WWF - Environmental & conservation publications & factsheets

GFTN Participants Supply Information (Bolivia & Peru)

2009-11-06

This supply information (exporter profile) has been created to promote hardwood species from GFTN participants in the Latin American region, including Peru and Bolivia. Find out also about various types of certified timber and lesser known species available in the region.

WWF Caucasus Newsletter

2009-11-05

In this issue:

History and Development
The First Transboundary Project in the Caucasus
Restoration of Forests in Southern Caucasus

CEPF footprints in the Caucasus

2009-11-05

The CEPF Investment was officially launched in May 2004 and a total of $8.5 million was committed over five years for biodiversity conservation in the Caucasus Hotspot. This investment was coordinated and managed through the mutual efforts of CEPF and the WWF Caucasus PO. During the investment period, CEPF awarded 42 grants to civil society organizations. To analyze achievements, lessons learned and work our clear vision for future challenges the special brochure dedicated to the CEPF investment portfolio in the Caucasus has been recently published.

GFTN Quarterly Newsletter, November 2009

2009-11-03

Major highlights include:

* Enabling Markets to Work for Forets: GFTN at the World Forestry Congress 2009.
* Africa: Study Reveals Importance of Certification in Survival of Great Apes
* B&Q Secures Biggest Volume of Tropical FSC-Certified Plywood in the World
* Showcasing GFTN's Certified Wood Market in Latin America and the Caribbean
* Harmonizing Policy and Practice in China
* Sustainable Timber Revolution at Bovis Lend Lease
* Planting the Seeds of Sustainability in West Africa
* And more on GFTN's vision in action

2012 Common Fisheries Policy Reform: Long Term Management Plans and Regionalisation of EU Fisheries

2009-10-30

The 2002 review of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) Regulation established the commitment to introduce recovery plans and multi annual management plans. The Regulation also made a clear commitment to apply the precautionary principle and progressively implement an ecosystem based approach to fisheries management.

In this position paper, WWF outline some of the key changes that it believes need to happen with respect to the adoption and implementation of long term management plans (LTMPs).

Manual of Best Practices for Safeguarding Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches

2009-10-27

Sea turtles are ancient creatures, living mostly unseen in the world’s oceans. At certain times of the year, egg-bearing females must come ashore to lay eggs deep in the warm sand of tropical beaches. The nesting process can be threatened by various aspects (e.g., deforestation, lights, sand mining, roads and construction, noise, activity, recreation) associated with beachfront development. Fortunately, an informed property manager can help ensure the survival of endangered sea turtles and their young by implementing simple measures. Recommendations associated with each of these activities are explained in great detail in this manual.

Deadlines loom for creating new economy to avoid climate catastrophe

2009-10-19

Gland, Switzerland - The world has just five years to initiate a low carbon industrial revolution before runaway climate change becomes almost inevitable. But the good news is that it can be done and that the long term benefits will be immense, according to a new analysis from WWF.

A timetable for energy transformation

Climate Solutions 2 (CS2) is the first analysis to put timetables to the industrial transformations needed to limit global carbon emissions to below the 2˚C level scientists identify as presenting unacceptable risks of runaway climate change. It was prepared for WWF by Climate Risk, a company known for its work on climate change for global insurers and infrastructure providers.

The report found that beyond 2014 the feasible upper limits of industrial growth rates will make it impossible for market economies to meet the carbon targets required to keep global warming below 2°C. The report also found that market measures alone will not be enough to deliver emissions reductions on the scale required and that delays will increase the levels of direct intervention needed in the economy.

"Climate Solutions 2 tells us that we need to start making the change to a low-carbon economy today,” said Kim Carstensen, who leads WWF’s Global Climate Initiative. “The transformation will require sustained growth in clean and efficient industry in excess of 20 per cent a year over a period of decades.

The fastest industrial revolution in history

“The report's modelling shows how we can sustain these growth rates but also makes it clear this will be the fastest industrial revolution witnessed in our history.

"The findings of this report offer a pragmatic, sobering and urgent warning to world leaders that the window of opportunity to act on climate change is rapidly closing. The time for playing politics with our future is long past."

