WWF - Environmental News

Seven steps to save the Baltic Sea

2010-02-09

Ban of phosphates in detergents, cleaning up remaining Helcom hotspots and a network of marine protected areas are among seven simple actions which could help save one of the most threatened sea areas in the world.

WWF and its partners have published a set of recommendations ahead of the Baltic Sea Action Summit which will take place in Helsinki on the 10 th of February.

Prime Ministers and Heads of States, together with companies and organisations will meet this week in the Finnish capital to agree on ”practical commitments to save the Baltic Sea”.

The Finnish president Tarja Halonen and the Swedish king, Carl XVI Gustaf, also president of the Council of WWF Sweden, are among the participants.

“Strong leadership and urgent action is needed from all countries around the Baltic to save our joint sea. Good ambitions and bold commitments are very important, but words need to be followed by concrete action to a greater extent than today if we are to see any actual improvements in the sea”, said Mats Abrahamsson, Director, WWF Baltic Ecoregion Programme.

WWF has compiled a list of seven simple things that can be done right now in the short term to improve the state of the Baltic Sea. Many of these measures have already been “promised” by the Baltic Sea governments.

“We certainly need to continue to work within regional and European institutions to establish solid long term change processes that have a chance to match the severity and complexity of the problems” said Mats Abrahamsson.” However, while we work on these long term processes, there are several things that can be done now in the short term to improve the state of the Baltic Sea.

The seven simple things proposed by WWF are: Ban all uses of phosphates in detergents, introduce a tax on N and P in mineral fertilizers, ban fishing of eel until the stock is recovered and restore inland migration routes, ratify the Ballast Water Convention, clean up remaining Helcom hotspots, provide adequate port reception facilities for cruise ship sewage and establish a network of marine protected areas

“These measures can be achieved by with very small changes to existing legislations and budgets. They are far from what is needed to restore the Baltic Sea to a good environmental status, but we think they could be a good start, concluded Mats Abrahamsson

Background: WWF, through its Baltic Ecoregion Programme , is cooperating with governments, businesses, scientists and other organisations around the Baltic Sea to involve all nations, all sectors and all stakeholders in a coordinated process to plan the use of the sea and its resources, in an ecosystem-based approach, with the aim of both saving the environment and facilitating economic development.

Governmental initiatives include the 1977 Helsinki Convention and all its ministerial declarations; the Baltic Sea Environmental Declaration of 9 April 1992; the Baltic 21 agenda, initiated by the Prime Ministers of the Baltic Sea countries in 1996; the Baltic Sea Action Plan of November 2008; and lately the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, adopted by the European Council in October 2009.

Preparations for Olympic games in Russia not meeting environmental standards - WWF

2010-02-05

Despite a recent visit by the United Nations Environment Programme, preparations for the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia are failing to meet proper environmental standards, according to WWF.

On Jan. 28-30, a UNEP mission visited Sochi to assess environmental impact of preparation for the Games.

UNEP representative Theodore Oben “expressed his satisfaction with the steps taken by the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee to fulfill its environmental commitments in venues construction,” according to a statement from the Committee’s Joint Information Center.

"I am happy with the visit as it left me with the feeling that the entire team, including those doing the construction, are conscious of the importance of fully integrating environmental considerations in their work,” Oben said in the statement. “I also note with optimism the expressions of willingness to listen to and engage all stakeholders in efforts to make the Sochi Games green."

However, WWF and other NGOs, who have been monitoring the environmental damage in Sochi created by construction in anticipation of the Games, were expecting a different outcome from UNEP’s assessment.

“WWF and other NGOs were looking forward to independent judgment of UNEP's mission to Sochi and a full report on environmental damage done and anticipated,” said Igor Chestin, WWF-Russia CEO. “Unfortunately, this did not happen and the environmental destruction continues.”

Just before the visit, WWF informed UNEP that despite very significant progress made by Sochi-2014 organizers in 2009 to garner public input, decisions taken jointly by organizers and NGOs still are not being implemented.

In addition, Sochi-2014 organizers admitted the poor quality of environmental impact assessments for Olympic facilities as early as on 25 Jan. 2009, but still failed to allocate funding to carry out a survey of those impacts, which means that crucial field data is still lacking, according to WWF.

This could lead to serious damage to the Caucasus, a region with the highest level of biological diversity in Russia.

For example, the environmental impact assessment for the combined railway and highway being built for the Games -- by far the largest project related to the Olympics at an estimated cost USD 8 billion -- is based on 2 weeks of zoological and botanical research done by fewer than 10 people. As a result, projects do not have reasonable mitigation plans, or technological solutions to minimize their environmental impact.

During the visit, WWF and other NGOs also called UNEP’s attention to regular breach of laws for the sake of Olympic construction.

In December 2009, they registered two such breaches: The Russian registration service – without any official government decision or a public discussion - changed the borders of the Caucasian biosphere reserve, a World Heritage site, to allow the building of public road to a resort, and Parliament approved an amendment to the Forest Code, allowing for the cutting of endangered species of trees and shrubs for construction of the Olympic facilities.

Meanwhile, environmental activists were arrested twice - in August and October 2009 - near Olympic construction sites on the pretext they were violating the border zone regime without a special permit, although tourists and other visitors to the area are never asked for the permit and are not even aware that it is required.

“Summing up, we believe that for the time being preparation for the Olympics is out of control, construction is of poor quality, vast damage to the environment has already been made, and NGOs are deprived of the ability to provide independent advice,” said Igor Chestin, WWF-Russia CEO.

UNEP signed on in 2009 to act as an independent observer during the Sochi-2014 preperations to assess organizers’ ecological strategy, according to the Committee’s website.

WWF is aksing UNEP and other international institutions to publicly withdraw from the process as further involvement would be seen as blessing for the environmentally and socially unacceptable practices.

International protection needed for coral used in jewelry – WWF, SeaWeb

2010-02-05

Geneva, Switzerland - Countries participating in a major endangered species trade conference in March must back better protections for red and pink coral, which are disappearing because of overfishing to make jewelry.

Red and pink coral (also known as Corallium) are a type of deep-sea precious coral found in the Mediterranean and Pacific. Between 30 and 50 metric tonnes of these corals are fished annually to meet consumer demand for jewelry and decorative items. The United States alone imported 28 million pieces of red and pink coral between 2001 and 2008.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat today recommended that countries support increased trade protection for red and pink corals, based on the available population data for these species. Science has shown that trade is having an adverse impact on red and pink corals’ ability to maintain healthy populations and to reproduce.

Meanwhile, the United States and the European Union are co-sponsoring a proposal to list red and pink coral under Appendix II of the Convention at the 15th Conference of Parties (CoP 15) in Doha, Qatar in March. Such a move would still allow trade, but only in legally and sustainably harvested coral and coral products.

