Stories

The negotiators gathering in Dubai today for the UN COP28 climate summit are fully aware of the challenge before them. The first iteration of the global stocktake report, a key component of the Paris Agreement released in the lead-up to this year’s summit, paints a sobering picture: while we have made strides since 2010, the current trajectory of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions still falls perilously short of the targets set to limit warming.

This year is set to be the hottest year ever recorded, according to an announcement by the World Meteorological Organization at critical international climate talks underway in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

This year’s COP is critical as an inflection point in the transition away from fossil fuels and towards a renewable energy economy. We need to rapidly scale clean energy, and we need to do it while minimizing harm to nature.

The 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) is the United Nations’ 28th annual climate summit, and it is being held at a critical time for the world. The summit is taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12.

WWF announced the launch of our Oceans Futures platform, a first-of-its-kind initiative that uses global climate and fisheries models to highlight 20 regions of the world that will likely see greater conflict, food insecurity, or geo-political tensions over ocean resources by 2030.

Carbon is essential to life on Earth. As the atmosphere has evolved, the amount of carbon in it has increased due to human activity, primarily from burning fossil fuels, resulting in the climate crisis. 

Once home to a whaling station, Chile's Guafo Island now teems with biodiversity. It's a cetecean migratory hotspot and the site of a major conservation project for 10 Indigenous tribes and WWF.

Putting nature at the heart of infrastructure design offers a great way to help halt and reverse biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Months after their initial setup, the camera traps revealed the rich diversity of wildlife in one of the world’s oldest forests and what’s at stake if poaching, deforestation, and human-wildlife conflict are not addressed.

Activists play a significant role in encouraging governments to effectively tackle the plastic pollution crisis. Among them is Betty Osei Bonsu, who is mobilizing youth to fight for a solution—for people and the planet.

In a first-of-its-kind analysis, WWF and Boston Consulting Group compare a rapid transition to renewable energy to our current approach dominated by fossil fuels across key areas. The results show that a rapid transition to renewable energy is dramatically better for nature, human health and safety, and jobs.

Oysters, in all their stunning variety and storied reputation for pearls and elegant cuisine, play an exemplary–if often unacknowledged–role in mitigating the effects of our warming planet.

In southwestern Madagascar, WWF is working with communities to protect lemurs in the community-managed Amoron’i Onilahy Protected Area by keeping habitat intact for lemurs and the people who rely on the forest for survival.

In a world where meat, dairy, and eggs hold generations of tradition, embracing the complexities of animal agriculture and its environmental impact is crucial. By addressing this together, we are taking big steps toward a better and more sustainable future in farming.

WWF’s 2023 Plowprint report shows that 1.6 million acres of grassland habitat were destroyed in the Great Plains across the US and Canada in 2021. Since 2012, we’ve lost 32 million acres, plowed up primarily for row crop agriculture.

A startling increase in the speed and intensity of global deforestation has derailed efforts to protect and restore forests by 2030. Fortunately, there's still time to halt deforestation and sustainably manage and restore forests in ways that benefit people and nature.

Under the Global Declaration for River Dolphins, countries will implement specific actions that will tackle threats to the river dolphins, improve and preserve their habitat, and effectively manage a network of protected areas, among other conservation interventions.

Bhutan’s snow leopard population increased by 39.5% since 2016, according to a new survey implemented by the Royal Government of Bhutan’s Department of Forests and Park Services with support from WWF-Bhutan and partners. Findings from over 10,000 camera trap images confirmed the presence of 134 snow leopards in the country, an impressive jump from the baseline of 96 snow leopards in 2016.

In the Colombian town of Acandí, many local fishers are now promoting the well-being of wildlife and changing their fishing practices to minimize harm to the environment.

In the southern highlands of Tanzania, a group of community members from Igombavu village are working with the CARE-WWF Alliance to increase their standards of living while also protecting their environments. The Manzigira group (Swahili for “Environment”) is leading the village in growing and replanting riparian (or water-friendly) trees to restore and stabilize water banks that have been damaged, while also establishing community bylaws to restrict further misuse of the land.

In July 2023, India announced that its latest survey had recorded an estimated minimum of 3,682 tigers.

The Amazon is in crisis. Deforestation, degradation, and climate change are pushing the Amazon rain forest and river systems to the edge, undermining the future resiliency of the Amazon’s people and ecosystems. Current levels of deforestation in the Amazon are approximately 17% but we can act now to reverse this trend

Heritage Colombia (HECO) is an ambitious initiative to expand, secure, and sustainably finance a significant portion of Colombia’s natural landscapes, seascapes, and biodiversity.

SeaForester, a WWF grantee, is tossing seaweed a much-needed lifeline through a project called Green Gravel Portugal.