WWF - Conservation and environmental news & publications: New Zealand

Polar bears and penguins 'just tip of climate change iceberg'

2009-04-06

New evidence from the North and South Poles indicates that time is running out for the world’s leaders to respond to climate change.

As ministers from Arctic Council and Antarctic Treaty states hold their first ever joint meeting in Washington on April 6 celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Antarctic Treaty, WWF is challenging the ministers to mark the occasion by affirming their commitment to climate change action.

The conservation organisation provided the ministers with compelling recent evidence from both the north and south poles that clearly demonstrates global temperature increases must be kept well under two degrees Celsius.

“A global average temperature rise of 2 degrees is clearly too much for the poles,” says Rob Nicoll, Manager of WWF’s Antarctic and Southern Oceans Initiative.

“Scientists are already unpleasantly surprised at how quickly the impacts of warming such as sea ice loss are showing up in the polar regions, exceeding recent predictions.”

Global average warming due to climate change since the late 1800s is showing severe impacts at less than one degree, as the Arctic is warming at about twice the global average and parts of the Antarctic are also outstripping the global average.

The polar regions themselves have profound and not yet fully understood impacts on climate globally, and there are fears that polar tipping points could trigger abrupt change around the world.

A forthcoming report on Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research is expected to up previous estimates on Antarctica’s expected substantial contributions to sea level rises.

Marine food chains of global significance are also under threat from warming in the Antarctic. “Ice shelves the size of small countries are crumbling away and the latest evidence from the Antarctic is showing that the effects of global warming there are increasing in magnitude,” said Mr Nicoll.

“The penguins may feel it first, but the rest of us won’t be far behind.”

The warming of the Antarctic is not yet as acute as the Arctic, but it is yet a further indication that the meltdown of our polar caps continues apace. If world leaders fail to act on this information the effects will be calamitous.

“The world is caught in a polar pincer movement,” said Neil Hamilton, Director of WWF International’s Arctic Programme.

“What is happening at the poles will control the world’s climate. If we do not stop the poles from melting, the whole world will feel it, in the form of runaway warming and rising waters.”

Right now the Catlin Arctic Survey expedition is sampling the thickness of Arctic sea ice. The expedition, partly sponsored by WWF, is likely to confirm scientists’ fears that the older, thicker ice is disappearing. This has led them to predict that the summer sea ice could disappear within a generation, leading to catastrophic consequences for the entire ecosystem, everything from single celled animals to whales.

“The Ministers meeting today in Washington have a special responsibility to the world,” said Mr Hamilton.

“They are the custodians of the poles, and this would be an opportunity for them to show the world that they are ready to step up and shoulder their responsibility to keep the poles frozen, by committing to taking urgent and effective action at the Copenhagen climate meeting this December.”

Please note: WWF will hold a briefing for Washington reporters immediately outside the State Department once the ministerial is over. There will also be two teleconference briefings for reporters outside Washington, details of these are on a separate media advisory. Reporters who have not received the advisory can contact the people listed below.

For further information:

Joe Pouliot, Director of Climate and Policy Communications, WWF US
Cell: 202-476-9919
Email: joe.pouliot@wwfus.org

Clive Tesar, Head of Communications, WWF International Arctic Programme
Tel: (+1) 613-232-2535
Mobile: (+1) 613-883-3110
Email: ctesar@wwf.no

Dr. Neil T. M. Hamilton, Director, WWF International Arctic Programme.
Mobile +47 9300 5660
Email: Nhamilton@wwf.no

Rob Nicoll, Manager, WWF Antarctic and Southern Oceans Initiative
Mobile: +61438938764
Email: rnicoll@wwf.org.au

More background is available at panda.org/arctic.

Battered sharks get critical listing

2008-12-05

Rome, Italy: Four commercially valuable shark species have just been recognized as being “of conservation concern” under the international Convention on Migratory Species.

The listing applies to northern hemisphere populations of spiny dogfish, a common ingredient of food staple fish and chips, and global populations of Porbeagle shark and both species of mako shark.

Intense debate saw southern hemisphere populations of spiny dogfish excluded from the listing on the agreement that a comprehensive population review will be conducted for the next meeting of the convention.

"WWF welcomes this listing by the CMS--the first listing by an international conservation convention of commercially utilized shark species,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, director of WWF International’s Species Programme.

“This shows that the world community now recognizes that sharks are over-fished, declining, and worthy of the kind of conservation concern afforded to other species."

The sharks have been listed under Appendix ll of the convention, which supports co-operation between range states on conservation plans for listed species. For migratory species it focuses attention on the status of the species and can help trigger other regional and international initiatives in fisheries management and trade.

The sharks, which are among the most valued of shark species for both meat and fins, suffer from excessive levels of targeted fishing as well as being bycatch casualties of other fisheries such as purse seining and long-lining for tuna.

The slow growth, late maturity, small litters and long lives of sharks make them vulnerable to over-exploitation. Porbeagle sharks gather together, making them especially easy targets for fishing – a critical factor in the collapse of their populations in the 1970s and continuing failure to demonstrate any lasting recovery.

Listing of all four species across their entire ranges was proposed but the porbeagle shark and the compromise on spiny dogfish were only agreed after intense negotiation.

WWF has also raised concerns over declining populations of Mediterranean bluefin tuna – subject of a recent International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) decision to continue fishing at well over scientifically recommended levels – as a species of concern before the migratory species convention.

Pacific tuna face risky fisheries meeting

2008-11-27

Yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna fisheries in the western and central Pacific also face collapse if a forthcoming management meeting doesn't dramatically change the way they are harvested, WWF warned today.

The call follows this week's disastrous decision by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) which discarded recommendations from its own scientists and a high level internal review to continue with what the review labelled “a travesty of fisheries management” widely regarded as “an international disgrace”.

“We have to face the possibility that fishing nations will drive the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) will come up with a similar outcome when it meets in Busan, Korea, in December,” said Peter Trott, Fisheries Program Manager for WWF-Australia.

“With tuna, it seems we are just not learning – we have lost the fisheries of the North Sea bluefin, the southern Bluefin, the West Atlantic bluefin collapsed and is failing to recover and the Mediterranean Bluefin is now well on its way to collapse with rampant legal and illegal overfishing allowed to go on.”

In 2006 scientists estimated that overfishing of bigeye tuna, on the IUCN Red List as “vulnerable” since 1996, was occurring in the western and central Pacific, with a high probability it had been occurring since 1997. They have also warned that urgent action needed to be taken on overfishing of yellowfin tuna in the region.

“This is not just a warm and fuzzy call to preserve a magnificent open ocean species, it’s about preserving the world’s most valuable tuna fisheries with a landed value of close to US$4 billion in 2007 and a market value of US$6-8 billion every year,” said Trott.

“It’s a fishery that adds considerably to the economies of many of the developing Pacific Island nations in the region and to the livelihoods of millions in the region known as the Coral Triangle.”

