WWF stands for World Wildlife Fund and has the symbol of a panda. It is one of the world’s leading conservation organisations, with projects in over 100 countries. It is a non-profit that gets funded by public support. The World Wildlife Fund started more than 60 years ago, in 1961. At that time, it was called the “WWF Foundation”.

World Wildlife Fund

The international World Wildlife Fund is the world’s leading organisation for conservation. It is the world’s largest private environmental and conservation organisation. The headquarters of the fund is in Gland, Switzerland.

WWF works to protect nature and create a future in which people live in harmony with the environment. For example, by helping local communities to protect their natural resources. Furthermore, they assist in the rebuilding of damaged land and habitats for different species. In other words, they try to re-create spaces where animals can live. This work is essential since human exploration and exploitation have destroyed many natural habitats. Which has, together with climate change, endangered many of the world’s species. Losing habitat (natural space to live) is the leading cause of higher extinction rates. The latter refers to when an entire species dies.

Three main areas

Mainly, the World Wildlife Fund works in three areas:

• Conserving the world’s biodiversity
• Promoting the sustainable use of renewable natural resources
• Reducing pollution and unsustainable consumption

Furthermore, the organisation has six areas that it focuses on specifically. These are climate, food, forests, clean water, oceans and wildlife.

Biodiversity

High biodiversity is when an area has a lot of different animals, plants, fungi (such as mushrooms) and microorganisms (such as bacteria). There is high biodiversity in untouched places, like natural forests. There, different organisms work together in ecosystems, which means that animals and plants cooperate to create a healthy environment. Biodiversity and ecosystems are critical to support life on earth and keeping a natural balance. Humans depend on this, as they are a part of ecosystems as well. For example, we need biodiversity for clean water and food. Today, human activities threaten the world’s biological diversity, most urgently by deforestation, which destroys natural habitats for many species.

Earth hour

The most effective campaign of the World Wildlife Fund is Earth Hour. It has become the world’s largest protest against the treatment of the planet. It is an international campaign that started in 2007, calling private homes and businesses to turn off their lights for one hour. The idea is to call for action on environmental issues and protect the planet by highlighting the unsustainable use of energy. Furthermore, the hour is the same across the globe. It usually occurs on the last Saturday in March. So far, the campaign has attracted enormous attention worldwide. For example, in 2021, 192 countries and territories participated in the campaign. It usually occurs on the last Saturday in March. So far, the campaign has attracted enormous attention worldwide. For example, in 2021, 192 countries and territories participated in the campaign.

Sources: WWF, Earth hour