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Gland, Switzerland: The UN High-Level Panel for Global Sustainability call for a radical redesign of the global economy for a healthy environment and social well-being deserves a wide audience and the full attention of all governments before this year’s Rio+20 Earth Summit, global environment organization WWF said today. Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future worth Choosing, more than a year in preparation by a panel co-chaired by South African president Jacob Zuma and Finnish President Tarja Halonen, is a useful successor to Our Common Future, the 1987 Brundtland Report that became the reference text on sustainable development and the basis of...

 WWF launches today new online guidance for responsible paper buyers. The site checkyourpaper.panda.org/paperbuyingtips has been developed for purchasers of paper who want to get an overview of what they can do to help protect forest biodiversity, the natural environment and human rights. The "6 steps to responsible purchasing"  summarize in one place all tips and tools developed by WWF on how buyers of paper can make "green" paper choices and work with their suppliers towards reducing the environmental footprint of paper production and consumption. The online guide is launched just prior to Paperworld taking place 28-31 January in Frankfurt, one...

A new WWF commissioned study highlights the impact European fisheries are having globally by fishing outside of European waters. The report entitled Spatial expansion of EU and non-EU fishing fleets into the global ocean 1950 to the present clearly shows that European Union (EU) fishing fleets have expanded beyond EU waters exploiting new fishing ground since 1980 and increasing the pressure on fish stocks. The study for the first time allows viewers to easily see the global expansion of fishing activity, from 1950 to the present, through an animated map. It shows that European vessels are now traveling to the furthest...

The international conservation community has strongly condemned a judgment passed by a court in Yokadouma East Region of Cameroon, sentencing four suspects caught with 44 ivory tusks to one month imprisonment and a fine of FCFA 4467000 (US$ 10000). Going by the court judgment, the convicts, who have spent exactly one month in pre-trial detention, would be immediately released once they pay the fine. The 1994 Cameroon Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries law lays down a one to three-year jail term and/or a fine of 3 to FCFA 10 million for killing of protected animals. The court judgment, passed on Friday, January...

Wellington, New Zealand - The number of oiled wildlife reported dead is a tiny fraction of the true figure killed by the Rena oil spill, WWF-New Zealand said today. The conservation organisation said that the tragedy should act as a wake up call for Government, yet its recent proposed legislation for New Zealand’s offshore environment does little to protect wildlife from future oil spills.   Maritime New Zealand reported yesterday that 45 dead oiled birds have been collected by wildlife recovery teams since the beginning of the week when the stern section of the storm-battered Rena began to sink, releasing more oil...

Gland, Switzerland: A skipjack tuna fishery managed by eight Pacific Island nations has been certified as sustainable to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard, a move WWF says will promote the future health of tuna stocks in the region, bring major benefits to the fishing industry, and have positive repercussions for consumers around the world.  The certification has been awarded conditionally to the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) purse seine free-schooling skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) fishery, managed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) Convention. The PNA free-school skipjack catch equates to an annual harvest of 275,000 metric...

WWF International`s Lasse Gustavsson, Executive Director, Conservation, made the following statement in support of the Friends of Fish governments, a group of developed and developing countries pushing for the elimination of subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing: "On behalf of WWF and our more than five million members worldwide, along with our global network of conservation scientists and solutions-oriented policy advocates, we would like to thank the Friends of Fish governments for their steadfast commitment and leadership on the critical issue of fisheries subsidies.  "Over the past ten years, and even longer in the case of the earliest Friends of...

Pekanbaru, Sumatra – A document released today by WWF and partners confirms that a supplier to paper giant Asia Pulp and Paper is clear felling natural tropical forests the company designated as tiger sanctuary. The document throws into doubt APP claims on Tuesday that current clear cutting activities of supplier PT Ruas Utama Jaya (RUJ) were taking place narrowly outside rather than inside the Senepis Tiger Sanctuary. The APP document, “Proposal for Rationalization of Senepis-Buluhala Sumatra Tiger Conservation Area”, shows Sinarmas Forestry (APP) and RUJ executives signing off on sanctuary boundaries that clearly put current large scale clearing inside the boundaries....

In times of financial austerity, the ineffectiveness of fisheries aid is brought into sharp focus as is the overall cost to society of both fisheries subsidies and broader fisheries management failures. The European Commission and EU decision-makers have an unparalleled opportunity in the ongoing CFP reform process and the preparations for the next EU budget period 2014-2020 to take effective and necessary steps in order to meet the goals of increasing resource efficiency and halting biodiversity loss by 2020. Anything less will contribute to the continued decline of European and global marine...

Celebrating 20 Years of Advancing Conservation through Responsible Forestry and Trade  

Marine turtles are to the Coral Triangle what jewels are to a crown: both indispensable and marvelous. In the case of turtles, they are also highly vulnerable. Check out this infographic to discover the simple aspects of turtles' life cycle, and the threats they face in the ocean.

Selected Members of the EU Parliament have called for an increase op possible de minimis aid to the fisheries sector, mainly to provide fuel subsidies to the fisheries sector at a time of rising fuel prices. This is in strong contradiction with the EU's commitment to eliminate environmentally harmful subsidies but, more importantly, granting more public money to the fisheries sector without a clear link to delivering public goods would send a perverse signal during the discussion on the new Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). NGOs and the OCEAN2012 coalition oppose an increase of the de minimis ceiling....

On 12 April 2012, WWF launched the results of an EU citizen’s poll on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) at the European Parliament. The poll is timely - it comes as the European Commission is about to handover its reform proposal to the European Parliament and Member States for approval. Citizens from 14 EU countries were asked what they thought about sustainable fish and Europe’s fisheries policy. The poll results are impressive, especially for Southern European countries. WWF presented the results of the poll to MEPs showing them their constituents care about sustainable fish and CFP reform. WWF also...

WWF today launched a global benchmarking tool for pulp and paper products at PaperWorld in Frankfurt, Germany. Check Your Paper is an online database to help paper buyers find products with the lowest environmental impact. The tool rates the environmental quality of the paper-making process for a given product, including how well forests supplying fibre are managed, use of recycled fibre, fossil CO2 emissions, waste going to landfills and water pollution from mills. The fibre in all papers featured on the audited list on the website must come from known, legal sources.  Paper products posted on the official list have...

The Green Business Network aims to provide tools and support to businesses willing to work towards a sustainable future for the Heart of Borneo. By working together we can secure the natural resources on which businesses rely and develop an international reputation for the Heart of Borneo as a place to do green and sustainable business. We aim to work with: Businesses operating, financing or sourcing materials in the HoB: The GBN is dedicated to communicating the information that your business needs to know; how will the government define and enforce ‘sustainable land use’ in your sector?...

GFTN's guide to legal exports, Exporting in a Shifting Legal Landscape, is aimed at companies that currently export, or intend to export, forest products to the US market. It is designed to allow companies to assess their own performance and offers advice on how they can meet the needs of their customers in the US—who are required to know that the forest products they import have been legally harvested and traded.  The guide is also of benefit to forest service, customs officers and other governmental officials who serve as enforcement officers in the national forest law and related legislation that apply to...