SeaWeb and WWF support the Secretariat’s recommendations and are urging CITES member countries to support the EU and US’s proposal.

Kristian Teleki, SeaWeb’s vice president for science initiatives said, “Red and pink coral are among the world’s most valuable wildlife commodities. They are long-living, slow-growing species and have been intensively fished for centuries to meet demand in the jewelry and curio trade. A CITES Appendix II listing is needed to ensure these species aren’t fished to extinction.”

“A CITES Appendix II listing would be in line with protection for other coral species,” said Colman O’Criodain, Wildlife Trade Analyst for the WWF Species Programme. “An Appendix II listing for red and pink coral would support local management measures and also help combat poaching, which regularly occurs in the Mediterranean.”

Red and pink coral were proposed for protection at the last Conference of Parties in 2007. The parties initially voted in favor of the proposal, but the vote was overturned in a secret ballot on the final day of the conference, after intensive lobbying from industry interests. Parties will once again take to the floor during CoP 15, March 13 to 25, to consider the proposal. Alongside red and pink coral, several species of sharks, and Atlantic bluefin tuna will also be considered for trade protection.

France calls for international tuna trade ban

2010-02-03

France’s call for an international trade ban on endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna is a strong political commitment, but it falls well short of giving this endangered species the immediate protection it needs from overfishing.

French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo made official today that France supports the listing of Atlantic bluefin tuna on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which will effectively ban all international commercial trade.

However, France is asking for an 18-month delayed implementation of the ban pending new scientific analysis of tuna stocks.

“WWF is pleased that the French leadership among Mediterranean states is calling for the international trade ban for Atlantic bluefin tuna and we urge the French government to drop the call for an 18-month delay in implementing the ban,” said Dr Sergi Tudela, WWF’s tuna expert.

“This decision was made despite a comprehensive report made last year on the historical depletion of tuna stocks, which revealed that current stock levels are under 15 percent of what they once were.
The mechanism suggested by France for triggering the ban is not allowed under the text of the CITES convention, besides being neither scientifically nor economically justifiable.”

“Atlantic bluefin tuna is in a state of severe collapse after decades of overfishing and reproducing stocks are dwindling to an all-time low – and the driver of this situation is clearly international trade,” Tudela said. “To give the species a break, an immediate ban of international commercial trade at CITES – without condition or delay – is the only logical step for the global community to take. Anything less is woefully insufficient.”

WWF urges France to up its pressure on other countries to join it in supporting the trade ban. The support for a CITES Appendix I listing of Atlantic bluefin tuna by a major European fishing country may free up the deadlock across EU member states and the European Commission, whose fisheries and environment commissioners have been at loggerheads for weeks in a failure to agree on the formal EC position.

Italy already voiced its support for the Appendix I listing last week, along with suggesting a three-year suspension of industrial fishing.

“It now falls to EU Presidency holder Spain, other EU countries, the European Commission and all governments that are members of CITES to follow France’s lead and throw their support behind an Appendix I listing for Atlantic bluefin,” Tudela said. “The trade ban must however take immediate effect and be implemented without condition if it is to be of conservation and economic value.”

The proposed listing on CITES Appendix I was originally tabled by the Principality of Monaco. Fisheries experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the scientific committee of the management commission for this fishery (ICCAT) have both confirmed that Atlantic bluefin tuna meets the criteria for listing on CITES Appendix I.

Any future modification of a CITES Appendix I listing can only be carried out by formal proposal and discussion at subsequent Conference of the Parties (CoP) meetings. Indeed, Monaco’s proposal is accompanied by a resolution facilitating a review of the listing at the next CoP, if scientifically justified.

A listing on CITES Appendix I will benefit traditional fisheries such as the tuna traps that have lined the Mediterranean Sea since Phoenician times. These fishers will continue catching and selling tuna in domestic markets, while the bloated international purse seine fleets – the majority of whose catch goes to Japan – will be paralyzed.

Under a CITES Appendix I listing, fishermen can only catch tuna within national waters and sell to domestic markets. But France is also pushing for the establishment of an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around its Mediterranean coastline. This would allow traditional sustainable tuna fisheries to continue their activity and sell their bluefin tuna across the European market.

“WWF supports the establishment of exclusive economic zones across the Mediterranean Sea to encourage sustainable artisanal fishing in the longer term. The monster industrial boats – pumped with public subsidies – have dominated catches in the last two decades, putting artisanal fleets in jeopardy and destroying tuna stocks. It is time to reverse this perverse and discriminatory situation, and a CITES Appendix I listing will do just that,” added Tudela.

The 175 member countries of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) next meet on 13-25 March in Doha, Qatar, where Atlantic bluefin tuna will be the headline marine species.

Decade-old dream comes true for Lake Chad

2010-02-02

Gland, Switzerland – World Wetlands Day is being celebrated with the full recognition of Africa’s Lake Chad as a wetland of international significance, fulfilling an agreement made a decade ago by the four nations that share it.

The declaration by the Cameroon Republic that its portion of Africa’s fourth largest lake is being declared a wetland of international importance under the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands follows similar declarations by Niger and Chad (both in 2001) and Nigeria (2008).

World's largest transboundary wetland recognised by Ramsar

Cameroon’s announcement will also clear the way for Lake Chad to become the largest of the world’s few recognised transboundary international wetlands, where countries make a formal agreement for joint protection and management of shared aquatic ecosystems and their resources.

“Lake Chad’s inscription as only the 13th transboundary formally recognised wetland is highly significant as 11 of the areas so far declared are in Europe,” said Denis Landenbergue, WWF International’s wetlands conservation manager. “Lake Chad joins the Saloum Delta shared by Senegal and Gambia as only the second such site in Africa.”

Massive wetland is an important habitat for many species

Lake Chad is the remnant of a much vaster lake known as Mega-Chad which 22,000 years ago drained a greener Sahara and was three times the size of Lake Victoria, now Africa’s largest lake. It is now the focal point of life in a huge expanse of arid Sahelian Africa. Technically best described as an inland delta, the new internationally protected wetland covers 2.6 million hectares vital to countless birds as well as endangered otters, gazelles and elephants. The Lake is also home to hippopotamuses and Nile crocodiles.

This source of life for millions of people is under threat

The Lake Chad basin is home to over 20 million people with the majority dependent on the lake and other wetlands for their fishing, hunting, farming and grazing. But the Lake Chad basin is recognised as highly challenged by climate change, desertification and unsustainable management of water resources and fisheries.

