Who are the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)?

Established in 1961, World Wildlife Fund operates in more than 100 countries working for a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.

We are currently funding around 2,000 conservation projects and employ almost 4,000 people across the whole planet.

The organization is almost unique in that it has that local presence to global presence - talking to tribes of Baka pygmies in the central African rainforests, through to face-to-face discussions with institutions such as the World Bank and the European Commission.

But at every stage the World Wildlife Fund works with local people, it works with partners, it works with its donors. Nothing - absolutely nothing - would have been possible or remain possible without them.


What does the WWF do?
The World Wildlife Fund is one of the world's largest and most experienced independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in more than 100 countries.
WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:

• conserving the world's biological diversity

• ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable

• promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption

Species -

Nobody knows how many species are being lost each year, nor the total number of species that exist.

Habitat Loss: What we have... The biologists estimate there are between 5 and 15 million species of plants, animals, and micro-organisms existing on Earth today, of which only about 1.5 million have been described and named. The estimated total includes around 300,000 plant species, between 4 and 8 million insects, and about 50,000 vertebrate species (of which about 10,000 are birds and 4,000 are mammals). ...and what is being lost

Today, about 23% (1,130 species) of mammals and 12% (1,194 species) of birds are considered as threatened by the IUCN.

Why are species disappearing?

The Global biodiversity is being lost much faster than natural extinction due to changes in land use, unsustainable use of natural resources, invasive alien species, climate change and pollution among others.

Land conversion by humans, resulting in natural habitat loss, is most evident in tropical forests and is less intensive in temperate, boreal and arctic regions. Pollution from atmospheric nitrogen deposition is most severe in northern temperate areas close to urban centres; and the introduction of damaging alien species is usually brought about through patterns of human activity.

Species loss is also compounded by:

• the ongoing growth of human populations and unsustainable consumer lifestyles
• increasing production of waste and pollutants
• urban development
• international conflict.

So what has changed?



Today, there are more humans and more threats.

From the beach, where poachers may wait with a knife for her shell, leather and meat, to the sea where dangers range from the very large (fishing nets) to the invisible (life-threatening pollutants), this cycle is breaking down - fast. Along with turtles, other species such as rhinos, tigers, gorillas and countless other animals and plants share a similar fate.

Facts that speak for themselves:

In the Pacific, leather-back turtles face their extinction. Giant pandas have lost half their habitat in the past few decades. More than 90% of tiger populations disappeared in the 20th century: today, only around 5,000
individuals remain. And javan and northern white rhinos have become two of the most endangered large mammals on Earth.

What we do:
World Wildlife Fund has been combating such negative trends for more than four decades. The organization focuses particular attention on a small number of threatened and endangered species which the organization calls flagship species.

These species act as ambassadors for a natural habitat, issue, campaign or environmental cause. By focusing on, and achieving conservation of that species, the status of many other species which share its habitat – or which are threatened by the same threats - may also be improved.



The History of World Wide Fund:

In just over four decades, the World Wildlife Fund has become one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations.

With almost five million supporters distributed through-out five continents all over the world, World Wildlife Fund has a global network active in over 90 countries and can safely claim to have played a major role in the evolution of the international conservation movement. Since 1985, World Wildlife Fund has invested over US $1,165 million in more than 11,000 projects in 130 countries. All these play a part in the campaign to stop the accelerating degradation of Earth's natural environment, and to help its human inhabitants live in greater harmony with nature.















For more information on the World Wildlife Fund, please visit this web site: http://www.panda.org/index.cfm