Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework

WWF’s Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework (ESSF) provides an institutional mechanism to manage the environmental and social risks of WWF’s work, helps deliver better conservation outcomes, and enhances the social well-being of local communities in the places where WWF operates. The safeguards framework is designed to address a broad range of environmental and social risks, mindful of the different challenges and needs in different parts of the world. It systematizes good governance practices to achieve human rights, transparency, nondiscrimination, public participation, and accountability, among other goals.

This document outlines WWF’s safeguards framework and its policies, standards, risk screening tools and planning documents, as well as the institutional arrangements that make implementation possible.