2014 Annual Report

June 17, 2014, marked a turning point for oceans. In front of leaders from more than 80 nations, President Obama announced the creation of a new initiative to combat illegal fishing—a problem that costs the global economy up to $23 billion annually, with serious conservation and humanitarian impacts. More than 60,000 supporters and partners joined WWF in the lead-up to the conference, calling for action to stop illegally caught fish from reaching the US seafood market. And with a new presidential task force in place, there is strong momentum to achieve new regulations that will ensure that all seafood sold in the US is fully traceable from bait to plate.

Eight years ago, WWF launched a global initiative to promote the UN Watercourses Convention. This year, Vietnam became the 35th country to sign on to it, thereby ratifying the first legal global framework for managing fresh water across national boundaries. With the Earth experiencing increasing periods of drought and flood, protecting the world's 276 transboundary lake and river basins—including the Mekong River, which passes through six countries and fuels the "rice bowl" of Asia—is increasingly imperative. The new agreement, which entered into force in August 2014, will provide common guidelines for the use, development and conservation of fresh water across borders—and new protections for the water that answers multiple food, energy and wildlife demands.

Our continuing global fight against wildlife crime marked several groundbreaking milestones this fiscal year. Our continued support of strong action on the ground to anticipate, arrest and prosecute poachers led to a massive achievement in Nepal, which saw 365 consecutive days without the poaching of a single rhino, tiger or elephant. We played an important advisory role in shaping the US federal government's first-ever strategy for combating wildlife trafficking as well, helping make this critical issue a national priority for more than a dozen federal agencies. And we partnered with the US government on the historic destruction of nearly six tons of seized contraband elephant ivory trinkets and tusks.

With advice and support from WWF, three multilateral organizations have developed programs to address the impacts of agricultural commodity production on the environment. The World Bank has made the rehabilitation of degraded and underperforming land a pillar of its climate-smart agriculture strategy. The Global Environment Facility approved a $45 million, five-year pilot project on agricultural commodoties and the environment. And the Convention on Biological Diversity approved a two-year program to develop biodiversity indicators for commodity production. These globally important actors are now adapting WWF strategies to improve agriculture's impact on the planet.

WWF and the environmental data group CDP have identified how the private sector can save billions of dollars by aggressively cutting greenhouse gas emissions at a rate consistent with scientific recommendations. In collaboration with McKinsey & Company and Point380, WWF and CDP are using The 3% Solution: Driving Profits Through Carbon Reduction to illustrate how the private sector could save up to $780 billion over 10 years by reducing emissions by an average of 3% annually and increasing energy efficiency investments by a mere 1.6 percentage points. General Electric Co., Cisco Systems and Colgate-Palmolive are several large US corporations that have establisted 3% targets.