast AtlanticOcean. WWF continues to lobby European Union members forprotection of deep-sea fish stocks, cold-water corals, and seamount(undersea mountain) habitats.

• Other WWF lobbying efforts to protect fragile deep-sea ecosystemsled to the European Council adopting a regulation that temporarilybans the use of bottom-trawling fishing vessels in areas around theAzores, Canary Islands and Madeira.

" The European Council decision represents a temporarysolution pending a more permanent measure. Only theadoption of a permanent ban will be seen as a success. "Stephen Lutter, WWF's Northeast Atlantic Programme Coordination Office.

Ocean protection in a post-tsunami worldIn the wake of the Sumatran earthquake and the subsequent tsunami,WWF offices in the affected countries — India, Indonesia, Malaysia,and Thailand — initially focused on the humanitarian aspects of thetragedy. WWF International Director General Dr Claude Martinestablished an emergency fund, primarily aimed at supporting WWF’spartner organizations in the region.

WWF has also been active in the region's "green reconstruction"

• In Thailand, WWF is working with dive operators and individual diversto develop codes of conduct for "best practice" standards, preventillegal trade in souvenirs from the sea, report any illegal activities inmarine parks, and support legal and policy reform to improve coral reefprotection and management.

• In Indonesia, WWF is developing Green Reconstruction Guidelinesfor Aceh and is working with other NGOs to ship sustainably growntimber to the region.

• WWF contributed to a United Nations Environment Programme(UNEP) report — After the Tsunami: Rapid Environmental Assessment— highlighting the opportunity to rebuild in a manner that preservesnatural resources for the benefit of the local communities who werehardest hit by the disaster.

" With an urgent need to rebuild livelihoods and infrastructuresacross many parts of the Indian Ocean, 'green' reconstructionis needed to encourage the various roles and long-term valuesthat intact coastal habitats can play. "Isabelle Louis, Director, WWF Asia-Pacific Programme

Coral reefs play an important role inprotecting vulnerable coastal regions

from tsunamis.© WWF-Canon / Cat Holloway

• A new concept for largecarrier ships has beendeveloped by WWF'scorporate supporter WalleniusWilhelmsen Lines,demonstrating its commitmentto environmentally friendlyshipping. The concept shipemits close to zero emissionsand carries no ballast water –seawater used to stabilize aship, but often a primarymeans of introducing alienspecies into the marineenvironment.

• A WWF action aimed at theWestern Australiangovernment led to a landmarkdecision to increase protectionof the Ningaloo coral reef, oneof the world’s mostspectacular natural wonders.

• WWF announced thewinners of its InternationalSmart Gear Competition –aimed at developing fishinggears and methods thatreduce bycatch of fish andmarine mammals.

Links on panda.org/highlights

>> WWF International SmartGear competition

>> Wallenius WilhelmsenLine's renewable energy-driven ship

>> P@ssport: Ningaloo coralreef protection

>> Northeast Atlantic Oceantrawling-ban

>> Mediterranean bottomtrawling ban

>> Op-Ed: Helping people byhelping the environment

WWF Highlights - Issue 2, May 2005 Page 2

Survival of the species

WWF at CITESBiologists estimate there are between 5 and 15 million species ofplants, animals, and micro-organisms on Earth, of which about 300,000are plant species and 4,000 mammal species. Today, about 23 percent of mammals are considered threatened. Global biodiversity isbeing lost due to changes in land use, unsustainable use of naturalresources, invasive alien species, climate change, and pollution,among others. But, all is not lost...

The last meeting of the Convention on International Trade inEndangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), held inBangkok, Thailand in October 2004, saw many species given the extraprotection they need. Successful lobbying efforts at the conference byWWF and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, saw severalkey species listed for protection on the Convention’s appendices.

• The coral reef fish, humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), thetropical hardwood, ramin (Gonystylus spp.), and the great white shark(Carcharodon carcharias) were listed in Appendix II.

• The Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) was uplisted fromAppendix II to Appendix I.

• Other highlights include the rejection of Japan’s proposal to downlistMinke whales from Appendix I, and the commitment of the Associationof South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to address their region’s wildlifetrade crisis.

CITES regulates international trade in species by including specieson one of three Appendices. Appendix I bans commercial trade inspecies threatened with extinction. Appendix II regulatesinternational trade in species whose survival in the wild may bethreatened if levels of trade are not regulated. Appendix III is a list ofspecies included at the request of a member state seeking thecooperation of other countries to help prevent illegal exploitation.

Other good news for speciesWWF, together with partner organizations, built an "eco-wall" inRwanda’s Virunga National Park to prevent further deforestation ofAfrica's oldest national park. The construction of the wall willdemarcate the boundary of the park, preventing farmers andpastoralists from further encroaching upon the home of theendangered mountain gorilla. Ground-breaking work by conservationgroups, including WWF, has seen the mountain gorilla population growfrom 624 in 1989 to approximately 700 today.

Expanding its conservation efforts in the Far East, WWF is cooperatingwith North Korea to assess endangered species and forests. Followinga WWF expedition to North Korea’s forested areas along the Chineseand Russian border, WWF-Russia signed a protocol with the NorthKorean Public Committee for Free Trade and Economic Zone outliningfuture cooperation, including tiger and leopard conservation.