“Lake Chad is one of the largest and most important of the vital watering points for migratory birds from Europe and west Asia that each year cross the Sahara and it is also where many of them stop and stay for the winter” said Landenbergue.

Other wetlands also recognised

In another World Wetlands Day highlight, Algeria moved to designate several of the wetlands vital to many of the same migrating birds on the northern side of the Sahara. Ceremonies this Sunday in Algeria will mark the designation of five new Wetlands of International Importance for the country.

In Cameroon, adding the completing piece to the Lake Chad world wetland is but the latest of a string of Ramsar declarations over recent years.

“From the Mangrove forests of the Ntem Estuary, curling through the crater lakes of the Cameroon Highlands and into Waza Logone flood plain and the Lake Chad basin, Cameroon’s wetlands constitute a haven for biological diversity,” said Natasha Quist, head of WWF’s Central African Regional Programme.

WWF, which partnered with the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Ramsar Convention and the Global Environment Facility on projects in Lake Chad and with the governments on achieving the declaration, said the challenge now was to “turn the promise of protection for Lake Chad into a reality for the millions that depend on it.”

About the Ramsar Convention

World Wetlands Day celebrates the signing of one of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971 in the Caspian Sea city of Ramsar, Iran. The Convention, known generally as the Ramsar Convention, followed rising concern over the fate of migratory birds and was the first international environment treaty.

For further information:

Denis Landenbergue, Manager Wetlands Conservation
WWF International Freshwater Programme
tél. +41 22 364 90 29
dlandenbergue@wwfint.org

Peru backs massive Amazon protected area

2010-02-01

Lima, Peru: The Peruvian National Protected Areas Service has decided to allocate funds to help protect a large swath of the Amazon this year, which is home to several endangered species and indigenous groups.

The Protected Areas Service pledged to allocate USD 280,000 for surveillance activities in the massive area – encompassing a region larger than El Salvador – formed by the Alto Purus National Park and the Purus Communal Reserve. The protected area was officially created in 2004 in part through the support of WWF.

The area spreads across some of the most pristine forests in the southwestern Amazon and shelters jaguars, pink dolphins, arapaimas and other endangered species. It is also home to at least eight ethnic groups, including an unknown number of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation.

For years, activities such as illegal logging – mainly for mahogany – and poaching damaged these unique forests and disturbed the indigenous communities.

“This represents a major success for all Peruvians regarding the government’s commitment to the conservation of the Peruvian Amazon and will aid to build long term conservation strategies for roughly 3 million hectares of some of the richest forests in the world,” said Biologist Jorge Herrera, Director of WWF´s Amazon Headwaters Initiative (AHI) who has been working in the area for more than five years.

“The recently announced government support will not only help sustain a team of more than 20 park guards, and the heads of the reserve and park, but will also promote capacity building strategies,” said Herrera. “This will enable WWF to focus on other complementary actions and ensure that from now on, Purus is safer than ever before.”

Since 2004, WWF Peru – with funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation -has supported control and surveillance activities carried out by the park and reserve authorities, equipping and helping them implement seven strategic control posts and form an efficient park guard team, made up of experienced technicians and local indigenous peoples with broad knowledge of the rivers and forests which they now protect.

French Guiana set to tackle bycatch

2010-01-31

A new law requiring French Guianese shrimp fishers to use special devices that reduce unwanted fish catch will help better protect marine turtles and other vulnerable marine species in the region.

As of Jan. 1, the country’s fishing fleet under the new law now has to use a device called the Trash and Turtle Excluder Device, or TTED, to limit accidental capture of larger marine species.

Widespread use of this device, which took three years to develop, will greatly reduce bycatch among shrimp trawlers. In French Guiana, tropical shrimp fisheries represent a major source of undesired bycatch. Without a bycatch reduction device in place, shrimp represents only 10 to 30 percent of the total catch, meaning the rest is made up of other marine species.

Nearly half of the world’s recorded fish catch is unused, wasted or not accounted for, according to estimates in an April scientific paper co-authored by WWF. The paper, Defining and Estimating Global Marine Fisheries Bycatch, estimated that each year at least 38 million tonnes of fish, constituting at least 40 percent of what is taken from oceans by fishing activities, is unmanaged or unused and should be considered bycatch.

The TTED is an improvement of a previous device, the Turtle Excluder Device, that consists of a rigid grill inserted at a 45 degrees angle in the trawl with an opening toward the top or bottom. NOAA has documented in research a 97 percent reduction in marine turtle captures through using the device, and additional TED studies conducted internationally have shown a reduction in large marine organism bycatch of as much as 91 percent.

After three years of trials, a prototype combining the advantages of different systems was identified. This model, the TTED, offers numerous advantages, including a 25 to 40 percent reduction of fish bycatch.

In addition, the TTED reduces sorting time and risks of injury due to sharks and rays being caught. The new gear also improves the quality of shrimps, which are less likely to be crushed in the bottom of the trawl, and may also lead to a reduction in the amount of fuel consumed by the boats.

WWF will be talking about this successful project at the upcoming Seafood Summit in Paris, France, running from Jan. 31to Feb. 2.

The TTED is the culmination of years of research. With funding provided by the European Union and the DIREN (Regional Environmental Authorities), WWF commissioned a study from IFREMER (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) to determine which selective gear was the most adapted to fishing conditions in French Guiana. These initial trials, conducted under experimental conditions, were carried out on board a shrimp trawler.

Following this work, shrimp industry’s members expressed the need to continue these experiments and to become more involved in the project. In response, WWF and the CRPMEMG (French Guiana Regional Fishery and Ocean Farming Committee) began working in close collaboration in order to test and develop the best gear for the French Guiana fleet.

With technical support from NOAA and IFREMER, the CRPMEMG carried out numerous at sea trials in close collaboration with French Guiana fleets. Specific parameters where tested such as the shape and spacing between the bars of the selective grid. These trials allowed the fleets and the crews onboard the shrimp trawlers to understand the advantages of a more selective fishing gear and the benefits of using it in French Guiana.

Based on the results and the captains’ recommendations, the CRPMEMG decided to make the use of this TTED system mandatory by January 2010, when the annual fishing licences are issued.

The TTED was developed by the CRPMEMG and fishermen with the assistance of NOAA, IFREMER, the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Région Guyane, the European Fund for Fisheries (FEP) and the WWF.

Time for countries behind Copenhagen Accord to show they are serious

2010-01-29

Gland, Switzerland: Sunday’s deadline for countries to lodge targets and details of emission reduction programs under the Copenhagen Accord, is the opportunity for nations that pushed the climate accord to show they are serious about it, WWF said yesterday.

