World Wildlife Fund Sustainability Works

Food systems are the number one threat to nature and a major contributor to biodiversity loss. Feeding a growing world population while protecting nature and reducing GHG emissions is the imperative of our time. While the challenges are universal, solutions must be tailored to local contexts, as food systems are deeply influenced by culture, heritage, and local context. This means that what works in one place may not be effective in another.

The Great Food Puzzle series adapts solutions to the unique needs of countries by clustering countries with similar socioeconomic and environmental factors. This classification helps identify key actions to drive the shift toward healthier and more sustainable food systems—offering an opportunity for countries to learn from each other and emulate the successes of peers. The US has a similar type of food system to that of the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan.

Investor interest in financing nature-based solutions is burgeoning, but given the $711 billion funding gap, you wouldn’t know it. With over half of the global GDP reliant on nature, and the global ambition to achieve goals set in the 2016 Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework, financing nature-based solutions is smart business. And yet, the sector struggles to secure the necessary investment to combat nature loss.

The overwhelming majority of capital allocated to climate and nature is directed toward energy, transport and infrastructure- food systems receive only 4%. Underinvestment in agriculture, especially in the transition of global food systems toward regenerative and nature-positive production practices, stands out given the sector’s profound impact on nature. Agricultural production and food systems are the main drivers of biodiversity loss, deforestation, conversion of natural habitats, and topsoil loss. They consume 70% of freshwater and generate one third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Agricultural production and food systems are the main drivers of biodiversity loss, deforestation, conversion of natural habitats, and topsoil loss. They consume 70% of freshwater and generate one third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

[Note: In 2023, Megan Torgerson from Reframing Rural, a podcast with a mission to share stories of people and places in rural America in an effort to celebrate culture, preserve history and cultivate curiosity and conversation across geographic, class and cultural divides, had the opportunity to attend WWF’s inaugural Sustainable Ranching Initiative gathering. What follows is Megan’s account of her experience at the event, and what participants can expect at this year’s gathering, which will take place on Sept 10-11, 2024 in Spearfish, South Dakota. This is the final post in four-part series. You can read the previous posts here: Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3.]

A difficulty producers face today is the rising price of land. With inflated land prices now reflecting the value of land’s recreational rather than agricultural potential, absentee landownership is on the rise making it harder for ranchers, young and old, to purchase pastureland and hay ground. This makes it more challenging for new producers to get into the business and for senior ranchers to pass down their operations (Reframing Rural). One way ranchers are adapting to this challenge is through the recent innovation of virtual fencing.

The Challenge

With each passing day, the plastic pollution crisis grows more urgent. As the world generates 400 million tonnes of plastic waste each year, studies reveal the toll that plastics are taking on our health, bodies, and environments. Yet, plastic remains deeply integrated in our lives and routines – it makes our hospitals safer, helps our food last longer, and our packages ship more easily. We must all come together to find solutions to fix the broken system that has landed us in a world of plastic dependence, and consequently, plastic pollution. Business in particular plays an essential role and must take bold and effective action now to ensure a more sustainable future.

It’s true that sustainable investments, such as those in product design, innovation, and manufacturing, require large upfront costs. This can be especially hard to justify when the financial benefits are not guaranteed and the ROI may not be seen for years. However, if done effectively, the potential gain is worth the investment. For instance, research estimates that converting 20% of plastic packaging to reuse offers a $10 billion opportunity for businesses.

[Note: In 2023, Megan Torgerson from Reframing Rural, a podcast with a mission to share stories of people and places in rural America in an effort to celebrate culture, preserve history and cultivate curiosity and conversation across geographic, class and cultural divides, had the opportunity to attend WWF’s inaugural Sustainable Ranching Initiative gathering. What follows is Megan’s account of her experience at the event, and what participants can expect at this year’s gathering, which will take place on Sept 10-11, 2024 in Spearfish, South Dakota. This post is the third of four in a series. The previous posts are here: Part 1 | Part 2.]

A widely-discussed challenge impacting the agriculture sector is the aging population of farmers and ranchers. The Quivira Coalition is addressing this concern by helping steward the next generation of ranchers through their New Agrarian Program. The New Agrarian Program provides first-time ranchers the opportunity to learn from skilled practitioners of regenerative agriculture.

[Note: In 2023, Megan Torgerson from Reframing Rural, a podcast with a mission to share stories of people and places in rural America in an effort to celebrate culture, preserve history and cultivate curiosity and conversation across geographic, class and cultural divides, had the opportunity to attend WWF’s inaugural Sustainable Ranching Initiative gathering. What follows is Megan’s account of her experience at the event, and what participants can expect at this year’s gathering, which will take place on Sept 10-11, 2024 in Spearfish, South Dakota. This post is the second of four in a series. Read the first post here.]

