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WWF

Publications

  • Nature-positive oceans 1 pager

  • On September 13, six organizations issued a letter to President Biden appealing for executive leadership on global plastic pollution.

  • WWF GEF Plastics Global CEO Endorsement Request

  • WWF GEF Plastics Global CEO Endorsement letter

  • WWF GEF Namibia PARKS PIF

  • Fonseca EN Guidelines 2025

  • Faculty SP Guidelines 2025

  • Fonseca SP Guidelines 2025

  • Our oceans provide a range of goods and services, many of which depend on healthy ecosystems. The production of seafood, for local consumption, or for trade as a soft commodity, is one of the most widely recognized blue economy services that a healthy ocean provides.

    But unsustainable fishing in the greatest threat to the health of ocean ecosystems, and is compounded
    by issues like climate change and habitat destruction from coastal development. Fisheries management varies greatly from country to country and from stock to stock, from tightly regulated fisheries with high transparency to situations with poor or limited management and little independent observation and validation. At the same time human rights, worker safety and labor violations in both aquaculture production and wild capture (often linked to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing) are

    increasingly, and appropriately in the media spotlight revealing the significant potential reputational, market and regulatory risks associated with parts of the seafood industry. These risks – often hidden through complex, opaque, and transnational supply chains – indirectly affect financial institutions (FIs) who provide capital to the companies that participate in the seafood industry.

  • The blue economy is worth US$24 trillion, but declining ocean health and mismanagement of marine resources threaten the future of ocean-based communities and economies. By contrast, a nature-positive and sustainable blue economy significantly benefits the planet, people‚'s food and job security, economic prosperity, and global peace and security. To achieve this vision, capital must be directed away from destructive activities, and towards those that offer sustainable outcomes; and we must develop new innovative financial products that drive capital into building resilient coastal communities and seascapes, where it is needed the most. WWF is working with major financial institutions to do just that.