WWF Annual Review 2022 - 17

THE RISE OF NATURE IN THE POLITICAL,
CORPORATE AND SOCIETAL DISCOURSE WAS
BECOMING UNSTOPPABLE
The rise of nature in the political, corporate
and societal discourse was becoming
unstoppable. In September 2019, taking
advantage of the presence of heads of state
at the UN General Assembly (UNGA), we
decided to take our ambition to new levels
and launched ourselves into facilitating
a Leaders' Pledge for Nature at heads of
state/government level. Thirteen heads
of state/government attended in person
the launch event (94 heads of state and
the President of the EU went on to sign
the pledge), followed by the President of
the UNGA convening in 2020 the firstever
UN Summit on Biodiversity. But it
was time to push further... and the 'nature
positive by 2030' global goal (to parallel
carbon neutrality for climate) was officially
launched in 2020, again at Davos, in
collaborative and unbranded efforts that
saw, for the first time in a long time, all
the global environmental and sustainable
business platforms united in designing and
advocating the goal to " halt and reverse
biodiversity loss by 2030 " . >>
IVORY TRADE: THE BEGINNING OF THE END?
One of my most emotional moments at
WWF was when the Chinese government
announced a near-total domestic ban on
elephant ivory − a great sign of political
determination against vested economic
interests, and a reversal of a long-held
tradition. Ivory prices declined over years
and our campaign monitored a constant
decrease in ivory buyers. Although the
illegal trade continues to cater to a sizeable
number of hardcore buyers, the ban
helped countries like Kenya and Tanzania to
significantly reduce elephant poaching rates,
alongside improved enforcement efforts on
the ground. Only two years earlier I was in
Nairobi watching, with tears in my eyes, the
burning of huge piles of tusks (equivalent
to over 8,000 elephants) to signify the scale
of the problem and signal Kenya's
commitment to conserve its elephants.
MORE SPACES FOR NATURE
Preserving natural spaces has been in
WWF's DNA since our birth. And our efforts
continued during my time in office, with new
huge areas of nature protected − entering
into co-management of the world-famous
Dzanga-Sangha Nature Reserves in the
Central African Republic (4,450 km2
) and
Africa's largest forest park, the 36,000-km2
Salonga National Park in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC); establishing
the world's largest marine protected area,
Antarctica's Ross Sea marine reserve (1.55
million km2
the size of Colombia's vast Serranía de
Chiribiquete National Park (43,000 km2
) and the Amur-Heilong protected
areas in Mongolia (10,500 km2); and doubling
),
making it the world's largest tropical
forest park...to mention only the largest!
Much progress has been made on
protected areas, with many species'
recovery related to the protection
of their strongholds. In 2020,
we celebrated the protection
of almost 17% and 8%
of land and ocean
respectively. >>
2018
2019
CHINA SHELVES
PLANS TO EASE
ITS BAN on the
trade in tiger
and rhino
parts, in place
since 1993, after
calls by WWF
and others.
WWF
ENHANCED
SOCIAL AND
ENVIRONMENTAL
SAFEGUARDS
for on-the-ground
activities across
our global
network.
Main: 2017 People's
Climate March in the US
capital, Washington DC
17
WWF Annual Review 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WWF Annual Review 2022