The future of the tuna fisheries in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries will be decided at its commission meeting during December 8 -12 this year.

For the first time the commission will seriously consider management measures to reduce the take of bigeye and yellowfin tuna by 30 per cent. These measures include closing large parts of the fishery to purse seiners and the banning of fish attractant devices from July to September every year.

“It’s a reflection of how dramatic the situation has become that the Commission has got to this point,” Mr Trott said.

“It’s beyond environmental concerns, it is about commercial self-preservation.”

WWF-Australia strongly supports the call for these closures from July to September but also wants the commission to ramp up catch documentation methods.

“Scientists have been calling for large reductions in bigeye tuna catch for over a decade,” Mr Trott said.

“But on past performance the Commission is, at best, slow to respond to such advice and at worst shows little spine when it comes to standing up to the pressure from fishing nations who continue to decimate tuna stocks.”

“Such wavering could lead to the commercial extinction of the bigeye and yellowfin tuna fishery in the Western and Central Pacific if effective management action isn’t adopted at this year’s Commission meeting.”

Improved catch documentation can also identify the size of the illegal tuna catch in the region which is estimated to in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Timely documentation of the legal catch can be measured against fish sold at markets and used to determine how much illegal tuna is being taken.

“If the Commission doesn’t move fast on restoring stocks and preventing illegal and unregulated fishing, it will directly impact the viability of the region’s tuna fisheries, the economies of developing countries and the cost and availability of tuna for every consumer in the very near future,” Mr Trott said.

www.panda.org/media for latest news and media resources

Long flight to photo award for Albatross

2008-08-05

Like many fishers, Cameron Long is a man of few words.

But he was persuaded to make an acceptance speech as he collected the winning prize at the Southern Seabird Solutions competition.

"I wasn't going to say anything, being a fisherman." the New Zealand fisher acknowledged wryly.

Click to enlarge
(© Cameron Long, Southern Seabird Solutions Trust Competition)
Luckily, his photos speak for him. His stunning winning shot of a solitary Salvin's albatross (Thalassarche salvini), navigating its flight a few well-judged inches from the ocean's surface, tip of one wing breaking the water, expresses the perfection of the albatross in a way words fail to.

This winning shot is one of thousands that Cameron Long has taken whilst at sea. Cam is one of the many fishers who marvel at the seabirds they share the seas with. "You're in a desert," he explains. "At sea, it's a wet desert. There's you, the boat, and the seabirds. And they're amazing. Most people can't appreciate their size. When you see one of the big mollymawks sitting on the water, and it looks pretty big, but then an albatross will fly next to it, and it's just a different scale."

The photography competition is part of Southern Seabird Solutions work to promote fishing practices that avoid seabirds like the albatross in Cam's shot from dying in fishing gear.

It is a unique partnership, bringing together conservationists from WWF, fishers, industry and government in one common cause - saving seabirds. Many seabirds die trying to feed around the fishing boats, so Southern Seabird Solutions was formed to tackle the problem.

"It's an absolute pleasure to take the photos of them, " says Cam about the seabirds. Having fished the Southern Ocean for 10 years - " I was in-shore fishing before that, but the money was unpredictable, " Cam says of his move to off-shore fishing - he says that over that time much has changed in making fishing practices better in New Zealand.

"You used to see a hell of a lot of birds in a feeding frenzy around boats, but now nothing goes over the side of the boat. We've got all the range of mitigation devices. No-one wants to see a dead seabird."

There is still work to be done – fishing remains the number one threat to seabirds. But, with New Zealand fishers, WWF, government and industry all united by the will to save these amazing seafarers, there is hope for their future.

Background notes

Southern Seabird Solutions was established to promote fishing practices that avoid seabird deaths in southern hemisphere fisheries. It is an alliance of New Zealand and international interest groups working together to solve the incidental capture of seabirds during longline and trawl fishing.

The organisation includes representatives from government departments, fishing industry, environmental groups, eco-tourism operators, fisheries trainers, indigenous fisheries interests and others.

A core premise of Southern Seabird Solutions is that fishermen hold the key to finding solutions to stopping seabird mortalities. Southern Seabird Solutions works with fishermen to pass on their knowledge, technology and skills to promote good practices in the longline and trawl fisheries.

The organisation’s scope extends beyond New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone because seabirds that breed in New Zealand territory are global travellers, roaming the oceans as far afield as southern Africa, Australia, Japan, and North and South America.

The Southern Seabird Solutions Trust is supported financially by the New Zealand government through the Department of Conservation, and the fishing industry through the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council and the Deepwater Group Ltd. The Trust is also supported by WWF-New Zealand. Funding for the Trust’s projects comes from a variety of sources, both within and outside New Zealand, and includes financial contributions from supporters, grants, sponsorship and services in kind.

Story by Jen Riches, Marketing & Communications Manager at WWF New Zealand

Winning photo of Selvin Albatross profiles threats to seabirds

2008-08-05

A fisherman's photo of a Salvin's Albatross skimming the waters off New Zealand's South Island has won a photographic competition intended to highlight efforts to protect seabirds being harmed by fishing gear and activities.

Cameron Long, who has been fishing the southern ocean for ten years, took the photo in rare calm conditions for the waters, with judges noting that "Cameron’s poignant photo of a seabird in flight was extremely atmospheric".

Southern Seabird Solutions (SSS), which organized the competition is a partnership bringing together conservationists, fishers and the industry to promote the technology, knowledge and skills to reduce seabird casualties from fishing - their number one threat.

WWF is the conservation partner in SSS.

Read the story of Cameron Long's photo

Net gain for endangered dolphins

2008-07-03

The rarest marine dolphin in the world – down to 111 individuals following decades of entanglement in fishing nets – is to receive protection over more of its range from the New Zealand government following several years of sustained WWF campaigning.

The critically-endangered Maui’s dolphins, living only along the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, could be functionally extinct within just 25 years largely as a result of a losing battle with fishing nets.

Unable to detect the fine mesh, dolphins can quickly become entangled and drown. Now Maui’s numbers are so low they could be functionally extinct, unless they are given total protection.

Since 2002, WWF has sustained pressure on the New Zealand government to remove all threats to the Maui’s dolphin and its South Island cousin, the Hector’s dolphin – which has suffered a population decline from an estimated 26,000 in the 1970s to just 7,270 today.

From 1 October 2008, set net and trawl fishing will be banned in more of the areas where Maui’s dolphins and Hector’s dolphins range.

“We’re thrilled the government has finally acted,” said Rebecca Bird, Marine Programme Manager for WWF-New Zealand. “The new measures mean fewer dolphins will die in fishing nets, and that’s a strong first step.

“After years of government delays and more dolphin deaths, we are now seeing real action to improve their chances of survival.”

