Stories: People & Communities

Empowering farmers with green practices builds livelihoods while strengthening biodiversity. 

Although they comprise less than 5% of the world population, Indigenous peoples protect 80% of the Earth’s biodiversity. Recognizing their land rights should be placed at the center of conservation.

Keeping water flowing for people and wildlife in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area will take action at every level. Here's what WWF is doing for it.

As communities try to cope in the short term, the Namibian government, civil society, and passionate conservationists have rallied to help fill the void the pandemic has created.

Apocalyptic scenes have multiplied in recent weeks, as fires claim lives and incinerate communities across the West Coast. The flames are fueled by a confluence of interwoven drivers, including decades of fire management practices focused on fire suppression paired with the worsening climate crisis.

We can’t successfully protect the diversity of life on Earth without understanding the ways that environmental threats disproportionately impact Indigenous communities in the United States and around the world, and without supporting those communities’ efforts as land and water defenders. WWF is proud to be partnering with The Condor & The Eagle’s team. We hope that you will join us in watching this powerful documentary film and learn how to support the movement against climate injustice from our exceptional panelists.

New predator-proof pens improved both financial and psychological well-being for communities, who no longer having to guard their livestock throughout the night and can feel secure that their livelihood is safe.

In the Central African Republic, WWF supports the Indigenous Ba’Aka tribe of Dzanga-Sangha in social distancing to protect themselves from COVID-19. 

In Northeast China, the only all-female ranger team monitors the region's tiger range. 

Around the world, communities depend on mangroves for food, protection, and income. These coastal forests provide for communities and the communities, in turn, protect the mangroves. It’s a relationship found all over the world across the more than 100 countries where mangroves guard the coast. Here are four places where a snapshot tells the story.

WWF honors the passing of Congressman John Lewis, who put himself on the frontlines in the march towards a more just America, healthier communities, and a sustainable future for our planet.

Zoonotic emerging infectious diseases are transmitted from a host animal to humans, sometimes by way of an intermediate host known as a vector.

Environmental destruction and the high-risk wildlife trade are intimately connected with the emergence of new zoonotic diseases like COVID-19, but conservation could help prevent future pandemics.

Illegal snaring is a rampant threat to wildlife and people in the forests of Southeast Asia. Snares are used to capture animals for the illegal wildlife trade. WWF-supported ranger patrols are working to address this crisis by removing snares. 

A new solar-powered borehole is drilled for the Kapau community in Zambia's Sioma Ngwezi National Park. This water source provides the community with several benefits, including reducing the instances of human wildlife conflict (HWC) that were resulting from sharing resources.

Plastic pollution is one of the biggest threats to our oceans today. While cleaning up existing trash is a critical step on the path to a healthier planet, what's even more important is turning off the tap to stop the flow of plastic into our environment altogether. Research shows that as few as 100 companies could prevent 50 million tons of plastic waste. In 2019, WWF launched ReSource: Plastic, a new global initiative to help companies turn their plastic reduction commitments into measureable action.

In partnership with local Indigenous organization Azicatch, WWF is supporting the work of Ecosystem Services Assessment Technical Teams, which combines traditional knowledge with modern conservation practice. The aim is to strengthen Indigenous decision-making and governance and create an environmental management plan for their territory.

Last year, WWF partner National Habitat led the first-ever Zero-Waste Adventure, demonstrating new possibilities for more sustainable travel.

In Guatemala, thousands of people call the Teculutan and Pasabien watersheds home. Under the cover of iconic cloud forests, rivers flow down from the mountainous region called the Sierra de Las Minas; providing fresh water for nature and these communities, for drinking, hygiene and sanitation, agriculture, as well as for business operations and so much more.

In Nepal, citizen scientists are working with biologists from WWF to help protect tigers, rhinos, elephants, and other wildlife found in Bardia National Park.

In Tanzania, many urban and rural areas still function under traditional customs that put women at a social and economic disadvantage. Fortunately, those discriminatory traditions, norms, and stereotypes are being challenged. Sijali Kipuli from Somanga Village in Tanzania shows us how a social system in savings and credits can economically liberate the poorest people and empower women.

WWF’s lead on socially inclusive conservation, Althea Skinner is one of WWF’s core experts on the intersection between conservation and human rights.

The Northern Great Plains is one of the world’s last great, remaining grasslands. Across its 183 million acres, nearly 132 million remain intact. Among those acres that are still intact, approximately 70% is privately owned, and often by ranching families.

In 2009, principal and teacher Marcia Novakc da Silva decided to join forces to start a community rainwater project, led by the organization Incra and supported by WWF. The work is one of  several projects for the recovery of the springs and water supply in region.