• Sustainability

New WWF Report Shines a Light on Getting Rid of Ghost Gear

• #30x30
• Conservation Law Foundation
• fishing gear
• ghost gear
• IFAW
• North Atlantic Right Whale
• plastic pollution
• vaquita
• whale
• World Wildlife Fund

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued a new report yesterday illuminating the devastating impact of derelict or abandoned fishing gear in the ocean (aka “ghost gear”), and the numbers are terrifying — between 500,000 and 1,000,000 tons of ghost gear wind up in the ocean EACH YEAR!

Why This Matters:  While fishing gear that is in use is a threat to marine life like whales, abandoned fishing gear is just a tragedy waiting to happen and completely needless — eliminating it is totally within our control.

• People

The UK’s Prince William Launches a 10 Year “Earthshot” To Inspire Action

• #EarthshotPrize
• climate change
• Conservation International
• COP 27
• Kensington Palace
• moonshot
• Prince William
• World Wildlife Fund

Inspired the the “moonshot” project of the 1960s, the heir to the British throne has launched an ambitious effort to find the fifty best new ideas that can change the current course of destruction of the planet.

Why This Matters:  Now more than ever we need leaders with worldwide influence to put us on the right track on climate change and biodiversity conservation.

• Water

New Study Finds That Many Dams Are Located In Protected Areas, Many More Planned

• #30x30
• #WorldWildlifeFund
• conservation
• dam
• fresh water
• protected areas
• water quality
• World Wildlife Fund

A recent study published in Conservation Letters found that over 500 dams in planning stages or already constructed are located within protected areas. As Yale E360 reported this week, this study is significant in that it is the first to measure how many dams are being built in protected areas, including in national parks, nature reserves, indigenous areas, and more. 

Why This Matters: As the article in Conservation Letters lays out, these protected areas are an “essential tool” in the conservation of freshwater biodiversity.

• People

Interview of the Week: Dennis Jorgensen on Reintroducing Bison on the Great Plains

• bison
• buffalo
• Rosebud Economic Development Corporation
• Sioux
• World Wildlife Fund
• WWF

Dennis Jorgensen is the Bison Initiative Coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).  Last week, after working with Dennis and WWF, the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation (REDCO), the economic arm of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, committed nearly 28,000 acres of native grassland for the creation of a new plains bison herd of 1,500 animals, which […]

• Sustainability

New Report Shows U.S. Is The Biggest Loser As Nature Declines

• #30x30
• GDP
• natural capital
• World Wildlife Fund

A new World Wildlife Fund report entitled “Global Futures” released yesterday calculated the economic cost of nature’s decline across 140 countries ranging from India to Brazil, and it shows that if the world carries on with “business as usual” or BAU, the United States would take the biggest hit against its annual GDP in absolute terms, with […]

• People

BuzzFeed News Levels Shocking Charge Against WWF

• Africa
• asia
• BuzzFeed News
• poaching
• wildlife rangers
• wildlife trafficking
• World Wildlife Fund

BuzzFeed News published a shocking exposé on Monday, in which it alleged that one of the world’s largest and most respected environmental organizations, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), has supported anti-poaching guards “who have tortured and killed people.”  Immediately two leading Democratic Members of Congress called for an investigation into these allegations because WWF receives funding from the government to help fight wildlife trafficking.  WWF pledged “an “independent review” led by human rights specialists into the evidence uncovered by BuzzFeed News.”