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        1. Business & Industry

Facts & Figures

  • 76% of global fisheries are fished at or beyond capacity – ever growing consumption will accelerate this.
  • Aquaculture has grown nearly 10% per year over the past 30 years and now represents more than half of the seafood consumed.
  • Cotton is the largest money-making non-food crop produced in the world.
  • The annual turnover of timber and other wood products from forests is valued at more than US$200 billion.
  • The annual rate of natural forest loss is about 13 million hectares.
  • Bio-fuel production could increase by 50% the amount of land under agriculture or “monoculture” forest plantations by 2050.

WWF Goals

  • Halt and ultimately reverse the loss of high conservation value habitat due to commodity production
  • Ensure that global purchases of key global commodities meet internationally accepted standards

Transforming Markets

Trade and economic growth have improved the quality of life for millions of people around the world, but it has come at a high cost to the environment.

Making markets work so that conservation makes business sense.

Carlos Scaramuzza, Director of Conservation, WWF-Brazil

Burning in plantations and extensive land clearing. Palm oil trees in the smoke from forests fires.Riau province, Sumatra, Indonesia.
Fish processing at the Black Sea port of Trazon in Turkey.
As market demand for food, fibre and fuel increases in the coming decades, so will the impact on our planet’s natural resources.

The effect on biodiversity is however not just linked to global demand, but also to where and how companies and their supply chains obtain and process these vital commodities.

Today, ...are critical environmental challenges linked to the production and consumption of basic commodities that are both renewable (e.g. timber, crops, livestock and fish) and non-renewable (e.g. minerals, oil and gas).

For example deforestation in the Amazon is closely linked to expanding livestock and soy production, and Asia's Coral Triangle is under threat from over-fishing and rising sea temperatures.

Useful Links

Promoting market change

WWF works with major companies and their supply chains to change the way key global commodities are produced, processed and consumed worldwide.

Together with large retailers, manufacturers, traders and investors, commodities can be produced more efficiently and responsibly. In creating demand for such products, significant environmental results can be achieved and markets will become more sustainable.

WWF focuses its efforts on commodities and sectors that most impact the planet's critical regions for biodiversity conservation and those that contribute to humanity’s footprint.
WWF representative discussing with employee of Lafarge at the gravel pit site of Bernières sur Seine, France
Palm oil (Sawi palm) plantation, harvest. Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia

Approaches

The approaches being used to promote positive change in these markets include:

  • Developing new market standards through Multi-Stakeholder Engagements such as Roundtables and Dialogues that involve businesses, trade and industry as well as producers and NGO´s;
  • Establishing Company Partnerships to improve the sustainability of supply chains and promote sector-wide action in this field;

Sustainable wood, sustainable seafood

Wood products carrying the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are responsibly managed.

Products carrying the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) label assure consumers that fish and other seafood products come from, and can be traced back to sustainable fisheries.

Photos and graphics © WWF or used with permission. Text available under a Creative Commons licence. RSS/Web Feeds

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