How coastal communities and WWF advanced conservation in 2024
By
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Emma Barnes
© Roger Hooper / WWF
Coastal communities are central to driving conservation solutions that address local problems and protect marine ecosystems. Throughout 2024, WWF worked with community leaders around the world on solutions that move forward policy, restoration, and knowledge-sharing, spurring change both locally and at scale across WWF’s priority seascape regions. The following are highlights of just some of those programs:
© naturepl.com / Sergey Gorshkov / WWF
Launching Arctic Community Wildlife Grants
The Arctic is experiencing many negative impacts of a warming climate at an accelerating rate. In the US, these threats most affect Alaska Native communities. A new Arctic Community Wildlife Grants program, started by WWF, supports community responses to local concerns. This includes conservation, stewardship, and research initiatives that focus on coastal US Arctic ecology, community sustainability, and priority Arctic wildlife in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas and adjacent coastal areas. Grants are intended to address community concerns and achieve meaningful outcomes for the conservation of Arctic wildlife and the people who depend on them.
Connecting local leaders to accelerate community-led conservation
Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs) are conservation building blocks in the Southwest Indian Ocean region, helping hundreds of community leaders and local organizations directly oversee the protection and management of their oceans and coasts, with the potential to contribute meaningfully to Global Biodiversity Framework targets. To coordinate decision-making, WWF was part of a broad coalition that organized the first-ever Western Indian Ocean LMMA Forum, which convened more than 300 LMMA members and prominent stakeholders from across the region. The forum concluded with a draft roadmap outlining how members will enhance recognition and expansion of LMMAs, including concrete calls to action and strategic priorities focusing on, among other topics, data and monitoring, inclusivity and gender equality, sustainable funding mechanisms, and the protection of local cultural heritage.
Determining the best approaches for mangrove restoration in Colombia
Mangroves are some of the best plants around to help us tackle climate change, but they are still vulnerable to loss and require thoughtful management and restoration to thrive. To guide best practices and ensure mangroves can survive under climate change, WWF and partners released the Climate-Smart Mangrove Tool. The step-by-step guide was piloted with two community councils along Colombia's northwest coast to assess climate vulnerability and select informed, "climate-smart" management actions. Already, the tool has helped WWF staff and local partners determine how to best help mangroves and protect coastal communities under a changing climate—from careful species selection for restoration to ensuring appropriate hydrology.
WWF is also supporting national management measures, consulting with several coastal mangrove districts to help Colombia update its "National Program for the Sustainable Use, Management and Conservation of Mangrove Ecosystems." This National Program update will ensure that the most accurate information is available to support priority management action and enable the inclusion of mangroves in Colombia's Nationally Determined Contributions.
© WWF-US / Keith Arnold
© VDOS Global / WWF-Canada
Galvanizing community delegates to safeguard the Arctic
Arctic Watch, a dynamic real-time sea traffic management and marine information exchange system, is under development by the Marine Exchange of Alaska in partnership with WWF, Alaska Native communities and tribal organizations, and other conservation organizations. The goal is to aid safe and environmentally sound shipping operations in the Arctic and protect wildlife, communities, and vessels. Community input is critical in the development process, so WWF helped organize a two-day workshop in Juneau, Alaska, to bring together Tribal delegates from eight Bering Strait communities and galvanize community support and participation. The guidance received from the delegates has since been used to determine development priorities moving forward. Communities can now use Arctic Watch to see which vessels are operating in the region, and the Marine Exchange of Alaska development team is working on a tracking and activity-reporting process to improve information sharing between research vessels and Arctic communities.