The Farm Bill plays an integral role in conserving grasslands and keeping families like the Stoltzfuses on the land. This critical piece of legislation, which is reauthorized around every five years, also heavily impacts the lives of all Americans.

"This is an industry that's important, not just to those of us who live in rural America.” said House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson during a 2023 Farm Bill listening session with farmers and ranchers in Pennsylvania . “It touches the lives of every American family more times a day than any other industry.” (NPR).

In 2023, Megan Torgerson from Reframing Rural, a podcast with a mission to share stories of people and places in rural America in an effort to celebrate culture, preserve history and cultivate curiosity and conversation across geographic, class and cultural divides, had the opportunity to attend WWF’s inaugural Sustainable Ranching Initiative gathering. What follows is Megan’s account of her experience at the event, and what participants can expect at this year’s gathering, which will take place on Sept 10-11, 2024 in Spearfish, South Dakota.

It’s not often you walk into an air-conditioned conference room to see a large gathering of ranchers in ivory cowboy hats, cotton dresses, and pressed work shirts. In August they’re usually outside, on the ranch, close to the many beating hearts of their herd and the rangelands and water they rely upon. But this summer on Montana Avenue in Billings, ranchers from across the Northern Great Plains carved out time to come together for World Wildlife Fund’s first-ever Sustainable Ranching Initiative Gathering. The day before the convening, ranchers toured operations near Winnett, Montana to see grassland conservation in action and the on-the-ground impacts of rancher-led nonprofit Winnett ACES.

McDonald’s Corporation is planting trees in hedgerows on French farms, with a target of 230,000 trees by 2030. Why? This is one of the activities that companies can implement to reduce agriculture and forestry greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in their supply chains and count toward meeting their climate targets. All told, McDonald’s Corporation committed to reducing its forest, land, and agriculture emissions by 72% by 2050.

Other mitigation options for companies with food, agriculture, or forestry emissions include reducing emissions by halting deforestation and degradation, improving forest management, reducing agricultural emissions, and sequestering carbon in soil.

Businesses’ supply chains depend on climate and the services provided by nature. Companies with significant land-sector emissions are even more dependent than others, so they are strengthening their climate commitments to comprehensively include land emissions through the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Since the SBTi began validating Forestry, Land, and Agriculture (FLAG) science-based targets last year, 83 companies have set targets to reduce their FLAG emissions and increase removals.¹

More ways companies are taking action to reduce FLAG emissions include:

Sharks are among the most majestic top predator species. They have outlived the dinosaurs and many other forms of life currently on earth, with fossil records dating back 400 million years. Our oceans are home to more than 500 different shark species worldwide, and they play an important role in marine ecosystems. Sharks are critical to maintaining the delicate balance of marine life and can help our oceans become more resilient in facing climate change.

However, these predators are in danger. Shark populations around the world are in decline due to overfishing, the demand for shark fins, and habitat loss. Since they reproduce so slowly, sharks cannot keep up with the rate at which they are caught. That is why WWF has made restoring shark populations a top conservation priority.

Recently, WWF partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to raise awareness about the dangers facing these iconic ocean species. During their week of exclusive shark-focused TV programming, “Shark Week,” Warner Bros. Discovery helped raise awareness and save sharks globally by helping to protect critical ecosystems, including pupping and nursery habitats for baby hammerheads.

For anyone who has witnessed first-hand a large tusker elephant in its natural habitat, you know just how awe-inspiring this moment can be. We have both had the privilege of seeing these amazing creatures up close and personal in African game reserves. Unfortunately, the experience also serves as a reminder of just how rare this opportunity is becoming.

Live animals and products made from hundreds of different species like elephants, pangolins, and tigers are in demand around the world for uses ranging from ornaments and jewelry to alleged medicinal cures. The UN estimates that this illegal trade in wildlife has an annual value of over 20 billion USD and is one of the top five illicit markets in the world.

And like everything else, this trade has moved online.

WWF researchers can find endangered species products as well as live, exotic pets like primates, cheetah cubs, and threatened parrots for sale online in just seconds. Many of these are protected and illegal to trade, having been smuggled from the most remote corners of the world in horrible conditions.

But just as technology can enable such nefarious purposes, it can also serve as a tool that allows us to explore the world around us and help to protect it. Nowadays, anyone can have their own awe-inspiring moment from the comforts of their living room through tech innovations like virtual reality, transporting them directly to the African savanna. You can even help scientists sort through and label wildlife images to advance conservation. The proliferation of AI, in particular, has emerged as a game-changer. It is seemingly everywhere, and, if you believe the hype, it can do anything. One area that interests us is deploying AI to help save nature by identifying prohibited wildlife sales hidden across billions of social media posts.