In Indonesia, WWF persuaded Balinese Hindu high priests to stopsacrificing sea turtles for religious ceremonies. The priests agreed tofind alternatives to help reduce the illegal turtle trade in Bali, whichsees about 500–1,000 turtles imported to the island each month.

A WWF campaign in the Indian Himalayas successfully re-routed aroad rally away from sensitive high-altitude wetlands, an importantwaterfowl breeding site for the bar-headed goose (Anser indicus) andfor the threatened Black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis).

" CITES has achieved realresults for conservation.The overwhelming supportgiven to proposals thatendorse the regulation oftrade in key marine andrainforest species is a clearsign that governmentsfavour measures that willultimately have a positiveimpact on livelihoods ofrural, forest, and coastalcommunities. "Dr Susan Lieberman, Director, WWFGlobal Species Programme

Irrawaddy dolphin© WWF-Canon / Alain Compost

Mountain gorilla© WWF-Canon / Martin Harvey

Amur tiger© WWF-Canon / Vladimir Filonov

Links on panda.org/highlights

>> WWF at CITES >> Feature: Irrawaddy

dolphin >> Eco-wall in Virunga

National Park >> WWF in North Korea

WWF Highlights - Issue 2, May 2005 Page 3

A climate under siege

A changing climateThe world is warming faster than at any time in the last 10,000 years.As global warming tightens its grip, its effects are being felt from thehighest mountain peaks to deep in the oceans, and from the Equator tothe poles. WWF is working across the globe to reduce carbon dioxideemissions in the power sector – the largest contributing sector toclimate change – and pushing industrialized countries to reduce theircurrent levels of carbon dioxide emissions by 10 per cent below 1990levels by 2010.

For over a decade, WWF has played a key role in convincing countriesto sign and ratify the Kyoto Protocol – an amendment to the UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) thatcommits countries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions and othergreenhouse gases – particularly Russia, which was the last countryneeded to bring the agreement into force on 16 February 2005. WWF-Russia developed strong contacts with Russian businessmen, NGOs,scientists, and government officials that directly influenced the Duman,the Russian Parliament in coming to its historic decision.

WWF lobbyists in Europe were also successful in getting the EuropeanCouncil to agree to set a new benchmark for international efforts tofight climate change that go beyond the current lifespan of the KyotoProtocol, which ends in 2012. EU leaders have agreed thatindustrialized countries should reduce their greenhouse gas emissionsby up to 30 percent by 2020 compared to emissions in 1990. Keydecisions in the next few months include an agreement to strengthenenergy-efficiency legislation and to increase the share of renewableenergy sources to 25 per cent by 2020.

" Russian ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and theagreement’s entry into force demonstrate the political will,globally, to tackling this enormous and urgent problem. Thechallenge now is to ensure it is implemented and enforced. "Jennifer Morgan, Director, WWF Climate Change Programme

There are always alternativesWWF is also focusing its efforts on renewable energy, such as water,wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal, to minimize dependence onfossil fuels and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

• WWF, in collaboration with private sector partners, is developing windfarms in the northern Philippines which will deliver 30MW of energy.WWF estimates that the country could save US$2.9 billion in fossil-fuelimports over the next ten years if its vast renewable energy resourcesare expanded.

• WWF efforts in Nepal saw a solar-panel lighting system installed for193 households in the village of Tapehthok, which lies within theKangchenjunga Conservation Area. And a micro-hydro projectsupported by WWF’s Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) Programme hasbrought electricity to locals in the Khursane region.

World's largest solar power facility, Mojave Desert, US. © WWF / Kevin Schafer

WWF's DetoX Campaign isfocusing on Members of theEuropean Parliament andgovernment ministers tostrengthen REACH(Registration, Evaluation andAuthorization of Chemicals), adraft EU law that should leadto the identification andphasing out of a number ofharmful chemicals. As part ofthe campaign, WWF hasconducted European-wideblood tests onparliamentarians, ministers,celebrities, and ordinarycitizens to give people an ideaof the hazardous chemicalscontaminating our bodies.

• A WWF report – The tip of theiceberg: Chemical contaminationin the Arctic – shows that air,river, and ocean currents, driftingsea-ice, and migrating wildlifespecies carry industrial andagricultural chemicals fromdistant sites to the polarenvironment.

• Another WWF report – AnOverview of Glaciers, GlacierRetreat and Subsequent Impactsin Nepal, India and China –shows that Himalayan glaciersare among the fastest-meltingglaciers in the world due to theeffects of global warming, andwill result in water shortages forhundreds of millions of peoplewho rely on glacier-dependentrivers in China, India, and Nepal.The report also states thatglaciers in the Himalayan regionare receding at an average rateof 10–15 metres per year.

Links on panda.org/highlights

>> Report: Retreat ofHimalayan glaciers

>> Report: Chemicalcontamination in the Arctic

>> WWF and Kyoto Protocol >> EC sets new climate

change benchmark >> Solar panels in Nepal >> Wind farms in the

Philippines >> WWF's DetoX Campaign >> WWF's PowerSwitch!

Campaign

WWF Highlights - Issue 2, May 2005 Page 4

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WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's naturalenvironment and to build a future in which humans live in harmonywith nature, by:

conserving the world's biological diversityensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainablepromoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

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