“Currently, the Copenhagen Accord sets out one agreed goal – keeping the world below the two degrees Celsius danger threshold for global warming ,” said Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF’s global climate initiative.“Sunday is the self-imposed deadline for countries to lay out what they are actually going to do to keep the world out of the danger zone.”

Carstensen said that for the great majority countries this implied a considerable increase on commitments so far.

“Emissions reductions on the table at Copenhagen were clearly setting us up for a world three or more degrees warmer, even without taking into account various large loopholes allowing for dubious emissions reductions claims and double counting of claims,” Carstensen said.

WWF is looking for targets approaching the upper end of a 25-40 per cent range of emissions reductions on1990 levels by 2020 for developed nations. At the time of Copenhagen, only Norway with a 40 per cent reduction target, met this ambition level. Japan has announced that it puts a target of minus 25 per cent into the Accord, which is not far off the mark, while Australia this week disappointed by announcing it intended to stand by is five percent reduction target.

For the developed nations, who did the most to push the Copenhagen Accord, we fear that there is still a gross mismatch between their goal of keeping the world out of climate danger and the steps they are prepared to take to actually achieve this goal,” Carstensen said.

Major emerging economies – the BASIC Group of Brazil, South Africa, India and China – last weekend announced they intended to meet the January 31 deadline with more detail on voluntary mitigation programmes under the accord.

“This is a very helpful move from this group of major developing countries. We expect they will announce high levels of ambition and follow up urgently with clear national action plans meet this ambition”, Carstensen said.

WWF today released The Copenhagen Accord: A Stepping Stone analysing how the world might begin the journey from the political agreement of the Copenhagen Accord to an internationally binding climate treaty in Mexico City in December.

The global environment organisation also said it was still waiting on urgently required announcements under the accord on financial aid to help developing countries prevent and cope with climate change.

“There is a general awareness that the world failed to do what it needed to do in Copenhagen,” Carstensen said. “But climate change is not a problem that will go away but a problem that will get worse and more costly to deal with the longer we delay effective action.”

Tiger Range Countries and partners make new conservation commitments in Thailand

2010-01-29

Hua Hin, Thailand – Governments from across Asia’s tiger range countries (TRCs) sent a powerful message that new efforts to save wild tigers from extinction would begin immediately and called for total protection of critical tiger habitats as the 1st Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation concluded today at the resort of Hua Hin, Thailand.

The Royal Government of Thailand hosted the meeting. Thailand’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Suwit Khunkitti pointed to commitments in the Hua Hin Declaration, and urged other TRCs to follow through with consolidated technical recommendations that resulted from an earlier meeting in Kathmandu on tiger conservation: “We shall reach up to the highest levels of our governments for support at the Year of the Tiger Heads of State Summit in Russia. Let us join together boldly to save the wild tiger.”

Thailand made a number of new commitments at the conference:

• Expansion of its SMART wildlife area patrolling program in its Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM) at Huai Kha Khaeng-Thung Yai
• Assistance to its neighbor countries to repatriate tigers when the population of tigers in WEFCOM and Kaeng Krachan/Kuiburi becomes large enough to act as a donor source
• Announcement that it would make funding for the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network a permanent item in its budget

Seven ministers, along with senior delegations from 13 tiger range countries, gathered with top wildlife conservation experts and representatives from international organizations and donor institutions such as the World Bank, Global Tiger Initiative, WWF, Save the Tiger Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, USAID, FREELAND, and TRAFFIC, to energize the wildlife conservation agenda, update national action plans, and announce specific proposals to reverse the continuing decline of tiger populations.

President of the World Bank Group Robert B. Zoellick, who launched the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) in June 2008 together with the Smithsonian Institution, Global Environment Facility, and other partners, delivered a video message to the ministers and delegations, promising support for the range countries’ efforts and to spearhead sustainable development in Asia: “The World Bank stands ready to support regional projects in the tiger range countries and to mobilize the donor community and develop innovative financial instruments to support tiger conservation funds.”

Populations of wild tigers have declined to only 3,200 worldwide, according to latest estimates, from 100,000 a century ago. The GTI is one of the drivers of the World Bank’s commitment to new strategies that balance economic development with nature conservation, biodiversity and environmental protection.

Another significant development in Thailand came from Prime Minister Vladmir Putin and the Government of the Russian Federation, who officially announced plans to host the Heads of State Summit in September.

The Hua Hin Declaration reflected agreement among the TRCs to redouble efforts on the ground to halt the decline of tigers and assist in recovery of habitats. An international donor conference is also planned later this year to support the countries to bring increased resources for integrated game-changing policy to save the species from extinction.

Michael Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Tiger Initiative, said: “We are delighted to see a ray of hope for the tiger as represented by the tiger range countries’ commitment to work together to double wild tiger numbers by 2022. We look forward to seeing their pledges turn into firm actions in Vladivostok.”

All 13 tiger range countries were represented in Hua Hin. They include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Unique Cameroon mountain area gets crucial protection

2010-01-28

Yaoundé, Cameroon: A new park created by the Cameroonian government that encompasses the highest mountain in West and Central Africa will help protect some of the rarest ecosystems in the Congo Basin.

The government of Cameroon recently signed a decree creating the 58,178 hectare Mount Cameroon National Park, which includes the 4,095-metre high Mount Cameroon – also one of the largest active volcanoes on the African continent.

“A park of such importance will help animal populations to rebuild,” said Atanga Ekobo, Manager of WWF Coastal Forest Project, which covers the region. “It will also encourage the sustainable use of natural resources by introducing and promoting alternative sources of income to the local communities”.

Mount Cameroon is an important refuge and home to many species found nowhere else, including high numbers of plants. A very isolated population of forest elephant also lives there.

For many years, poor land-use planning, land clearance, increasing agriculture, and the bushmeat trade damaged the area’s forest resources and high biological diversity.

But if well managed, the new park will both conserve the remaining natural richness of this fragile ecosystem and improve the livelihoods of local people, according to WWF.

About 300,000 people live the area, which provides them with large amounts of non-timber forest products, protects their water supplies and shelters sacred sites for many traditional communities.

In addition, Mt. Cameroon has a great potential for eco-tourism, according to WWF. The conservation organization expects the creation of the park will increase this potential.

“Cameroon is once again showing its will to protect and properly manage the environment,” said Natasha K. Quist, Regional Director of WWF in Central Africa. “The park has been created in an area where human activity has been intense over the years and the management plan will be developed with the participation of local villagers to define how they can still use their natural resources.”

Creation of the new Mt Cameroon National Park is the result of intense efforts and collaboration since 2007 between MINFOF (Cameroon’s Ministry of Forestry and Fauna) and WWF, with the financial support of the German Cooperation (KfW). WWF Sweden also provided specific support to track and monitor activities of three forest elephants through radio-collars.

