by Stéphane ORJOLLET Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – Plastic has infiltrated all parts of the ocean and is now found “in the smallest plankton up to the largest whale” wildlife group WWF said on Tuesday, calling for urgent efforts to create an international treaty on plastics. Tiny fragments of plastic have reached even the most remote and seemingly-pristine regions of the planet: it peppers Arctic sea ice and has been found inside fish in […]
Tag: WWF
EU lawmakers back plan for sustainable farming
STRASBOURG, France (AFP) – The European Parliament backed Wednesday an ambitious EU push to make farming more sustainable, in a move hailed by environmental activists who also called for binding targets for slashing pesticides. A majority of 452 legislators gave the thumbs up to a report on the EU executive’s “farm to fork” strategy in the face of intense lobbying from agricultural groups. There were 170 against with 76 abstentions. “MEPs highlighted the need for enhanced […]
Forest loss ‘hotspots’ bigger than Germany: WWF
by Patrick GALEY Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — More than 43 million hectares of forest — an area bigger than Germany — have been lost in a little over a decade in just a handful of deforestation hotspots, conservation organisation WWF said Wednesday. Swathes of forest continue to be flattened each year — mainly due to industrial-scale agriculture — as biodiversity-rich areas are cleared to create space for livestock and crops. Analysis by WWF […]
Australian outback station turned into national park
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A slice of the Australian outback almost the size of greater London will be turned into a national park to help protect threatened species, authorities said Saturday, in a move welcomed by green groups. Narriearra Station, a 1,534-square kilometre (592-square-mile) property in northwest New South Wales, is the biggest purchase of private land for national parks ever made by the state government, Environment Minister Matt Kean said. It stretches across floodplains, […]
Pygmies return to forest to isolate against coronavirus
by Camille LAFFONT PICTURES BY FLORENT VERGNES Agence France-Presse BAYANGA, Central African Republic (AFP) — Dzanga-Sangha, a wildlife sanctuary in southwest Central African Republic, is a remote place, linked to the rest of the world by a narrow trail that becomes impassable in heavy rain. But for the region’s Pygmies—outcasts in a country already ranked among the poorest in the world—Dzanga-Sangha’s isolation could be a blessing. As coronavirus spreads in the CAR, with more than 1,000 […]
Do you consume a credit card’s worth of plastic every week?
https://youtu.be/UznpIe5wKkg by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse Paris, France (AFP) — People worldwide could be ingesting five grammes of microscopic plastic particles every week, equivalent in weight to a credit card, researchers said Wednesday. Coming mostly from tap and especially bottled water, nearly invisible bits of polymer were also found in shellfish, beer and salt, scientists and the University of Newcastle in Australia reported. The findings, drawn from 52 peer-reviewed studies, are the first to […]
Rainbow snake, tiny frog among new Mekong species
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — A rainbow-headed snake, a tiny frog and a lizard with dragon-like horns are among more than 150 new species confirmed by scientists last year in the ecologically diverse but threatened Mekong region, researchers said on Monday. Winding its way from the Tibetan plateau through the mountains and jungles of Southeast Asia, the Mekong river helps sustain one of the most diverse regions on the planet. Each year scientists announce new species, […]
Paris Agreement passes first stress test at COP22: WFF
MARRAKECH, Morocco (20 November, 2016) –- In response to the close of COP22, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, leader of WWF International’s Climate & Energy Practice, issued the following statement: “The UN climate talks continue to be filled with twists and turns, but they have delivered what they needed to this week – putting substance behind the promise of the Paris Agreement so it can be fully implemented. The Marrakech work has not been the most glamorous, but it’s […]
Sta. Rosa City Named RP’s National Earth Hour Capital
Half of all people live in cities, which generate 70% of global CO2 emissions. As more Pinoys troop to these increasingly-crowded hubs to find jobs – heavy traffic, polluted air, clogged waterways and rising living costs have become a daily urban reality for millions. Three cities, all finalists for WWF’s Earth Hour City Challenge, are showing the country what can be done to make our cities a little greener. Proclaimed as the Philippine Earth Hour National Capital, Santa Rosa […]
Bonn climate talks show progress, but sense of urgency needed
BONN, Germany – Climate negotiators ended almost two weeks of discussions in Bonn today, having made solid, if slow, progress in developing rules and tools that will guide implementation of the global climate deal adopted in Paris last year. Mark Lutes, WWF’s Head of Delegation to the Bonn meeting, said while governments appear committed to making the Paris Agreement operational as soon as possible, the urgency that drove the negotiations in Paris was definitely missing […]
Industry threatens nearly half of natural heritage sites: WWF
by Mariëtte Le Roux Mining, oil exploration, illegal logging and other industries threaten almost half the natural World Heritage Sites the UN seeks to preserve for future generations, conservation group WWF said Wednesday. The 114 threatened sites provide food, water, shelter and medicine to over 11 million people — more than the population of Portugal, according to a WWF-commissioned report. “Despite the obvious benefits of these natural areas, we still haven’t managed to decouple economic […]
WWF National Ambassadors Swim with Whale Sharks and Manta Rays
Press Release – June 23, 2015 WWF National Ambassadors Swim with Whale Sharks and Manta Rays For over a decade now, Donsol has been synonymous with whale sharks. Known locally as the Butanding, this gentle giant helped catapult the once sleepy town of Donsol in Sorsogon from a fifth-class municipality to a first-class town – all because of a community-based whale shark ecotourism program that WWF-Philippines and the local government established in 1998. Last month, […]





