Forest Conversion Programme News
22 May 2008
Basic food crops dangerously vulnerable
Bonn, Germany, May 22, 2008 – As a deadly new strain of Black Stem Rust devastates wheat harvests across Africa and Arabia, and threatens the staple food supply of a billion people from Egypt to Pakistan, the areas where potentially crop and life-saving remnant wild wheat relatives grow are only minimally protected. » Read more
17 Apr 2008
Extinct Javan elephants may have been found again - in Borneo
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia: The Borneo pygmy elephant may not be native to Borneo after all. Instead, the population could be the last survivors of the Javan elephant race – accidentally saved from extinction by the Sultan of Sulu centuries ago, a new publication suggests.
If the Borneo pygmy elephants are in fact elephants from Java, an island more than 1,200 km (800 miles) south of their current range, it could be the first known elephant translocation in history, providing scientists with critical data from a centuries-long experiment. » Read more
25 Mar 2008
APP irregularities threaten massive climate and tiger impact
Pekanbaru, INDONESIA – One of the world’s biggest carbon stores and a key tiger habitat are threatened by a new logging road in Riau Province, Sumatra, according to an investigative report published today.
An absence of permits and other irregularities suggest that the new road cutting into Kampar peninsula is likely to be illegal, says Riau’s Eyes on the Forest group, a coalition of local NGO network Jikalahari, Walhi Riau, and WWF-Indonesia. » Read more
14 Mar 2008
More of Africa urged to boost rhino numbers
After bringing Africa’s black rhinos spectacularly back from the brink of extinction one of the world’s most successful conservation programmes is to celebrate its first decade by seeking to extend its operations to more of Africa.
“What we know from looking back at the last ten years is that sustained conservation can and does work,” says George Kampamba, WWF International’s African Rhino Programme Coordinator.
» Read more
26 Feb 2008
Pulp and palm oil the villains in Sumatra's global climate impact and local elephant losses
Pekanbaru, Sumatra: Turning just one Sumatran province's forests and peat swamps into pulpwood and palm oil plantations is generating more annual greenhouse gas emissions than the Netherlands and rapidly driving the province's elephants into extinction, a new study by WWF and partners has found. » Read more
22 Jan 2008
Search for "night time spinach" threatens wildlife, local livelihoods
Meat hungry refugees are sustaining a thriving wildlife poaching trade in Tanzania, according to a report by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.
» Read more
12 Nov 2007
WWF statement on Greenpeace's Cooking the Climate report
WWF’s statement on Greenpeace’s “Cooking the Climate” report » Read more
WWF statement on Greenpeace's Cooking the Climate report
WWF’s statement on Greenpeace’s “Cooking the Climate” report » Read more
12 Jul 2007
WWF applauds new Body Shop sustainable palm oil pledge
The Body Shop International to become the first cosmetics and toiletries retailer to introduce sustainable palm oil into the global beauty industry.
» Read more
19 Jun 2007
WWF signs MoU with palm oil producers in Honduras to protect biggest reef in the Americas
After several years of working with palm oil producers in Central America, an agreement signed this week seeks better agricultural practices that will benefit one of the world's largest coral reefs and the people who depend on its resources.
» Read more
01 Jun 2007
Tasmanian government must end landclearing and forest conversion
WWF-Australia welcomes the decision announced today by Forestry Tasmania and Gunns Limited to end forest conversion, but cautioned that native vegetation on other land remained at risk.
» Read more