Needs to happen across all sectors

The way forward, according to the report, is simultaneous action on all greenhouse gas emissions from all sectors, with market measures backed with a full range of other policies including energy efficiency standards, feed-in tariffs for renewable energy and an end to “perverse “ subsidies for fossil fuel use.

According to the report, countries not pursuing all carbon abatement options in all sectors will tend to develop least-cost industries first and only develop other low carbon industries as they become affordable.

Computer modelling and historical records agree that sequential development of industries, which would result from undue reliance on a single mechanism such as a rising carbon price, will make it impossible to meet emissions targets on time. Industries that come online later will have to grow considerably faster because of the delays in start-up and will be hit harder by constraints on available resources, labour and expertise.

"This analysis shows that we can win the fight against runaway climate change by transforming all sectors of our economies concurrently, by creating stable long-term investment environments that don't seek immediate returns and through focusing on key industry sectors,” said Dr Stephan Singer, who leads WWF’s Global Energy Initiative.

The green industrial revolution is already under way

The industries that will lead the transformation are renewable energy generation, carbon capture and storage, energy efficiency, sustainable low-carbon agriculture and sustainable forestry. With the clean industrial revolution under way and sustained by a strong policy framework all renewable energies become competitive with fossil fuels between 2013 and 2025 – a highly conservative estimate based on just 2% annual rises in fossil fuel prices and no price on carbon.

"The wind, the sea and the sun will cost the same today, tomorrow and into the future, unlike coal,” said Singer. “They can be the basis for a cleaner world where energy supplies are more secure and where we have the best chance of preventing dramatic climate changes that could endanger our cities, our food supplies and the natural environment that we have always depended on."

Climate Solutions 2 calculates that the extra investment worldwide is expected to be US$17 trillion up to 2050 – or less than 15% of the funds currently managed by institutional investors. The returns on that investment are expected to flow back into investor’s pockets from 2027 and in some cases even earlier.

For renewable technologies, the cumulative investment to 2050 worldwide will total US$7 trillion, but it is expected generate returns to investors of around six times as much.

"Climate Solutions 2 draws a line in the sand that we cannot cross,” said Castensen. “It reinforces that we have reached a pivotal moment in our history where the window of opportunity which remains to prevent runaway climate change will soon disappear entirely.

“Most immediately and importantly, the basis for this transformation has to be laid in Copenhagen in December with a fair, binding and effective new global deal on climate change.”

New Generations Plantations Project - Synthesis Report 2007 - 2009

2009-10-18

Tortugas Marinas

2009-10-16

Las tortugas marinas, al igual que todas las demás tortugas tienen el cuerpo muy modificado ya que viven dentro de una caja o coraza. La cara dorsal está formada, en la mayor parte por las costillas expandidas que dan origen al caparazón; y la cara ventral, por unos huesos especiales que originan el planstrón.

Las tortugas marianas tienen varias características del suborden Cryptodira: la forma del cuello, las mandíbulas, etc., aunque por el gran tamaño de la cabeza, el cuello y las patas no pueden esconderlosdentro de la coraza. Las patas modificadas en aletas y la forma hidrodinámica del cuerpo facilita su desplazamiento en el agua, medio en el que pasan casi completamente su vida.

Ficha Tapir de Altura

2009-10-16

I. HISTORIA NATURAL
II. IMPORTANCIA DEL TAPIR DE ALTURA PARA SU CONSERVACIÓN
III. AMENAZAS
IV. BIBLIOGRAFIA

Posidonia Summer 2009

2009-10-15

Posidonia, the WWF Mediterranean newsletter for the community of environmental organizations in the Mediterranean.

Cool Products, Warm Homes: A European manifesto for sustainable heating and cooling of buildings

2009-10-14

The energy we use for heating and cooling buildings accounts for about one quarter of all energy consumed in Europe - as much as all EU transport. Many buildings are poorly insulated and use inefficient heating and cooling products, unnecessarily wasting energy, contributing to climate change and air pollution, and costing billions of euros in high energy bills.

