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MOSTAR, April 29 (FENA) - World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) turns 60 and on this occasion is calling for urgent action to address the global climate and nature crises and ensure a sustainable future for all.
"Together with governments, business and communities, we need to achieve more in the next 10 years than we have in the last 60,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International, announced WWF Adria.
WWF stated that today, it is clearer than ever before that we are witnessing a catastrophic collapse in our planet’s biodiversity.
"The latest Living Planet Report, WWF’s flagship science-based analysis of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet, revealed a two-thirds crash in wildlife populations on average in the last 50 years, which in turn threatens our climate, food, freshwater and health. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with its roots in rampant land-use change, deforestation and the wildlife trade, is the latest evidence that unsustainable human activity is pushing the planet’s natural systems that support life on Earth to the brink," WWF Adria pointed out.
Over 60 years WWF has been at the centre of global efforts for nature, pioneering some of the most innovative initiatives ever taken in conservation, the impacts of which are still being felt today - from supporting the establishment of world-famous protected areas such as the Galapagos and Volcanoes National Parks in Ecuador and Rwanda, to conservation of iconic species including pandas, tigers, rhinos and elephants - giving these species and many more a future.
Guided by science, WWF has tackled a vast depth and breadth of environmental challenges through its global network and diverse partnerships, from launching the world’s first ecolabels for food and consumer products, debt swaps for nature and community-led conservancies in Namibia, to advocating for the adoption of global agreements on wetlands, wildlife trade, biodiversity and climate. From its beginnings in 1961 as a small group of committed naturalists, WWF - known for its iconic panda which is a symbol of hope that people and nature can live in harmony - has expanded from protecting species and places to a systemic approach to nature conservation and sustainable development, focusing on the conservation at scale of wildlife, forests, ocean and freshwater systems, by tackling the main drivers of nature loss including energy and food production, as well as transforming markets, greening finance and improving the governance of natural resources.
WWF Adria covers the territory of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Serbia.
"Although we have officially existed for only six years, WWF has been present here since the beginning of this century. Together with a number of partners, we are working on significant changes such as stopping incentives for the construction of small hydropower plants or improving the management of protected areas. We are proud of our many years of work on the establishment of the transboundary biosphere reserve Mura-Drava-Danube, which should be recognized by UNESCO this year," said Nataša Kalauz, director of WWF Adria.
Kalauz points out that WWF has a significant role in preserving the Adriatic Sea, but also fishers and other communities that depend on it. Through the establishment of the first no-fishing zone in the Telašćica Nature Park, adopted in cooperation with fishermen, and the promotion of sustainable tourism, WWF simultaneously protects the Adriatic and strengthens the economy through the so-called Blue economy projects.
"Around the world, WWF is working to protect the most recognized animal species, as well as to recover their populations in the wild. Our region is home to many animals necessary for our survival and we want to preserve and protect them, and improve the relationship between humans and our large carnivores: wolves, lynxes and bears. Nature has always been able to do without us, but we humans cannot do without nature. At WWF, we are determined to contribute to a future in which both people and nature thrive,” concludes Kalauz, it is said in the statement.
(FENA) A. B.