Though a step forward, the protection measures don’t go far enough for the dolphin populations to recover. Maui’s dolphins won’t be protected inside harbours or in the southern extent of their alongshore range, while Hector’s dolphins along the west coast will remain unprotected from trawl fishing and only given limited protection from set nets.

Based on population modeling by University of Otago scientists Dr Elisabeth Slooten and Dr Steve Dawson, the new protection will at best hold Hector’s dolphin numbers at their current depleted level.

With such low numbers, this still leaves Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins at risk of extinction and
WWF is continuing its campaign to ban net fishing throughout the dolphins’ range.

“Total protection is the only way to give the dolphins the chance to recover so they are no longer at risk of extinction,” said Bird. “We want a future where Hector’s and Maui’s return to their historic abundance and distribution. These measures are the first step towards this.”

Fisheries, not whales, to blame for shortage of fish

2008-06-23

Santiago, Chile: The argument that increasing whale populations are behind declining fish stocks is completely without scientific foundation, leading researchers and conservation organizations said today as the International Whaling Commission opened its 60th meeting in Santiago, Chile.

The Humane Society International, WWF and the Lenfest Ocean Program today presented three new reports debunking the science behind the ‘whales-eat-fish’ claims emanating from whaling nations Japan, Norway and Iceland. The argument has been used to bolster support for whaling, particularly from developing nations.

“It is not the whales, it is over-fishing and excess fishing capacity that are responsible for diminishing supplies of fish in developing countries,” said fisheries biologist Dr. Daniel Pauly, director of the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre.

“Making whales into scapegoats serves only to benefit wealthy whaling nations while harming developing nations by distracting any debate on the real causes of the declines of their fisheries.”

Who’s eating all the fish? The food security rationale for culling cetaceans, the report co-authored by Dr Pauly for the Humane Society International contrasts “the widely different impacts of fisheries and marine mammals” with fisheries targeting larger fish where available and marine mammals consuming mainly smaller fish and organisms.

“The decline of the mean trophic levels of fisheries catch over the past 50 years is a signature of fishing down marine food webs and leaves marine mammals exonerated,” the report said.

The report also probes the culling whales increases food security for the poor argument by examining the final destination of catches of coastal fisheries in the South Pacific, Caribbean and West Africa. With less than half the catch going to domestic markets and the majority “gravitating toward the markets of affluent developed countries, one can speak of fish migrating from the more needy to the less needy”.

Also presented to the IWC Scientific Committee was the preliminary results into analysis of the interaction between whales and commercial fisheries in north west Africa. The modeling, funded by the Lenfest Ocean Program, shows no real competition between local or foreign fisheries and great whales.

The whales spend only a few months in the area during their vast seasonal migrations, eat relatively little while breeding and tend to consume fundamentally different types of food resources than the marine species targeted by both local and foreign fisheries. Inserting modelling assumptions to presume that whales are not breeding in the area and eat species important to the fishing industry still fails to show whales are a significant source of competition to fishing.

Also released today is review of the scientific literature originating from Japan and Norway - the two countries most strongly promoting the idea that whales pose problems for fisheries. The review, funded by WWF, found significant flaws in much of the science and concluded that “where good data are available, there is no evidence to support the contention that marine mammal predation presents an ecological issue for fisheries.”

Dr. Susan Lieberman of WWF said “These three reports provide yet more conclusive evidence that whales are not responsible for the degraded state of the world’s fisheries. It is now time for governments to focus on the real reason for fisheries decline – unsustainable fishing operations.”

"Dr. Pauly's findings should refute, once and for all, the misconception that whales are eating all the fish and need to be killed to protect the world's fisheries," said Patricia Forkan, president of the Humane Society International

Human well-being better in a better protected environment

2008-05-24

Bonn, May 22, 2008 – Well planned and managed protected areas can play a key role in reducing poverty, with the relationship strengthened when well-being is measured as more than just income, according to a new analysis by WWF.

SafetyNet:protected areas and poverty reduction, prepared with the assistance of the environmental research group Equilibrium, uses new tools to analyse what works and what doesn't in improving both human well-being and environmental quality, finding that community involvement, benefit sharing and consideration of protected areas in overall landscapes are crucial factors to consider.

“Poverty is much more than not having enough money. Not having enough to eat, or access to medicines or a clean water supply are the fundamentals which really define poverty at its most basic level,” said Liza Higgins-Zogib, Manager of People and Conservation at WWF International.

“We live in a world where half of the six billion population live not just on minimal incomes but most are in rural areas depending a great deal on natural resources for their nutrition, shelter, health and nutrition. It is vital that we appreciate that the right type of well managed protected areas can make all the difference to the lives of those people.”

The report’s analysis draws from management effectiveness assessments of over 1000 protected areas and developed a new tool to assess protected area benefits in detail in case studies drawn from Argentina, Finland, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Poland and Tanzania.

“Safety Net: protected areas and poverty reduction” provides the largest body of evidence yet of a strong link between well managed protected areas such as national parks and reserves and increased levels of food, medicine, water and cultural and spiritual fulfilment for people living in the surrounding areas, including some of the world’s poorest.

On Apo Island in the Philippines, the establishment of protected areas covering reefs and shorelines increased the average fish catch from 0.15 kg/person hour in 1980-81 to 1-2 kg/person hour in 1997-2001. Tourism revenues from the reef are now estimated at $US 500 per hectare per year and 75 per cent of tourist fees go to the local community.

In China's Baimaxueshan Nature Reserve, incomes from sustainable mushroom harvesting in the park have risen 5 to 10 fold in the 70 villages participating in the scheme while for 10,000 people in and around Mairauà State Ecological Station in Brazil incomes have increased by 50 per cent and in some cases by 99 per cent following the introduction of a park-based Economic Alternatives Programme. Infant mortality has declined by 53 percent with better health education and water quality.

Although the report stresses that every protected area is unique, the most successful in terms of the benefit they provided to poor people sought to balance conservation and poverty reduction, established direct and integrated links between the needs of people and nature and recognized that trade-offs between human and wildlife needs needed to be negotiated.

In these cases, environmental and development outcomes were well monitored and protected areas were viewed, not in isolation, but as parts of the overall landscape.

“It is all too easy to over-simplify the relationship between poverty and protected areas, but this report makes a significant contribution to separating myth from reality,” Higgins-Zogib said. “It is clear from this research that protected areas can and do lift many people above the most basic levels of poverty, but the report also reveals that protected areas set up or managed without enough care for human needs can have the opposite effect on the lives of poor people.

“It is vital that those involved in establishing and managing protected areas remember that people are also part of the landscape.”

Bloated Mediterranean tuna fleet in race for the last bluefin

2008-03-12

Rome, Italy – The most comprehensive analysis yet of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fleet shows it conservatively having twice the fishing capacity of current quotas and more than three and a half times the catch levels recommended by scientists to avoid stock collapse.

The fleet is so bloated that just covering its costs implies that a third of its fishing would be illegal, with the worst over-capacity culprits being Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Libya, France and Spain.