Saving energy is not yet a priority for the EU. Legislation to tackle the energy efficiency of buildings and products is not sufficiently ambitious and lacks coherence. The Cool Products, Warm Homes Manifesto makes five recommendations to end the energy wasted for heating and cooling our buildings:

1. Adopt a mandatory EU 20% energy saving target by 2020 to support our commitment to energy conservation.

2. Establish more coherent legislation to close gaps and set clear responsibilities.

3. Boost the energy performance and renovation rate of existing buildings in the EU.

4. Allow only the greenest heating and cooling products to reach the market.

5. Redirect finance where it matters.

Sharing the effort under a global carbon budget

2009-10-07

In order to avoid dangerous climate change there is a growing consensus among now more than 120 countries that average global temperatures should not increase by more than 2°C over pre-industrial levels. This was affirmed in July of this year by the G8+5 nations, a group of countries encompassing all major emitters from the developed and developing world. This is a giant leap forward and provides large hope for success of the ongoing negotiations for a post-2012 treaty to be agreed in Copenhagen at the Climate Summit in December this year.

How can this objective be met? WWF and other members of the Climate Action Network (CAN) are strongly promoting a legally binding mid-term target of at least 40% emissions reductions by 2020 below 1990 levels for developed countries as a group, under common but differentiated responsibilities that require nations that are rich and have high per capita emissions to ‘pay back’ their atmospheric debt. Globally, all countries need to have reduced their total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 in order for the world to stay below 2°C of warming.

The emissions trajectory between now and 2050 needs to be distributed in an equitable way with the appropriate distinctions made between ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ and between ‘high’ and ‘low’ per capita emitters. To inform the international debate, WWF asked the leading energy research consultancy ECOFYS to elaborate on the practicalities and implications of some suggested methodologies already under discussion and some that are promising and should receive consideration.

Unabated climate change will cost much more socially, economically and environmentally. It will wreak havoc on global food security and freshwater availability, and its impacts will be disproportionately felt by poor and vulnerable communities. What WWF seeks to do with this paper is to kick-start a debate on how to globally share the carbon budget consistent with a trajectory to keep global warming below 2°C. This is not about burden sharing – this is about benefit sharing. Compared to unabated climate change, perceived economic ‘hardship’ is a luxury problem.

Ivory traffickers held in Central African Republic

2009-10-06

The arrests were the first of their kind in the African nation since it passed a wildlife protection law in the 1980s, said Ofir Drori, director of the Cameroon-based group The Last Great Ape which announced the arrests with WWF.

One woman had 157 ivory objects weighing more than 200 kilogrammes in her home in Bangui, the groups said in a statement.

The other trafficker was detained in a Bangui hotel Friday as he was "trying to sell 14 ivory objects, hippopotamus teeth and a panther skin," said the statement.

The two could face up to a year in jail if found guilty.

"They had several decades of experience between them and were said to be at the centre of an international ivory trafficking network," the statement said.

Illegal poaching threatens the elephant with extinction, animal protection groups say, despite the ivory trade being banned by a 1989 international agreement.

Experts say some 38,000 African elephants are killed each year for their tusks.

WWF Guide to Conservation Finance

2009-10-06

The Guide to Conservation Finance provides an overview of conservation financing mechanisms that have been implemented throughout the world. The guide informs field practitioners about which of the available financing mechanisms they could apply to achieve their conservation aims. The various mechanisms are illustrated with short case studies that demonstrate both successes and challenges. In addition, the guide provides a list of resources and Web links for further exploration of the conservation finance field.

Estándar para la Certificación del Manejo Forestal

2009-10-05

El Consejo Peruano para la Certificación Forestal Voluntario - CP-CFV, es una organización civil, fue creado para promover y difundir los beneficios de la certificación forestal voluntaria, bajo los principios y criterios que propone el Consejo de Manejo Forestal o Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Certificación FSC Cadena de Custodia

2009-10-05

El Sistema de Cadena de Custodia del FSC (CoC por sus siglas en inglés) articula las prácticas de manejo forestal responsables con los consumidores. Y es que gracias a la cadena de custodia del FSC, las empresas pueden demostrar su compromiso por un manejo forestal, ambiental y social responsable, así como etiquetar sus productos con las marcas registradas del FSC.

Madagascar accused of profiting from illegal timber

2009-10-05

Madagascar's cash-strapped government has opened the door for timber barons to plunder the Indian Ocean island's precious natural resources.

