"If nature doesn't survive, neither will man"
- Pince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, WWF International President Emeritus
- Felicity Tozer, 13 years old
Physicist.fsnet.co.uk
WWF - World Wide Fund For Nature
Websites:
* WWF's International website *
* WWF's UK website *
* TRAFFIC *
* WWFLearning *
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"If nature doesn't survive, neither will man" - Pince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, WWF International President Emeritus |
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"Unless we change by using renewable energy, recycling and re-using more things, we will slowly destroy the world"
- Felicity Tozer, 13 years old |
The WWF was formed on 11th September 1961, when the plight of the worlds wildlife, and in particular the African wildlife was brought to the front pages. The Daily Mirror ran the first story under the headline "DOOMED - to disappear from the face of the earth due to Man's FOLLY, GREED, NEGLECT", this was to be a "SHOCK ISSUE" of the Mirror aimed at bringing the World's attention on our idiotic acts.
The reason the story came to our attention was that Sir Julian Huxley, a British biologist, visited Africa in 1960 and was shocked to see that "Many parts which, 50 years ago (1910), were swarming with game are now bare of wildlife". The causes were relatively intensive cattle farming, deforestation, and organised poaching.
Victor Stolan wrote to Sir Huxley suggesting that world wife fundraising was needed to tackle the problem. This was the moment that the WWF was conceived. But the fund, then, was to complement the IUCN, World Conservation Union, a scientific conservation organistation set up in 1948.
So the WWF - World Wildlife Fund - set out as the independent fundraiser for the IUCN. The British arm was formed on 23rd November 1961 and was headed by the Duke of Edinburgh.
Under the first constitution the aims of the organisation was "the conservation of wild fauna and flora, water, soils and other natural resources". With the aid of the media, the WWF brought the problems facing our wildlife to the attention of the public. This helped the organisation in that "the WWF has put the wildlife on the map in a way it couldn't have imagined. Before WWF, it wasn't conceived as something that governments should take action about. It is now" - Max Nicholson, a WWF founder.
From the early years the WWF has evolved into a global environmental network. It has changed its name, from World Wildlife Fund to World Wide Fund For Nature, to reflect the wider aspects of its work, because the WWF ethos is that you can't save species unless you protect the habitats. And you can't do that without addressing the causes of habitat loss such as climate change, poverty and resource use.
Today's chairperson, the Hon Sara Morrison, says: "WWF's vision is a world in which people live in harmony with nature. To reach that, people everywhere have to be accountable for the resources they use."
Thanks to the early pioneers in the WWF and the many thousands of supporters, who in the UK raise £40,000,000 a year, the Daily Mirror's headline was proved to be wrong.
"A lot of species have been brought back from the brink of extinction, but there are an awful lot still on the brink. People are very conscious of maltreatment of individual animals, but sometimes they don't see the much more important thing - the conservation of the species as a whole, and how that species fits into the mosaic of the natural environment. Whether you believe in evolution or God [the view God created all things - creationism], the fact is that we've got a natural environment that works in a particular way. It is up to us all to protect it - and there's no time to lose!"
- Duke of Edinburgh, WWF's International President Emeritus
Where has the £1,800,000,000 gone in the 40 years?
Just a few of the places its gone to:
1972 - Tigers - WWF launches Operation Tiger, its conservation plan to save the worlds tiger
population from extinction.
In the last 60 years three sub-species of tiger have become extinct and the remaining five remain perilously close to extinction. The main threats being poachers after the skins and other parts for Chinese medicine.
The WWF work protecting tigers, working with and cooperating with local people to help them benifit from the conservation, and the WWF also actively work for international trade agreements to ban trade in bones, skins, and other animal parts.
The efforts are paying off, in the 1930's there were only 20 or 30 Siberian Tigers in the wild, now there are nearly 450. Still too few, but far better than 20!
1973 - Polar Bears - WWF pioneers an international agreement to protect Polar Bears
In association with the IUCN, WWF persuades the five artic countries to sign the International Polar Bear Convention to promote scientific study and controled hunting. By 1983 the numbers had doubled to 2,000; now that figure is 30,000!
1976 - Wildlife Trade - WWF forms TRAFFIC, a network to monitor trade in wildlife
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has been signed by 139 countries with the intention of controlling and, in some cases, banning international trade in animals and animal parts, thus depriving the poachers of their market.
1991 - Antartic Treaty - WWF is instrumental in saving the last great pristine wilderness on Earth
WWF played a significant role in bringing about the 55-year international moratorium on prospecting, oil drilling, and mining in the Antarctic.
1999 - Education - WWF achieves a landmark goal with the introduction of sustainable development into the English national curriculum
This means all curriculum subjects now explore social, economic and environmental aspects and how they influence both the natural and humand-made environments.
2002 - Wildlife Trade
The facts:
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