Stories

The first joint tiger survey in the Terai Arc Landscape was announced by the governments of India and Nepal. With help from WWF, this new tiger survey will use camera traps and other tools estimate tiger populations in an effort to protect this landscape that is home to an estimated 500 tigers.

An oil drilling rig operated by Shell Oil Company ran aground on a pristine wildlife-rich island in Alaska after a series of technological failures in gale force winds and high seas—driving home WWF's serious concerns about drilling in icy and remote Arctic waters.

A new bat named after its fiendish appearance, a subterranean blind fish, a ruby-eyed pit viper, and a frog that sings like a bird are among the 126 species from the Greater Mekong newly identified by scientists and highlighted in a new WWF report.

WWF’s Jason Clay examines the impacts of certification and its potential to achieve lasting results for conservation and people

Coca-Cola is working to protect freshwater resources and ensure a sustainable future

Surveying the coral reefs of the Raja Ampat islands, WWF's Helen Fox works to protect marine areas for generations to come.

A new report on the crisis of illegal wildlife trafficking details its unprecedented scale and global implications. Current global efforts to fight illegal wildlife trade are failing because wildlife crime is seen as an environmental problem first and then a criminal issue. At the same time, organized crime syndicates and rebel groups involved with wildlife crimes are increasing. Profits from wildlife trafficking could be used to purchase weapons, finance civil conflicts and underwrite terrorist-related activities.

Local governments across the U.S. join WWF’s inaugural Earth Hour City Challenge.

Farmed seafood is a rapidly growing industry and will represent a major source of protein in the worlds future food supply. It is imperative that farmed seafood is produced responsibly. A new certification agreement in Vietnam is a model for how both government and industry can ensure that is the case in the future.

Fisheries are complex entities with multiple actors and pressures shaping their future. Jesse Marsh leads WWF’s Major Buyer Initiative, which works with leading seafood buyers to advance their commitments to sustainable seafood and support suppliers on their journey towards Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.

Large swaths of Arctic sea ice shrink every summer in the northern ocean, but September 2012 showed the lowest amount of sea ice on record. Changes to the Arctic environment affect communities and species—especially ice-dependent animals like polar bears. WWF’s Rhys Gerholdt visited the frozen Arctic to see polar bears and reflects on the challenges ahead in this rapidly changing climate.

The communities and wildlife of the Northern Great Plains have not suffered the fate of the Dust Bowl on the Southern Plains. But threats loom—runaway oil and gas development, a changing climate, and agriculture policies that incentivize conversion of grasslands and wetlands to crops, regardless of expectations for crop success.

There are fewer than 100 Irrawaddy dolphins in the Mekong River of Southeast Asia, and researchers fear the numbers are shrinking even further. But now the dolphins may have something to smile about. In September local government agencies in Cambodia agreed to work with WWF to conserve dolphins and minimize or eliminate deaths from gillnets.

A population increase for mountain gorillas is proof that the intense and innovative efforts of the conservation community are bringing positive change. A recent census by the Uganda Wildlife Authority identified 400 mountain gorillas in Bwindi National Park bringing the overall population estimate to 880, an increase from the 786 estimated in 2010.

WWF’s campaign to stop wildlife crime gained a powerful champion—U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. On November 8, the U.S. State Department held an unprecedented event on illegal wildlife trafficking and conservation. In her remarks, Secretary Clinton called for an end to illicit wildlife trafficking, which she emphasized as a major foreign policy and security issue.

Crawford Allan, Regional Director, TRAFFIC North America, has translated his passion for the natural world into a long and fulfilling career. While he has seen the impact of illegal killing of rare species first hand and uncovered illicit wildlife trade in blackmarkets in dozens of countries, he remains hopeful.

The Mekong River’s spectacular biodiversity, rich fisheries and the livelihoods of millions are all at grave risk after the government of Laos broke ground on November 7, 2012 on a massive hydropower dam. The Xayaburi dam will be the first dam to span the entire mainstem of the lower Mekong River—home to more than 1100 freshwater fish species.

On November 6, 2012, the Government of Mozambique announced the creation of the second largest marine protected area in Africa. Made up of ten islands off the coast of northern Mozambique, this coastal marine reserve in the Primeiras and Segundas Archipelago will cover more than 4020 square miles and contains abundant coral and turtle species.

Record rains in 2011, coupled with a tradition of environmental leadership and citizen engagement, moved the city of Burlington, Vermont, to update its Climate Action Plan and join WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge. Hear their story and learn why Jennifer Green, the city’s sustainability coordinator, is determined to make a difference.

Camera traps have captured the first-ever photographic evidence of the Pallas’s cat in Bhutan’s Wangchuck Centennial Park (WCP). Also known as manul, this cat is a primitive species, defined by a strikingly flat head with high-set eyes and low-set ears that enable it to peer over rocky ledges in search of prey.