Private sector outlines plan to protect Coral Triangle

2010-01-25

Seafood, travel and tourism operators in the Coral Triangle made a joint declaration reduce the impact of their businesses on the world’s most important marine region.

More than 160 delegates gathered last week in the Philippine capital Manila for the Coral Triangle Business Summit to reach agreements on how their industries could contribute to the protection of the Coral Triangle and the 120 million livelihoods that depend on its marine resources.

Participants included leaders from tuna and live reef fish businesses, airlines and resort owners, as well as government ministers and officials, and non-government organizations.

In the seafood sector, fishing operators and buyers agreed to address the problem of overcapacity and overfishing through a number of measures including ensuring that fish are not sourced from illegal operations as well as implementing catch and trade documentation schemes to ensure traceability.

Participants also agreed to promote low carbon fish production methods and trade practices.

Martin Brugman, president of global seafood supplier Culimer B.V said one of the issues discussed was how adding value to fish could help operators to better address the problem of overfishing.

“Ultra-low temperature production of tuna for example allows for better quality fish when it’s landed and helps fishermen get by taking less fish from the oceans but making more dollars,” said Mr Brugman.

Cebu Air used the summit to significantly extend its program to help protect Apo Reef in the Philippines. ‘Bright skies for Juan’ is an initiative that allows consumers to donate money with each flight to a WWF climate change adaptation program to protect the Philippines’ largest coral reef.

Head of WWF’s Coral Triangle Program Dr Lida Pet Soede said the summit had been a huge success and had laid some strong foundations for greater participation of the private sector in the protection of the Coral Triangle.

“This first ever Coral Triangle Business Summit has been a great success and the private sector has shown it is willing to take greater responsibility for the millions of livelihoods that depend on the health of the marine environment in this part of the world,” Dr Pet Soede said.

The Summit was organized by the Philippine Department of Agriculture and the Philippine Department of the Environment and Natural Resources in collaboration with WWF and with the support of USAID.

Madagascar government’s logging policy threatens the island’s natural heritage

2010-01-25

Madagascar’s government decision to allow the export of endangered rosewood may have disastrous consequences for some of the country’s unique plant and animal species, and further impoverish the large island state.

Under past Malagasy legislation it was illegal to export rosewood timber that is not processed but the prime minister recently extended an order legalizing the export of illegally harvested wood.

Containers and multiple stockpiles of rosewood that are still in and around several ports in the island’s north can now easily leave the country, which is one of the world’s richest biodiversity hotspots.

“We strongly condemn the extension of the order as it only benefits a couple of wood operators while the Malagasy population is deprived of their natural heritage and are left poorer than ever,” said Niall O’Connor, Regional Representative of WWF Madagascar and West Indian Ocean Programme Office.

“The Prime ministers comments now opens the doors for further logging in the National Parks which puts short-term financial benefits over the interest of Malagasy people.”

In past years, Madagascar has undertaken significant efforts to stop environmental degradation, manage natural resources and preserve its unique biodiversity.

But political mayhem following a military coup in March led to the exploitation and devastation of several national parks which are home to hundreds of species unique to Madagascar.

Masoala and Marojejy National Parks and Mananara Biosphere Reserve, were severely hit by ongoing logging activities with Masoala, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, being affected most.

“This situation completely undermines years of work and millions of dollars which were spent to try to preserve the treasures of Madagascar,” O’Connor says.

In recent years, timber traders have repeatedly said logs they've harvested were the result of cyclones. With protected areas being among the only places where precious wood trees are still fairly common, these forests will be targeted further, says O’Connor.

A report titled Investigation into the illegal felling, transport and export of precious woods in SAVA region Madagascar, published at the end of November 2009 by Global Witness, stated that “the team observed intensive logging of rosewood trees in the northeast of Masoala National Park, and transport of logs to Antalaha.
The intensive transport of rosewood in broad daylight, on sections of road policed by Gendarmerie posts, both to the south and to the north of Antalaha, demonstrates a serious breakdown in the rule of law – if not the active collusion of law enforcement authorities with illegal timber traffickers.”

Illegal logging continues in Masoala National Park with a possible shift from rosewood towards Palissander, another precious wood found in the moist forests of Madagascar.

Missouri Botanical Garden estimated the minimum number of rosewood trees cut in the northeastern protected areas at 45,750 for Marojejy National Park and the northern sector of Masoala National Park, and at a minimum of 7,750 and 15,500 from Makira Natural Park and the southern sector of Masoala National Park.

The authors further stated, that 170 containers were exported on Dec. 4 2009, 4 days after the inter-ministerial order from September ended. Rosewood worth more than 220 Million USD has already been exported, says the report.

Up to 20,000 hectares of protected forest could be affected by last year’s logging activities.
WWF’s Conservation Director in Madagascar, Nanie Ratsifandrihamanana says, that the consequences for affected ecosystems could be devastating.

“With thousands of not yet described plant and animal species in Madagascar, we don’t know how many of them depend directly on rosewood as a resource. We also don’t know to what extent logging activities were responsible for the decrease of lemur populations over the last year. But we fear that habitat disturbance and bush meat hunting will push several endemic species to the brink of extinction”

Russia makes way for dumping waste, sewage into Lake Baikal

2010-01-20

Russia has opted to reopen a notoriously polluting paper mill on Lake Baikal, reversing long-time protections to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin last week issued a new decree on the inclusion of “corrections” to the List of Banned Activities in the Central Ecological Zone of Lake Baikal, which contained environmental safeguards to protect the lake. This list was first adopted in 2001, a major environmental victory at the time.

According to the new resolution, the discharge of sewage waters into Lake Baikal is now allowed. In addition, the decree allows for the storage and disposal of hazardous waste on the lake’s shores.

“Restart of the mill is being regarded as a necessity to preserve the jobs,” said Igor Chestin, WWF Russia Director. “However, the resumption of its work will mean that Russia violates its obligations as one of the signatory party of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.”

“The new resolution weakens the protection level of the World Natural Heritage site. It means that when a mission of the World Heritage committee could come to Russia and in the future Lake Baikal would be given a status of a World Heritage site under threat”.

Russian environmental organizations, including Greenpeace and WWF, have demanded that the government cancel the resolution. Environmentalists have also addressed The World Heritage Centre of UNESCO with a request to raise the Baikal problem at the soonest session of the UNESCO Committee.

“The resolution that allows the resumption of work of the Baikal paper mill was adopted against the opinion of the Irkustsk research center of the RAS (Russian Academy Of Sciences) Siberian branch and numerous environmental organizations, and without a proper public discussion - which is the violation of the main principles of sustainable development,” said Dr. Evgeny Shvarts, WWF's director of conservation policy in Russia. “Therefore, we reckon that this resolution must be cancelled and a negotiation process on this problem should be started between all the stakeholders to find an optimal and balanced solution that will ensure the protection of the unique Baikal Lake nature”.

