On August 6th the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) launched a two month public consultation on its proposal for a voluntary add-on standard, RSPO Next, which aims to draw on the strengths and breadth of the RSPO to help companies deliver on their ‘no-deforestation’ commitments. If successfully adopted by the RSPO, WWF believes RSPO […]

As His Holiness Pope Francis said in my home city of Quito earlier this month, “God gave the Earth to humanity not only to cultivate but also to nurture”. The message is clear: when the Earth thrives, we thrive with it. Both as President of one of the world’s largest environmental organizations, WWF International, and […]

The ocean’s story is our story. It’s personal. As a child, I still remember vividly when the much-anticipated Whitbread (now Volvo) ocean race arrived in Cape Town, where my family lived for a time. I was able to meet some of the leathery-skinned sailors with their exotic accents, and explore their purposeful boats; inspiring dreams […]

Bella Roscher, Forest Project Coordinator for the WWF and IKEA partnership, reports on the importance of smallholders, certification and partnership in creating a more sustainable timber market. Around the world, millions of “smallholders” – people who manage or use forests that are considered small in relation to others in their region, and who mainly apply […]

This week government representatives have gathered together in Bonn, Germany for the annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee. Established under the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), this 21-member body is charged with bestowing World Heritage status on the relatively few cultural and natural places recognized as having outstanding universal value to all […]

Recent research on global shark and ray landings highlighted Sri Lanka among several countries that have suffered the greatest declines over the last decade. Reading the findings caused me to cast my mind back to my own experience in that country almost exactly a year ago. Dawn had broken at the Negombo market, and most […]

When I asked around the office how much soy people ate during a year the answers were along the lines of ‘none’, ‘a little’ or the ‘odd splash of soy sauce or soy milk’. With my perhaps unusual request came several questions of what exactly is soy? And in what forms can one eat or […]

As a marine scientist and conservationist I have traveled and worked around the world. My work has allowed me to explore spectacular places and meet brilliant, hard-working people. But there’s nothing quite like working to protect your home, and that’s why I came back to the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Sea has provided food and enabled […]

The soy farms of Mato Grosso stretch as far as the eye can see. In fact, it’s almost impossible for the mind to process a sense of scale in this environment. The green fields extend for what seems like forever, the huge blue sky blankets the land and highlights the golden sun that illuminates the […]

Everyone has heard the jokes about lawyers and sharks. But this month, lawyers became fish’s best friends. In 2013, a West African fisheries commission asked the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea for clarity on four questions. These questions focused on the responsibilities of states that license fishing vessels and the recourse available […]