WWF, Conservation International and Wildlife Conservation Society said an inter-ministerial order issued last month granted an exceptional authorisation to export raw and semi-processed hard wood.

"It legalises the sale of illegally cut and collected wood onto the market; allows for the potential embezzlement of funds in the name of environmental protection and constitutes a legal incentive for further corruption in the forestry sector," the three groups said in a statement.

Eco-tourism is the backbone of Madagascar's $390-million-a-year tourism industry, which has been wrecked by months of political turmoil this year.

Conservationists say its biodiversity is being wiped out on a shocking level as gangs take advantage of a security vacuum to pillage rosewood and ebony from supposedly protected forests and trap exotic animals, mainly for Asia's pet market.

Isolated from land masses for more than 160-million years, the world's fourth largest island is a biodiversity "hotspot" home to hundreds of exotic species found only there.

Prime Minister Monja Roindefo denied the government was legitimising the plundering of forests, but refused to rule out issuing future licences.

"We have brought the logging under control. For the moment we don't foresee another order being issued," he told Reuters.

The September 21 government order authorised 13 operators to export 325 containers of timber, with the authorities taking a 72-million ariary tax on each container.

The donor-dependent country has seen its reserves dwindle after key donors branded Andry Rajoelina's March power-grab a coup and froze hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.

Rich pickings
According to a Global Witness report seen by WWF, timber barons have felled 7 000 cubic metres of rosewood a month since Madagascar's political crisis erupted in January.

WWF estimates the wood would sell in Asia at about $5 000 a cubic metre.

WWF said it was pushing for rosewood to be registered as an endangered species according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

Environment protection groups say illegal logging continues in Madagascar's north-east and fear more licences might be granted as the government looks for ways to generate cash.

"Preliminary research shows rosewood is under extreme pressure. If it was registered as endangered then much tighter regulation would be required for both export and import," said Niall O'Connor, head of WWF's Indian Ocean region office based in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo.

Ousted leader Marc Ravalomanana was credited with increasing the number of national parks and protected areas, backed by donors including the World Bank and the United States.

But decades of logging, mining and slash-and-burn farming have destroyed up to 90% of the ecology on the island, home to scores of endangered lemur species.

"It's a tragedy, we just don't know how many species are being impacted," O'Connor said.

A sea of opportunities for Europe

2009-09-30

From a sea of troubles...

Fish populations all round the world are in trouble, but the EU is in a state of crisis. More than 85% of its commercial stocks are overfished, a rate far above the current global average of 25%. Nearly one-third of fish in EU waters, including iconic species like Mediterranean bluefin tuna, are at risk of collapse.

Indiscriminate and short sighted fishing practices, together with poor fisheries management – quotas set too high, fishing seasons open too long, too many boats – continue to put our seas at serious risk.

Overall the capacity of the European fleet remains far greater than the available fish in the sea. Overcapacity is one of the fundamental barriers to effective recovery of fish stocks and efficient economic performance of the fleet.

... to a sea of opportunities

The reform of the EU Common Fisheries Policy is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to bring urgently-needed change to the way our fisheries are managed; it may be our last chance to get it right.

Director of WWF Mongolia meets the advisor to the President of Mongolia

2009-09-19

While presenting the WWF's position on Cophenhagen Deal, Chimed-Ochir highlighted the importance of using the opportunity to give political impetus to the negotiation process at the United Nations Climate Summit and series of meetings US late September as well as COP15 in December this year.

Furthermore, they exchanged views on climate change impacts on Mongolia and further mitigation and adaptation actions to be taken. In this line, Mr. Chimed-Ochir requested to pay attantion on two hydropower plants which seriously impact on Zavkhna river, located in the Altai-Sayan ecoregion, identified as one of the 35 Global Priority plases by WWF, and called upon taking concrete actions.
At the end of 2-hour meeting Mr.Zorigt E. suggested the director of WWF Mongolia to become a member of Ad Hoc working group on environmental issues under the Policy council of the President Office. Mr.Chimed-Ochir warmly accepted the suggestion and said "The highest encouragement we get is the contribution to the countries' development".