The new WWF report, Race for the last bluefin, "uncovers the absurdity of a system long out of control, where hundreds of hi-tech boats are racing to catch a handful of fish,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean.

“The failure of international fisheries management has allowed a monster to thrive in the Mediterranean. Decision-makers must be bold if the bluefin is to be saved from a sorry fate – and for any chance of a future for Mediterranean tuna fishermen.”

To keep fishing capacity within the 2008 legal catch limits imposed by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the Mediterranean fleet would need to shed 229 vessels – almost a third of the current 617-vessel fleet.

Reducing fishing effort to scientifically recommended levels, meanwhile, would require decommissioning 283 vessels, including 58 in European Union Member States.

In Italy – worst culprit among EU countries – the fleet should be reduced by over 30 vessels to respect scientific recommendations, or 17 just to stay within the law. The WWF report indicates that high levels of under-reporting by Italy are also likely, as its reported catches have dramatically decreased since 1997 – yet during the past decade the Italian fleet has increased considerably in size and power. Croatia, Spain and Libya are also under the spotlight for under-reporting.

At a minimum, the report shows Mediterranean fleets would have to fish 42,000 tonnes of tuna just to cover costs – implying some 13,000 tonnes of illegal catch. This calculation considers only the more technically advanced vessels built in the past decade – the full picture will be much worse yet.

“It is crazy – the numerous new fleets are so modern and costly that fishermen are forced to fish illegally just to survive – and worse still they are fishing themselves out of a job,” added Dr Tudela.

WWF is calling on concerned countries to dramatically reduce capacity in this fishery as a matter of urgency ahead of the 2008 fishing season that starts end-April. WWF also urges ICCAT, the body tasked with sustainably managing the fishery, to take a lead in proposing radical solutions. Until the fishery is under control and sustainably managed, WWF continues to advocate a fishing ban – and to applaud responsible retailers, restaurants, chefs and consumer groups who are boycotting Mediterranean bluefin in increasing numbers.

“The fishery is unsustainable in every way – economically, socially, and ecologically. The time to act is now – while there are still bluefin tuna to save in the Mediterranean,” Dr Tudela said.

In spite of the overcapacity of fleets, at least 25 new purse seine vessels were still being constructed at time of going to press.

This time, world should heed OECD call to action on environment

2008-03-05

Paris: The OECD’s Environment Outlook to 2030, issued today, was welcomed by WWF as yet another compelling argument that the costs of inaction on the environment will far exceed the costs of action.

The OECD Outlook is the latest - and at 520 pages one of the weightiest - in a run of reports from prominent economic institutions and commissions calling on governments and international institutions to face up to the seriousness and immediacy of global environmental problems.

“When a body such as the OECD says that on a range of environmental issues we need to act globally and we need to act now, then it is clear that as communities, countries and companies we need to roll up our collective sleeves and get on with it,” said WWF International Director General James Leape.

“It is sobering to think how much better off we would be today if the world, the wealthy world in particular, had heeded OECD's 2001 call to take action on many of these same issues. We should not make the same mistake again.”

James Leape said the OECD outlook should be commended for looking beyond the urgent challenge of climate change to other urgent issues of biodiversity loss, mismanagment of water resources and escalating health threats. WWF also welcomed OECD’s call to prioritise action in the key sectors of energy, transport, agriculture and fisheries.

“The OECD outlook underlines both the magnitude of the largely self-inflicted threats we face and the urgency of acting effectively on them,” said James Leape. “It is rapidly becoming the case that it will be as hard to find a sceptical economist as it is now to find a sceptical scientist."

While generally supporting market liberalisation, the OECD noted that in the absence of “sound environmental policy and institutional frameworks” globalisation “can amplify market and policy failures and intensify environmental pressures”.

The OECD repeated its 2001 call for the removal of subsidies to environmentally harmful activities, with special mention of subsidies to fossil fuel use, agricultural production subsidies, fishing overcapacity subsidies and the subsidy and underpricing of damaging transport modes.

The OECD also repeated that environment policy should not be just a concern of environment ministers, but has to be elevated into being a priority of central and economic policy making in particular.

“There is now no reason not to act," said James Leape. "The OECD outlook is emphatic that the policies and technologies to address urgent environment issues are available and affordable, that taking them will increase efficiencies and reduce costs and that the earlier we take action, the better the cost-benefit equation will be.”

Media release and contact details

HP commits to further GHG emissions reductions in joining WWF Climate Savers

2008-02-13

HP, one of the world's largest IT companies, has pledged to reduce the emissions from its own operations and the use of its products to 6 million tonnes (20%) below 2005 levels by 2010.

Progress towards this goal, a commitment entered into in joining the World Wildlife Fund/WWF Climate Savers program, has been so significant that HP is now looking to define new goals.

In energy terms, HP has now committed itself to reduce energy consumption by 15 percent in its operations from 2005 levels, while achieving a 25 % reduction in the energy used by its products and operations combined below 2005 levels by 2010. Even with an increase in revenues, total energy use was down 19.2 % below 2005 levels by October 2007.

“WWF commends HP for its strong commitment to energy reductions—not only within its own operations, but in placing a strong emphasis on increasing energy efficiency in its products,” said Carter Roberts, WWF-US President and CEO. “HP’s bold actions should serve as a model for other technology companies seeking to transform the way they do business to help protect the planet.”

“HP has been an environmentally-sensitive company for decades; it’s simply part of our culture and DNA,” said Mark Hurd, Chairman and CEO, HP. “We take a leadership role in climate change initiatives like WWF Climate Savers, and we will continue to seek innovative ways to reduce our carbon footprint."

HP’s announcement comes as companies from around the world gathered to discuss business strategies to reduce climate change at the Climate Savers Tokyo Summit. During the summit, HP said it will sign the Tokyo Declaration – a call to action and renewed commitment on global warming.

Between 1987 and 2007, HP recycled one billion pounds of its products, representing 900,000 tonnes of avoided greenhouse gas emissions, and it set a new goal to recover another one billion pounds by the end of 2010.

HP made further progress in January 2008 when it announced a commitment to reduce the energy consumption of its volume desktop and notebook PC families by 25 percent by 2010, and today it is working to consolidate its 85 data centers worldwide into six data centers with high-efficiency servers and cooling technology.

Beginning in 2006, HP embarked on a joint initiative with World Wildlife Fund-US to establish an absolute reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions from HP’s operating facilities worldwide, explore efficiency goals for products, educate and inspire others to adopt best practices for climate change initiatives and use HP technology in conservation efforts around the world by 2010.

WWF’s Climate Savers was founded in 1999 and currently comprises 15 major international companies committed to reducing their total emissions by over 10 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

In its first attendance at a WWF Climate Savers Conference - this year starting on 15 January hosted by Sony Corporation in Tokyo - HP is expected to join other leading global brands calling for more concerted action on climate change.