Baikal’s paper mill was built in 1966. It is situated in Baikalsk (Irkutsk region), on the South-Western shore of Lake Baikal. The paper mill is a principal employer and mainstay of the entire town. It employed more than 2,300 people, out of the town’s 17,000 inhabitants.

In autumn 2008, a closed-loop water system was introduced at the mill, which helped to prevent Baikal Lake from the industrial wastes. In the beginning of September of that year, the mill stopped the production of the brown/unbleached pulp. According to a factory’s director, there is no technical solution that will allow to produce bleached pulp without any waste. Brown pulp production is not as profitable as the bleached one, and the mill became unprofitable, loss-making factory and suspended its work in October 2008.

The 3.15-million-ha Lake Baikal in Siberia is the oldest and deepest lake in the world, according to UNESCO’s website. It contains 20 percent of the world's total unfrozen freshwater reserve. Lake Baikal first received UNESCO designation in 1996.

According to environmentalists, Baikal paper mill’s activity is the main threat to a unique nature of the Lake Baikal.

Climate change could drown out Sundarbans tigers - study

2010-01-20

One of the world’s largest tiger populations could disappear by the end of this century as rising sea levels caused by climate change destroy their habitat along the coast of Bangladesh in an area known as the Sundarbans, according to a new WWF-led study published in the journal Climatic Change.

Tigers are among the world’s most threatened species, with only an estimated 3,200 remaining in the wild. WWF officials said the threats facing these Royal Bengal tigers and other iconic species around the world highlight the need for urgent international action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“If we don’t take steps to address the impacts of climate change on the Sundarbans, the only way its tigers will survive this century is with scuba gear,” said Colby Loucks, WWF-US deputy director of conservation science and the lead author of the study Sea Level Rise and Tigers: Predicted Impacts to Bangladesh’s Sundarbans Mangroves. “Tigers are a highly adaptable species, thriving from the snowy forests of Russia to the tropical forests of Indonesia.

“The projected sea level rise in the Sundarbans will likely outpace the tiger’s ability to adapt.”

An expected sea level rise of 28 cm above 2000 levels may cause the remaining tiger habitat in the Sundarbans to decline by 96 percent, pushing the total population to fewer than 20 breeding tigers, according to the study.

Unless immediate action is taken, the Sundarbans, its wildlife and the natural resources that sustain millions of people may disappear within 50 to 90 years, the study states.

“The mangrove forest of the Bengal tiger now joins the sea-ice of the polar bear as one of the habitats most immediately threatened as global temperatures rise during the course of this century,” said Keya Chatterjee, acting director of the WWF-US climate change program. “To avert an ecological catastrophe on a much larger scale, we must sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change we failed to avoid.”

The Sundarbans, a UNESCO World Heritage Site shared by India and Bangladesh at the mouth of the Ganges River, is the world’s largest single block of mangrove forest. Mangroves are found at the inter-tidal region between land and sea, and not only serve as breeding grounds for fish but help protect coastal regions from natural disasters such as cyclones, storm surges and wind damage.

Providing the habitat for between 250 and 400 tigers, the Sundarbans is also home to more than 50 reptile species, 120 commercial fish species, 300 bird species and 45 mammal species. While their exact numbers are unclear, the tigers living in the Sundarbans of India and Bangladesh may represent as many as 10 percent of all the remaining wild tigers worldwide.

Using the rates of sea level rise projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its Fourth Assessment Report (2007), the study’s authors wrote that a 28 cm sea level rise may be realized around 2070, at which point tigers will be unlikely to survive in the Sundarbans. However, recent research suggests that the seas may rise even more swiftly than what was predicted in the 2007 IPCC assessment.

In addition to climate change, the Sundarbans tigers, like other tiger populations around the world already face tremendous threats from poaching and habitat loss. Tiger ranges have decreased by 40 percent over the past decade, and tigers today occupy less than seven percent of their original range. Scientists fear that accelerating deforestation and rampant poaching could push some tiger populations to the same fate as their now-extinct Javan and Balinese relatives in other parts of Asia.

Tigers are poached for their highly prized skins and body parts, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine. The 2010 Year of the Tiger will mark an important year for conservation efforts to save wild tigers, with WWF continuing to play a vital role in implementing bold new strategies to save this magnificent Asian big cat.

Recommendations in the study include:

· Locally, governments and natural resource managers should take immediate steps to conserve and expand mangroves while preventing poaching and retaliatory killing of tigers.

· Regionally, neighboring countries should increase sediment delivery and freshwater flows to the coastal region to support agriculture and replenishment of the land;

· Globally, governments should take stronger action to limit greenhouse gas emissions;

“It’s disheartening to imagine that the Sundarbans – which means ‘beautiful forest’ in Bengali – could be gone this century, along with its tigers,” Loucks said. “We very much hope that in this, the Year of the Tiger, the world will focus on curtailing the immediate threats to these magnificent creatures and preparing for the long-term impacts of climate change.”

Seafood ecolabels under the spotlight in new WWF report

2010-01-18

Gland, Switzerland – The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) comes out on top in a new report commissioned by WWF that reveals poor performance among other assessed seafood ecolabelling schemes and calls for improvements across the board to strengthen their effectiveness.

Accenture’s non-profit practice, Accenture Development Partnerships (ADP) compared and ranked seven fishery certification schemes that use ecolabels on seafood products against a set of WWF criteria that focus on the schemes’ effectiveness in addressing the health of fisheries and oceans.

The MSC is ranked the highest in the ADP report, Assessment of On-Pack, Wild-Capture Seafood Sustainability Certification Programmes and Seafood Ecolabels, with a score of just over 95 percent compliance to the assessment’s criteria requirements.

Many seafood ecolabels are inadequate

The report finds that except for the MSC, the other assessed schemes - Naturland, Friend of the Sea, Krav, AIDCP, Mel-Japan and Southern Rocklobster - do not evaluate fisheries across all criteria to the extent required to support sustainable fishing and healthy oceans.

“The findings of this assessment reveal serious inadequacies in a number of ecolabels and cast doubt on their overall contribution to effective fisheries management and sustainability.” said Miguel Jorge, Director of WWF International’s Marine Programme.

“While the assessment shows the MSC comes out best in class using the most rigorous programme out there, it is not perfect. Improvements are needed across the board to ensure all seafood ecolabels deliver on their promise.”

