When Andy Ridley, the co-founder of Earth Hour, hired me back in 2012, I thought I had been given the world’s coolest job. Earth Hour was (and still is) one of the world’s largest grassroots movements for the environment. It had a fun, dynamic team that was digitally savvy and creative in coming up with ways to support, engage with and amplify the voices of Earth Hour supporters around the world, from big cities to rural towns to small island communities. It was an eye-opening experience, and a dream come true for me to work for such a noble cause.

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Dear world.

The panda — the centerpiece of our logo for 60 years — is gone! Leaving a gaping void in our logo. It just didn’t feel right that on World Wildlife Day, and as species around the world are disappearing, to use the panda image like nothing is happening. Today it too disappears to highlight the importance of wildlife and the dangerous risk of nature loss to our civilisation.

We need nature. Numerous studies show that nature is vital for our emotional and psychological wellbeing. Nature is part of our fabric, we bring pieces of it into our cities…

By Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International

The past 12 months will, of course, be remembered for COVID-19 and the terrible suffering and disruption it caused to millions of people. But, asks WWF International Director General Marco Lambertini, could 2020 also be seen as the year when humanity finally awoke to the crisis of nature loss?

As we entered 2020, we were calling it “The Super Year for Nature”. But the world’s most important agreement to combat today’s precipitous nature loss didn’t take place as scheduled. Another casualty of the disruption brought about by the pandemic.

But the agreement…

A well-managed network of protected areas stretching right across the Amazon is in sight. By Kurt Holle, WWF Peru Country Director.

In Peru, we’re proud of our cultural heritage and world-famous cuisine. But alongside Machu Picchu and ceviche, nature is right up there as part of our national identity. From the Pacific coast to the Andes to the Amazon, we’re blessed with an amazing natural heritage, much of which remains unspoilt.

After Brazil, Peru holds the second largest area of the Amazon rainforest. We rank number one in the world for our variety of butterflies and freshwater fish, second for…

By Simon Attwood, Conservation Head, WWF-Singapore

“This is what an extinction crisis looks like”, says Dr Simon Attwood, Conservation Head at WWF-Singapore. Here, his honest take on Southeast Asia’s role in stopping it.

As you’re reading this, I’ll assume that you already care about nature and wildlife. Or maybe you’ve seen the many recent news articles about the ‘biodiversity extinction crisis’ or the ‘6th mass extinction’, or you want to know why thousands of school children across the globe are going on strike for planetary health, and in trying to find out more you landed here.

Let’s get one thing…

By Muhammad Zaid Nasir, Painted Terrapin researcher, WWF-Malaysia

It is relatively easy to raise funds or awareness about the plight of adorable, big-eyed, chubby-cheeked, fluffy wildlife. But what about endangered species that don’t conform to our man-made standards of ‘cuteness’? As a field biologist for WWF-Malaysia, I find myself asking this question all the time.

Take the Critically Endangered painted terrapin, for example. I have been studying these plain-looking freshwater turtles in the picturesque Setiu Wetlands of Terengganu since 2016. …

As per the landmark Global Assessment Report on the state of nature by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services growing and producing food to respond to the expanding global demand make agriculture and food consumption one of the key drivers of environmental degradation. But there are ways to decrease the pressure on the environment, reducing water, soil and air pollution whilst sustaining those characteristics that enhance biodiversity and natural biological processes for improved crop production for healthier consumption. This has traditionally been the case in many parts of Indonesia.

Let’s take the example of the Krayan Highlands, a…

By Pavan Sukhdev, President WWF International

In Roraima, northern Brazil, a proposed hydropower plant would flood more than 500 square kilometres of the Amazon rainforest. The planned Sambor dam in Cambodia would sever the Mekong river, putting the world’s largest freshwater fishery at risk. And in Indonesia, plans for a new hydropower scheme and the associated access roads spell disaster for the Batang Toru Ecosystem, threatening the last remaining Tapanuli orangutans.

These are just three examples of destructive hydropower projects that would fragment free flowing rivers, threatening species and risking the livelihoods of local people, who depend on healthy rivers…