School children join campaign to protect endangered dolphins

2007-11-15

Wellington, New Zealand – WWF has presented a petition calling on the New Zealand government to protect Hector’s and Maui's dolphins.

WWF staff were joined on the steps of the New Zealand Parliament by a group of 111 children, each representing one of the 111 Maui’s now left in the world.

The children’s presence sent a strong message to the ministers — protect these amazing animals now, for the next generation to see and enjoy.

Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins live around the shores of New Zealand and are among the rarest marine dolphins in the world. But unless urgent action is taken these amazing creatures could become extinct within a generation.

The biggest threat to Hector's and Maui's is from commercial and recreational fishing. The dolphins are unable to detect set nets — fixed nets that are held on or off shore with anchors — and, if they become entangled, they drown within minutes.

They are also accidentally caught by commercial fishing vessels. Add to this the disturbances to their habitat from tourism, polluted waters, coastal development and boat traffic, and survival for one of the world's rarest marine dolphins is a daily battle. But there is hope. By taking the necessary action and removing all human threats, New Zealand can give the dolphins their best chance of survival.

On behalf of the children and each person who signed this action, WWF is calling on New Zealand to give the strongest protection for the dolphins and stop their extinction.

The team at WWF-New Zealand thanks all the staff and children of Cardinal McKeefry School in Wellington for being so inspiring at the event and helping to save our dolphins!

Thank you to everyone who signed the petition to save New Zealand’s dolphins. With your help we really are making a difference.

Tuna fishing fleets in the Pacific pose danger to wildlife at sea

2007-10-11

Oct 23rd update: The Commission for Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) concluded its 14th meeting, but failed to take any significant action to safeguard the fish stocks and other marine life it was established to manage and conserve.

Reviews conducted by the Commission have shown massive overcatch by a member, yet Japan
has continued to ensure that any finger pointing to those responsible is locked up in confidentiality.

“The Commission also failed to agree on anything related to minimising bycatch of albatrosses, petrels, sharks and marine turtles,” said Lorraine Hitch, WWF spokesperson for Sustainable Fisheries.“They were unable to agree on even the most fundamental aspects of bycatch management such as data collection.”

According to TRAFFIC and WWF, the broader conservation community should be seeking action
from government leaders and industry to tackle overfishing and marine bycatch, and to ensure the
sustainability of southern bluefin tuna stocks.

Gland, Switzerland – Thousands of seabirds and significant numbers of sharks and marine turtles are being caught and killed each year in long-line fishing nets targeting southern bluefin tuna, reveals a new WWF report.

Japan’s long-line southern bluefin tuna fleet, for example, killed between 6,000 and 9,000 seabirds per year in the 2001 and 2002 fishing seasons. About three-quarters were albatrosses and one-fifth petrels.

It is estimated that annual seabird deaths from all southern bluefin tuna fishing could be as high as 13,500, including some 10,000 albatrosses. Of the 22 species of albatrosses, 19 are classified as threatened with extinction, according to the World Conservation Union.

“Southern bluefin tuna long-line fleets are fishing blind, with little or no understanding of their devastating impact on threatened species,” says Dr Simon Cripps, Director of WWF’s Global Marine Programme.

“Responsible countries must urgently implement measures to dramatically reduce the death toll.”

The new report — Behind the Facade: A Decade of Inaction on Non-Target Species in Southern Bluefin Tuna Fisheries — exposes ten years of inaction by members of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), and calls for reform measures to be agreed at their upcoming annual meeting in Australia to stem the catch of endangered wildlife and reduce chronic overfishing.

“Currently, the commission only requires the use of tori poles, devices used to scare away seabirds from fishing lines, whereas they should be calling for a whole suite of bycatch reduction measures to be enforced,” adds Dr Cripps.

“CCSBT now lags well behind other regional fisheries management organizations’ efforts to tackle bycatch.”
The report urges members of the CCSBT to immediately agree to mandatory requirements for the collection and submission of data on the impact of southern bluefin tuna fishing on non-target species, and to ensure their on-board observer programme prioritize the collection of this data.

The CCSBT relies on ad hoc reporting of bycatch data by it members. Data is therefore piecemeal and inconsistent if reported at all. Publicly available data for seabirds indicates that thousands of seabirds are killed annually by southern bluefin tuna longliners.

END NOTES:

• Southern bluefin tuna, a migratory fish found mainly in the southern waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, is fished predominantly by Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and several other Asian countries. Long-line fishing fleets take around two-thirds of the reported catch of the tuna species.

• Members of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) include Australia, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan and the European Community. The CCSBT is holding its annual meeting in Canberra, Australia, from 16-19 October.

• Governance of the world’s oceans is characterized by a patchwork of organizations tasked with the conservation and management of living marine resources. Formal cooperation between countries through regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) dates back to at least the 1920s. There are now 16 RFMOs with a mandate to establish binding management measures for fisheries resources.

For further information:
Brian Thomson, Media Relations Officer
WWF International
Tel: +41 22 364 9562
E-mail: bthomson@wwfint.org

Jessica Battle, Communications Officer
WWF Global Marine Programme
Tel: +41 22 364 9025
E-mail: jbattle@wwfint.org

Kiwis of the Sea: New Zealand dolphins under threat

2007-04-24

By Jen Riches*

Population fragmentation. It doesn’t exactly pack the same punch as “extinction”. But for New Zealand’s South Island Hector’s dolphin and North Island Maui’s dolphin — one of the rarest marine dolphin species in the world — it could be catastrophic.

“Numbers of Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins are now so low that populations are starting to fragment,” explains marine biologist Dr Steve Dawson, associate professor at New Zealand’s Otago University.

“As populations shrink you get small groups of dolphins which are isolated from each other and they literally become fewer and further between. Lose one of those surviving groups and you lose a vital link to the next.”

Dubbed the “kiwis of the sea”, Hector’s dolphin numbers (both North Island and South Island populations) have plummeted from over 26,000 in the 1970s to just over 7,000 today. Maui’s dolphins, a subspecies of the Hector's, are faring even worse and are now critically endangered with a population of just 110 individuals. Without immediate protection, Maui’s may become extinct within a generation.

Fragmentation is the path to extinction, according to marine scientists, and for the Maui’s in particular, this is a very real possibility.

“These animals don’t range very far, so as the distance between groups grows, the chances of those groups interacting, breeding and surviving becomes more remote,” says Dr Dawson. “The reality is their future survival is dependent on our actions today.”

Close to shore
Maui’s dolphins live off the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, and are usually found in isolated pockets within 10km of the shore. During summer they are even closer, moving to within 1.85km (1 nautical mile) of the coast in search of food.

Although found so close to shore, tracking Maui’s dolphins by sight remains problematic. Aerial surveys and sound recordings are more reliable methods and are currently being used to find out more about this critically endangered dolphin.

