Community Action

With decades of experience in conservation, WWF understands that success requires an integrated approach that addresses the wide range of social and cultural issues affecting the environment.

Livelihoods and Governance. People in rural areas depend heavily on nature and have often developed traditions governing the use of natural resources. Exclusion from decisions affecting these resources threatens their livelihoods and cultures, and limits conservation.

Population, Health and Environment. In many areas population growth and serious health issues, including the HIV/AIDS epidemic, threaten communities and the places they live.

Conflict and Security. Conflict radically alters economic, political and social conditions and often harms or depletes the natural resources on which humans depend.

Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous peoples often live in the world’s most biodiverse regions and require specialized approaches that respect their cultural heritage, rights and environment.

Gender. Many girls do not receive more than a primary school education. Largely, they are responsible for the management of household resources such as water and firewood, yet are often excluded from community decisions because of legal and cultural barriers.

Notable Accomplishments

• Established the Wildlands and Human Needs Program with USAID funding in countries such as Thailand and Costa Rica, pioneering an integrated approach that links conservation with development objectives and improves local standards of living through better management of natural resources

• Created the Living in a Finite Environment (LIFE) project in Namibia with USAID support. LIFE has now established 50 community managed conservancies, with 20 more in development, and engaged more than 185,000 community members in natural resource management
• First international conservation organization to create a policy recognizing indigenous peoples’ rights as a basis for collaboration
• Launched the Women and Conservation Initiative, expanding women’s participation in natural resource management through women’s empowerment and girls’ education programs

• Enabled local people in Nepal to directly manage and benefit from the forests they restore and conserve through the creation of Community Forest User Groups in a landscape-wide program connecting vital tiger habitats
• Developed local health and family planning initiatives – such as HIV/AIDS education and training of local health volunteers – with health partners in seven countries, reaching underserved and remote communities and improving their natural resource management