Assessment of ecolabels based on best practice guidelines

The criteria used in the assessment reflect best practices for fisheries ecolabelling certification schemes with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) 2005 guidelines for ecolabelling forming the basis for the criteria. Standards developed by the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling Alliance (ISEAL) and elements from WWF’s framework for ecosystem-based management of marine fisheries were added.

The assessment points to significant differences in transparency, information availability, structure and accuracy of claims made by each scheme. Aside from the MSC, all other schemes assessed have substantial shortcomings in the area of transparency and information provision.

“The growth of seafood ecolabels over the last ten years attests to the strong demand from consumers and seafood companies who want seafood from better fisheries.” added Jorge.

“But with the proliferation of ecolabels and the variability of these schemes there is a real risk of confusion, or worse still a lack of confidence in seafood ecolabelling among buyers and consumers.”

Working with the seafood industry to protect life in the oceans

As part of WWF’s efforts to implement sustainable fishing practices globally to protect marine life and ocean habitats, the conservation organization works with major seafood buyers to use their purchasing power to secure seafood from sustainable sources and assess their current supply chain. The report is intended to address confusion expressed by this group and inform their choices.

The most credible ecolabelling schemes accepted in international fora are voluntary, third party, operated independently and involving interested parties.

Seafood ecolabels should reflect on their contribution to marine conservation

In addition to fisheries certification scheme efforts to address sustainable fishing, other issues including carbon footprint, animal welfare and social issues such as worker’s rights are growing in public consciousness. WWF calls on the seafood ecolabelling community to develop internationally agreed criteria for these priority issues and establish evaluation mechanisms.

“We recommend the assessed schemes reflect on their contribution to marine conservation and use the report as a guide to how best to assess and evaluate fisheries seeking their ecolabel.” added Jorge
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Conservation champion Yolanda Kakabadse starts term as WWF President

2010-01-12

Gland, Switzerland - WWF’s new President, Yolanda Kakabadse, says humans and nature have a shared interest in protecting the environment, arguing that politicians should give conservation issues as much attention as an economic crisis.

A prominent campaigner and former environment minister from Ecuador, Ms Kakabadse begins her new role this month, after climate change talks in Copenhagen fell far short of what is needed.

“Politicians around the world need to understand that saving the environment is also their business,” said Kakabadse who also served as President of the IUCN.

“Environment and biodiversity are no longer subjects for conservationists and scientists only. They have to be treated by politicians with as much attention as an economic crisis or upcoming elections,” she said.

Ms Kakabadse brings with her not only rich experience in diplomacy, coordination and mediation, she also brings passion, hope and a common vision for the whole WWF network, consisting of hundreds of offices around the world.

Taking on her new responsibilities as International WWF President, responsible for presiding over the highest governance body of the organisation, Kakabadse said she would work to integrate and bring common vision and strength to the WWF family.

“The great strength of WWF is that it is close to nature and close to people and that is the approach it will suggest to solve the climate crisis.”

“As President of WWF, I would like to help bring nature closer to humans and humans closer to nature. We must understand that we have only one planet and all share its biodiversity and the incredible resources it offers; if we don’t work together to protect it, we will all lose equally.”

Referring to the climate negotiations, she said that now more than ever conservation groups such as WWF have to take their message to decision makers.

Ms Kakabadse is known across the world for her outstanding role in resolving environmental conflicts between different sectors of society such as policy makers, industry and social groups. She has been an environment champion since 1979 when she co-founded Fundacion Natura in Ecuador, a successful NGO.

Camera traps yield first-time film of tigress and cubs

2010-01-07

Jakarta, Indonesia – Camera traps deep in the Sumatran jungle have captured first-time images of a rare female tiger and her cubs, giving researchers unique insight into the elusive tiger’s behaviour.

After a month in operation, specially designed video cameras installed by WWF-Indonesia’s researchers seeking to record tigers in the Sumatran jungle caught the mother tiger and her cubs on film as they stopped to sniff and check out the camera trap.

There are as few as 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild and they are under relentless pressure from poaching and clearing of their habitat. After five years of studying tigers using wildlife-activated camera traps set up in the forest, these are the first images of a tiger with offspring.

“We are very concerned though, because the territory of this tigress and its cubs is being rapidly cleared by two global paper companies, palm oil plantations, encroachers, and illegal loggers. Will the cubs survive to adulthood in this environment?” said Karmila Parakkasi, the leader of WWF-Indonesia’s Sumatran tiger research team.

The discovery comes as WWF prepares to launch a campaign on 14 Feb. 2010, to coincide with the start of the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar.

The year-long, Tx2: Double or Nothing campaign aims to raise the bar for tiger conservation by securing high-level political commitment at a Heads of State Tiger Summit in September in Vladivostok, Russia to be hosted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and supported by WWF and other partners of the Global Tiger Initiative, including the World Bank.

“We want to change the course of tiger conservation,” said Mike Baltzer, leader of WWF’s global Tiger Initiative. “It’s not just about saving the tiger from extinction, but about doubling their number by 2022.”

With wild tiger numbers as low as 3,200, and a systematic attempt underway to wipe them out of the forests in Asia, more must be done to ensure this charismatic species and flagship for Asia's biological diversity, culture and economy is not lost forever.

In addition to the tigress and cubs’ footage, the video camera also captured images of a male Sumatran tiger and its prey, wild boar and deer, as well as many other species such as tapirs, macaques, porcupines and civets.

Infrared-triggered camera traps, which are activated upon sensing body heat in their path, have become an important tool to identify which areas of the forest are used by tigers, and to identify individual animals to monitor the population. WWF has operated dozens of cameras throughout the central Sumatran province of Riau.

Parakkasi and her team first captured still images of the tigress and its cub in July 2009 through still camera traps. The photos were, however, not very clear.

“We were not so sure how many cubs there were,” she said.

Video camera traps were then installed in September at the same location to clarify the initial findings.

WWF’s tiger research team set up four of the video camera traps in known tiger routes in a forested “wildlife corridor” that allows animals to move between two protected areas in central Sumatra – Rimbang Baling Wildlife Reserve in Riau and Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in both Riau and Jambi provinces.

“When these cubs are old enough to leave their mother, which will be soon, they will have to find their own territory,” said Ian Kosasih, WWF-Indonesia’s Forest Programme Director. “Where will they go? As tiger habitat shrunk with so much of the surrounding area having been cleared, the tigers will have a very hard time avoiding encounters with people. That will then be very dangerous for everyone involved.”

“With this clear scientific evidence of tiger presence, WWF calls for formal establishment of the area between Rimbang Baling and Bukit Tigapuluh forests as a protected wildlife corridor,” Kosasih said.