Recent sound recordings of the Maui’s dolphin conducted by Dr Dawson and other scientists from the University of Otago are providing new information about the Maui’s presence in harbours.

“We now have scientific evidence to support the argument that Maui’s really are at risk of drowning in nets being used by fishers in harbours along the North Island’s west coast,” said WWF-New Zealand marine campaigner Rebecca Bird.

The results will contribute to learning more about the dolphin’s’ distribution and abundance and use of harbours, and will be used in WWF’s advocacy work, which seeks greater protection for the species.

Public sightings
WWF, with help from researchers and Toyota New Zealand, has also developed a WWF Sightings Network in order to learn more about the dolphins’ movements from season to season.

Data generated for the network by the public provide vital information that can be used to determine future research and management priorities, and returns responsibility for Maui’s back to the community.

“We believe people have an important role to play in saving Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins,” Bird explains.

“The information we get from the public tells us where the dolphins are from season to season. At the end of the day, the responsibility for saving these iconic animals lies with all of us.”

Returning from the brink
Fishing in coastal areas is seen as the biggest threat to the dolphins, where they become entangled and drown in commercial and recreational set nets, or caught as accidental bycatch in fishing trawlers. Add to this boat strikes, disturbances from tourism and increasingly polluted waters, and survival for the world’s rarest dolphins is a losing battle.

To reverse the trend, WWF has been working to reduce the threats so that the species can return from the brink of extinction.

“Our conservation challenge to the New Zealand government calls for an action plan for the recovery of the species, to address the causes of the dolphins’ decline,” says WWF-New Zealand Executive Director Chris Howe.

“We envision a future where Hector’s and Maui’s dolphin numbers increase, where they recover to their natural historic range and where population fragmentation is reduced. That means ending fishing-related bycatch, protecting their habitats and reducing marine pollution.”

By law, the New Zealand government is required to protect its native flora and fauna. Although the government has introduced interim protection measures and set net bans are in place in some areas, it has yet to develop a comprehensive action plan for the dolphins’ recovery.

“If we are serious about saving the species, we can’t deal in half measures,” stresses Howe. “We need a total ban on set netting and trawling where the dolphins range.

“We still have a chance to save these unique creatures,” he adds, “but we have to act now to make sure New Zealand doesn’t become the first nation to drive a marine dolphin species to extinction.”

* Jenny Riches is a Press Officer at WWF-New Zealand.

Conservation implications of allocation under the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission

2006-09-29

Allocation of fishing rights is an area of increasing focus in assessing the inability of regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) to prevent overfishing of key stocks and associated problems driven by overcapacity.

The WWF-TRAFFIC report examines allocation from a conservation perspective and identifies a range of negative conservation impacts resulting from a failure by RFMOs to effectively address allocation issues. This analysis is then discussed in the context of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC); the most recent RFMO to enter into force and responsible for the conservation and management of the world’s largest tuna fishery. Resolving allocation issues in the WCPFC is likely to prove crucial in addressing emerging conservation concerns, with three of the four key tuna stocks already considered as fully or overfished and existing overcapacity.

The WWF-TRAFFIC report outlines experiences of other RFMOs in allocating participatory rights, uses these to identify issues that may arise in the context of the WCPFC and provides a number of recommendations designed to help avoid some of the negative consequences for conservation and sustainable use that have occurred in other RFMOs.

WWF and TRAFFIC will present the report to the Commission at its third meeting in Apia in December 2006.

The long journey back: Humpback whale migration through New Zealand’s Cook Strait

2006-08-08

By Dave Hansford*

It’s not easy getting a clean shot at a humpback whale, not on a day, a sea like this.

Cook Strait — the body of water separating New Zealand’s North and South Island — is often grey-green and ill-tempered with heaving swells big enough for a whale to hide behind...but not for long. Two great mounds of mammal appear through the foam, set free their spent breath in a vaporous geyser, and arch into that eponymous curl, the one that tells a whaler his target will be gone awhile.

Braced against the pitching deck, I mutter my frustration, but John Perano bids patience.

“They’ll be back up in a moment,” he says with confidence. “The chaser boats overrun them. They’ll split now. One will pop up over there.”

And surely it does. I find my mark and then squeeze in a shot.

Shooting whales
If you’re going to photograph humpback whales, who better to bring with you than an ex-whaler?

John Perano shot his first humpback with a cast iron harpoon at age 14 and was earning a living at it by 18. He has a preternatural instinct for the chase.

But today he means no harm. Today, he’s helping New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) count the number of humpbacks that enter the strait during their annual northward migration.

The whales spend much of the southern hemisphere summer (January and February) in the Antarctic, making the most of the perpetual daylight to gorge on vast swarms of krill, or small shrimp. Before the sea ice returns, they set off for their breeding grounds in the South Pacific, passing along the east coast of the South Island. At Cape Campbell, some go straight ahead, eventually passing Great Barrier Island and the Kermadecs, while the rest make a right turn, cutting through Cook Strait before continuing up the west coast of the North Island.

For the last three seasons, DOC scientist Nadine Gibbs has watched the whales, taking their photographs as they pass.

“The juveniles come through first. They tend to be single individuals,” she says. “Then we get a lot of the mature males travelling in threes and fours. They’re probably the ones that will breed that year. Lastly, we get the mature females.”

The whales are in no hurry. They take the occasional rest and do a bit of socializing along the way. Certainly, this pair off the port beam are just idling; covering perhaps a mile an hour, or as Perano puts it, just “buggerizing” (or playing) around.

Whale research
Even at this snail’s pace, it’s still difficult for Simon Childerhouse to shadow them. Another DOC researcher, he and Trevor Austin are braving the elements in a seven-metre inflatable boat, trying to take tissue samples from the whales. This is no simple task and involves firing a dart from Austin’s invention, a gas-powered “rifle” called the Paxarms biopsy system. The projectile bounces off the whale’s thick skin, hopefully collecting a piece the size of a button.

It’s not much, but it can tell the scientists which whale is which, who’s related to who, and where they’ve come from.

“By analysing fatty acids, we can determine what they’ve been feeding on,” says Gibbs. “By examining hormone levels, we can even work out if a female is pregnant.”

WWF-New Zealand sponsors this kind of research to learn more about humpbacks and to use the information as a counterpoint to refute Japan’s “scientific” whaling programme, which claims to investigate the whales’ biology and migratory pathways by killing them, with their meat ending up in the Japanese market place.

“We have always said that Japan’s so-called scientific whaling research is a sham,” says Chris Howe, WWF-New Zealand’s Conservation Director. “The irony is that the very whales they are targeting could provide us with more data than could ever be gained from killing them.”

By contrast, Childerhouse’s “targets” swim away to live and love another day. Comparing DNA samples — and photographs — against a database collected from humpbacks around the South Pacific, he and Gibbs look for matches that might tell them where the whales are ending up.

One was spotted recently near the Pacific island-nation of Tonga, but genetic work hints most strongly that the Cook Strait migrants may head for New Caledonia where the males gather in “singing grounds” to await the females. There, a male will hang head-down in the water and court arriving females with long, sonorous serenades.

It’s been theorized that the best singers not only attract the most attention, but by demonstrating their superior breath-holding ability, prove their fitness to discerning non-pregnant females shopping for a mate. Here, the already pregnant females give birth, then spend the next few months fattening up their calves on rich milk before beginning their return journey. It’s an epic swim for the young calves at the females’ sides, and it’s thought that this is when the youngsters learn the route.

Whale survey
During the 1950s and 1960s, humpbacks swimming through Cook Strait ran the considerable risk of running into John Perano. The family whaling station at Perano Head on Arapawa Island took three humpbacks a day during the season. But by the early 1960s, pitifully few migrating whales were turning up. In 1963, the whalers took just ten for the season before closing the station down for good.

Peter Perano, John’s cousin, remembers that winter of '63 when the humpbacks stopped coming.

“Right up to the 1960s there were plenty of whales coming through, certainly more than we could handle,” he recalls. “It didn’t seem as though we were making any dent at all. But after that, the dramatic drop. It was bloody awful.”

Sadly, the Peranos had no way of knowing that the dwindling numbers was a result of Soviet vessels illegally slaughtering some 25,000 of these migrating humpbacks in the Antarctic, a grim fraction of the estimated 200,000 killed worldwide since 1900.

By keeping watch for the surviving generation, Gibbs and Childerhouse hope to map whatever recovery there is. They use records and sightings noted by ex-whalers like the Peranos to help with research.

Surveys co-sponsored by WWF-New Zealand and Dolphin Watch Ecotours recorded 35 humpbacks migrating through the Cook Strait in 2004. In 2005 there were 18. So far 15 humpbacks have been spotted this season, with biopsy samples taken from eight of them. Combining the figures with old whaling data, Childerhouse reckons the numbers are about 20 per cent of what Perano would have encountered 50 years ago.

“They still have a long way to go,” he says, “but the flip side is that they’ve recovered from that all-time low of 1963.”

Return to whaling?
Incomprehensibly for many, a return to whaling seems to be back on the agenda after Japan recently announced that it would take 50 humpbacks from the southern ocean as part of its “scientific” whaling programme.

"This is unfortunate,” says Nadine Gibbs, “but at least we got a few years of surveying in…now we'll have some baseline information so we may be able to detect changes in the population from whaling.”

Japan’s move has also saddened several ex-whalers turned whale spotters, including several more Peranos, Ron and Ted, and Joe Heberley, Tommy and Johnny Norton, and Basil Jones — some of them fifth generation whalers.

Believe it or not, they actually yell “thar she blows” when they spot that tell-tale spout, but not until they’re absolutely certain — there are hefty “fines” for false calls.

Whale spotting has become fiercely, if good-naturedly, competitive, with spotters turning up with the latest in high-tech binoculars. In fact, some snuck up here days before the survey was due to start, just to get their eye in. Sightings are notched into the wooden chairs, like gunslingers’ conquests.

Having spotted a whale, they’ll radio Childerhouse in his tiny runabout, guiding him to where he can intercept it with his dart gun: “Whale survey to whale research. Try two-zero, 20 to port…Over.”

“You know,” Peter Perano offers, gazing out over the grey waves, “As you get older, you appreciate things more and more.”

* Dave Hansford, a freelance writer based in New Zealand, contributed this feature to WWF.

END NOTES:

• The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a mammal which belongs to the baleen whale suborder. It is a large whale: an adult usually ranges between 12–16m long and weighs approximately 36,000 kilograms. It is well known for its breaching (leaping out of the water), its unusually long front fins, and its complex whale song. The humpback whale is a migratory species, spending its summers in cooler, high-latitude waters, but mating and calving in tropical and sub-tropical waters. Annual migrations of up to 25,000km are typical, making it one of the best-travelled of any mammalian species. (Source: Wikipedia).

• The humpback whale is listed as “vulnerable” under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Since its low point of about 20,000 individuals at the time of the 1966 moratorium, the species' population has increased to about 35,000 today. There are estimated to be 11,600 Humpbacks in the North Atlantic, 10,000 in the North Pacific and at least 17,000 in the Southern Hemisphere.

Island nations commit to protect their futures

2006-03-29

Curitiba, Brazil – Island nation leaders attending the eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) announced significant conservation commitments — both on land and at sea — to protect the future of islands.

At an event hosted by Palau President Tommy Remengesau Jr, leaders announced the Micronesia Challenge: to protect 30 per cent of near-shore marine and 20 per cent of terrestrial resources on islands by 2020.

"We intend to be the first in the world to meet our CBD 10 per cent target, and more,” said President Remengesau, referring to the goal adopted by parties to the biodiversity convention to effectively conserve at least 10 per cent of each of the world's ecological regions.

He emphasized that his country is able to make this commitment because of the strong partnerships within Palau, between the national and state governments, and with traditional leaders and local communities.

“We have come to Curitiba for partnerships that will strengthen our region's and our respective islands’ capacity to meet our conservation commitments."

Inspired by the Micronesia Challenge, the Caribbean nation of Grenada pledged to put 25 per cent of near-shore marine and 25 per cent of terrestrial resources under effective conservation by 2020. This will lead to a nine-fold increase in the total area of protection in Grenada’s marine environment and more than double protection of its terrestrial environment.

“Efforts to ensure the health, prosperity and cultural heritage of nations are unlikely to succeed if the ecosystem services on which we rely continue to be degraded,” said Grenada's Environment Minister Ann David-Antoine. “Expanding conservation efforts and achieving them through partnerships with the international conservation community and across all regions are required for our sustainable development.”

These commitments contribute to global targets such as those set forth at the World Summit on Sustainable Development and in the Millennium Development Goals, and recognize the vital importance of conservation and sustainable use of island biodiversity to the livelihoods of island communities.

Islands are home to more than 500 million people and represent one quarter of the nations of the world, 16 percent of the planet’s known plant species and more than half of the world’s tropical marine biodiversity. Thirty percent of the world’s coral reefs are severely damaged and, without immediate action 60 percent may be lost by 2030. Half of the species in the world that have become extinct have been island species. Without immediate action, islands face continued damage to species, biodiversity and human inhabitants’ way of life.

"For the islands, this is a new dimension on how to preserve our fragile reserves for future generations. Our traditional way of conserving has been reawakened through this global concern to protect our fragile resources," said Ratu Aisea Katonivere, Chief of the Macuata community in Fiji, a province of 100,000 people, and home of the world’s third largest barrier reef. “For us, in Fiji, this is about our survival, our life."

Other island nations pledging new conservation commitments included New Zealand, Indonesia and Kiribati.