WWF is also urging the paper companies operating in the area – Sinar Mas/APP and APRIL – as well as palm oil plantations to help protect all high conservation value forests under their control that are the habitat of tigers and other endangered species.

Learn more about tigers

Copenhagen Accord: half-baked text and unclear substance

2009-12-19

Copenhagen, Denmark – The UN climate talks in Copenhagen were inches away from total failure and ended with an outcome far too weak to tackle dangerous climate change, WWF said today.

“Copenhagen was at the brink of failure due to poor leadership combined with an unconvincing level of ambition”, said Kim Carstensen, Leader of WWF’s Global Climate Initiative.

“Well meant but half-hearted pledges to protect our planet from dangerous climate change are simply not sufficient to address a crisis that calls for completely new ways of collaboration across rich and poor countries.”

Politicians around the world seem to be in agreement that we must stay below the 2 degree C threshold of unacceptable risks of climate change – in theory. However, practically what leaders have put on the table adds up to 3 degrees C of warming or more, according to WWF estimates.

“Millions of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars and a wealth of lost opportunities lie in the difference between rhetoric and reality on climate change action.”

Attention will now shift to follow up negotiations which need to fill out many details in the often vague accord – and, on a more positive note, to a host of initiatives by countries, cities, companies and communities that are starting to build low carbon economies from the base up.

WWF analysed the conference outcome against a 10 element scorecard, finding that none of the objectives needed to fulfil the political aim of keeping average global warming below the widely agreed 2 degree C high risk level had been met, although some had been partly fulfilled.

The draft Copenhagen Accord is a long way from developing into a legally binding framework for decisive action on climate change.

“We needed a treaty now and at best, we will be working on one in half a year’s time,” said Carstensen.

“What we have after two years of negotiation is a half-baked text of unclear substance. With the possible exceptions of US legislation and the beginnings of financial flows, none of the political obstacles to effective climate action have been solved.”

The lack of clarity is illustrated by a call for a global peak in emissions “as soon as possible”, in contrast to the 2007 call of the IPCC for emissions to peak in 2017.

Emissions reductions pledges remain far lower than what is required, with a leaked analysis by the UNFCCC secretariat showing a shortfall that would lead to 3 degrees C of warming even without considering extensive loopholes.

“We are disappointed but the story continues,” said Carstensen. “Civil society was excluded from these final negotiations to an extraordinary degree, and that was felt during the concluding days in Copenhagen.”

“We can assure the world, however, that WWF and other elements of civil society will continue engaging in every step of further negotiations.”

They say it’s over but it’s not

2009-12-18

Looking at the text that 25 countries have agreed, Kim Carstensen, the leader of WWF Global Climate Initiative said:

“They tell us it’s over but it’s not. The latest Copenhagen Accord draft mainly reproduced what leaders already promised before they arrived here.”

“The biggest challenge, turning the political will into a legally binding agreement has moved to Mexico.”

“After years of negotiations we now have a declaration of will which does not bind anyone and therefore fails to guarantee a safer future for next generations.”

“What was good about Copenhagen was the level of national pledges for climate action in most countries.”

“Politically, we live in a world that agrees to stay below the danger zone of two degrees but practically what we have on the table adds up to 3 degrees or more.”

“A gap between the rhetoric and reality could cost millions of lives, hundreds of billions of dollars and a wealth of lost opportunities.”

“We are disappointed but remain hopeful. The civil society will continue watching every step of further negotiations. The leaders have to get back to work tomorrow.”

“Getting a strong outcome of the follow-up process will take a lot of bridge-building between the rich and the poor countries. We expect that the Mexican hosts will be ideally placed to play that role.”

Sustainability standards completed for tilapia farming

2009-12-18

Washington D.C. - Global standards addressing the negative impacts of tilapia farming on the environment and society have been finalized.

They are the first set of final standards produced through the Aquaculture Dialogues, a series of roundtables coordinated by WWF.

The standards are the final product of the Tilapia Aquaculture Dialogue, a network of more than 200 people – including producers, conservationists and scientists – created in 2005 to help transform the aquaculture industry. Many of the participants are from the world’s leading tilapia producing regions, including Central America and Asia.

“With almost 75 percent of the world’s tilapia coming from a farm, instead of being raised in the wild, the need for credible standards is critical and timely,” said Dr. Aaron McNevin of WWF, tilapia Dialogue coordinator and Dialogue Steering Committee member.

The standards will allow the tilapia industry to grow while minimizing its impacts, such as non-native tilapia being introduced and chemicals being released into the water.

“There are other tilapia standards on the market but these standards have staying power because they were developed by a broad and diverse group of experts through a very transparent process,” McNevin said. “The standards also will have a long shelf life because they are metrics-based, which is the only way to really know if the tilapia industry is reducing its environmental footprint.”

The certification costs will be low compared to most certification programs because the standards focus on reducing a set number of key impacts instead of a long list of issues. The relatively low cost will make it easier for small- and large-scale producers to adopt the standards. Farmers who adopt the standards will be eligible for certification by early 2010.

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), a new entity that will be in operation in 2011, will be responsible for working with independent, third party entities to certify farms that are in compliance with all of the standards created through the Aquaculture Dialogues process, including the tilapia standards. In the meantime, this role will be filled by GLOBALGAP, a private sector body that sets voluntary standards. GLOBALGAP will certify tilapia producers by supplementing its existing food safety, environmental and social requirements with the new standards. GLOBALGAP Is expected to begin offering this new certification option to tilapia producers by the end of 2009.

“We support the tilapia standards because they will help us tell our customers the story they want and deserve to hear – that they are eating tilapia which was raised in an environmentally friendly way,” said Craig Watson, Vice President of Agricultural Sustainability of Sysco Corporation, the largest foodservice distributer in the United States. “And with the ASC in place, we will have the assurance that the standards will be adhered to properly, which will bring credibility and longevity to the standards.”

The tilapia standards are based on almost five years of discussions and research, as well as feedback received from more than 50 stakeholders when the draft standards were posted for review. The steering committee that managed the Dialogue process used all of this information to develop the final product. The committee included representatives from Regal Springs Trading Company, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, New England Aquarium, Aquamar, Rain Forest Aquaculture and WWF.

“The end result of this process is a product our customers can be proud of because they know it is based on the best input from scientists, producers and NGOs,” said committee member Mike Picchietti of Regal Springs. “And the timing of it is perfect because the standards will allow the tilapia industry to grow without having a negative impact on the environment and society.”

The standards will be amended over time to incorporate new science and to encourage continuous improvement on the farm.

Through the Aquaculture Dialogues, standards for 12 aquaculture species will be created. The Dialogue process includes 2,000 people.The goal of the Dialogues is to follow the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling Alliance’s guidelines for creating environmental and social standards.