"We applaud the leadership shown by these governments to address the escalating threats facing the world's coral reefs and island habitats, and urges nations everywhere to support these significant commitments, as their success or failure will have global ramifications," said WWF International Director General James Leape.

Delegates to the CBD meeting is expected to adopt a work programme that will lay out guidance for island nations and nations with islands for integrated conservation and management of their vital natural resources.

END NOTES:
• The Micronesia Challenge is a shared commitment by the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Territory of Guam. Grenada’s 2020 vision is an outgrowth of the successful Grenadines Parks in Peril project, a TNC/USAID partnership that has advanced implementation of key actions within the CBD’s Programme of Work on Protected Areas.

• The event was co-sponsored by the Governments of Italy and the United Kingdom, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), The Nature Conservancy, WWF, Conservation International, International Coral Reef Action Network, Palau Conservation Society, Conservation Society of Pohnpei, Micronesian Conservation Trust, IUCN, Birdlife International and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

For further information:
Olivier van Bogaert, Senior Press Officer
WWF International
Tel: +41 79 477 3572

Marine Protected Areas - providing a future for fish and people

2005-06-27

They also provide services to local communities who depend on the sea and its resources, increasing food security and reducing poverty. MPAs can also benefit local people by opening new opportunities to gain income. Countries with coral reefs attract millions of SCUBA divers every year, yielding significant economic benefits to the host country. Globally, almost USD 10 billion are spent on coral reef tourism annually.

By establishing MPAs, we can restore the balance in the use of our oceans, safeguarding valuable fish stocks and important habitats while providing long-term solutions for local communities.

The challenge

The world’s oceans are under more pressure than ever before. From France to Japan, from Senegal to Australia and Chile, fish stocks are overfished and important habitats are being lost or degraded at an unprecedented rate. Sixty per cent of coral reefs are expected to be lost by 2030 if present rates of decline continue. The increasing number of people living on the coasts and the rapid rise in consumer demand for fish threaten marine biodiversity across the oceans.

Inadequate fisheries management and widespread overuse of marine and coastal resources are also eroding the traditional basis of life for millions of people and even entire countries, depriving communities of their main source of vital protein and increasing poverty.

Yet, only a mere 0.5 per cent of the oceans are protected – compare this to 13 per cent of land area under protection. And the large majority of that is inadequately managed, with almost all marine protected areas open to tourism and recreation and 90 per cent open to fishing.

To turn the tide towards healthy oceans, the world’s leaders agreed, at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002, to create representative networks of MPAs by 2012.

It’s time to put these global agreements into action!

Download the brochure (PDF format) to find out more about the benefits of Marine Protected Areas

Asia Pacific Ecoregion Big Wins Update

2005-03-11

China's rising wood imports a threat to the world's forests

2005-03-08

Gland, Switzerland/Hong Kong SAR – Because of its rapidly rising demand for wood, China is set to lead the world's wood market and this will have devastating impacts on some of the planet's outstanding forests unless major changes are made in the country's current policies, a new WWF report warns.

According to the report, China’s Wood Market, Trade and the Environment, more than half of the timber imported by China comes from countries such as Russia, Malaysia and Indonesia, which are all struggling with problems such as over-harvesting, conversion of natural forests and illegal logging. China is one of the major destinations for wood that may be illegally harvested or traded, it says.

The report indicates that while the average Chinese citizen uses 17 times less wood than a person in the US, China's wood imports have dramatically increased over the past ten years and will continue to do so to meet the demand of the country's huge population and rapid economic growth.

The report also found that measures taken by the Chinese government to protect its forests – including a ban on logging – after the 1998 devastating Yangtze River flooding have resulted in a significant drop in China's domestic wood production.

The country's forests and plantations will provide less than half of China's expected total industrial wood demand by 2010, and this puts more pressure on the forests of the countries that export timber, the report stresses.

"China's efforts so far in forest restoration and forest sustainable management are a good start towards preserving valuable and threatened forests," said Dr Claude Martin, Director General of WWF International. "But logging bans in China should not lead to forest loss in other parts of the world. Decisive action is needed to ensure that supply chains leading to or through China begin with well-managed forests."

WWF believes that China’s demand for wood from regions where forest management is poor could be reduced by developing environmentally responsible wood production in some of the country's forests where logging is currently banned.

The report also suggests that incentives are created to improve the efficiency of wood production and use in China, and reduce the waste of timber.

Furthermore, WWF calls on both governments and the private sector to take concerted measures to promote imports and purchases of wood from well-managed forests.

Such measures include responsible procurement policies, use of systems to trace wood from its source to final use, forest certification, enforcement of government policies and regulations to prevent the import of products containing illegally-sourced wood, and cooperation with other nations to combat illegal trade of forest products.

"China will soon be leading the global wood market, we hope that it will also lead the efforts to safeguard the world's forests," said Dr. Zhu Chunquan, Director of WWF China's Forest Programme.

The new WWF report was released today in Hong Kong at a meeting on illegal logging organized by The Forests Dialogue, a forum for trade associations, major corporations and government officials, among others.

The China Forest and Trade Network (FTN) was also launched at that event, as part of a global WWF initiative to facilitate market links between companies committed to responsible forestry and purchasing of forest products.

NOTES

1. The Forests Dialogue (TFD), formed in 1999, is an outgrowth of dialogues begun under the auspices of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, The World Bank and The World Resources Institute. These dialogues converged to create TFD when leaders decided there needed to be an on-going, civil society driven, multi-stakeholder dialogue platform to address important global forestry issues.

2. The China Forest and Trade Network is a crucial addition to the Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN), WWF’s initiative to eliminate illegal logging, improve the management of the world's valuable and threatened forests, and promote credible forest certification. By providing support to and facilitating trade links between progressive forest industry companies, the GFTN seeks to create market conditions that will help conserve the world’s forests while providing economic and social benefits for the businesses and people that depend on them.

SPECIAL FOOTNOTE - IMPORT FIGURES
Contrary to some news reports, the China study launched on March 8, 2005 predicts that total imports for wood products will rise by approximately one third over the seven year period from 2003 to 2010, from 94 million cubic meters roundwood equivalent (RWE) to 125 million cubic meters RWE. The confusion, which led to some stories reporting three-fold increase in imports by 2010, appears to be based on the finding that China's total imports of timber in 2003 amounted to 42 millon cubic meters RWE. Timber imports, however, are not the same as total imports, as they exclude wood products such as paper and pulp.

For further information:
Kate Fuller, Communications Officer
WWF Asia-Pacific Forest Programme
Tel: +62 812 382 8011

An Yan, Communications Officer
WWF China Programme
Tel: +86 135 0121 0386

Soh Koon Chng, Communiations Manager
WWF Global Forest Programme
Tel: +41 22 364 90 18
E-Mail: skchng@wwfint.org

Olivier van Bogaert, Senior Press Officer
WWF International Press Office
Tel: +41 22 364 95 54
E-Mail: ovanbogaert@wwfint.org