WWF Sustainable Resource Trainers demonstrate sustainable forest management. © Brent Stirton/Getty/WWF
Amur tiger, Khabarovsk Krai Territory. Far East Russia. © WWF-Canon / Vladimir Filonov
Cotton flower– production of this thirsty crop is draining India’s water reserves. © WWF-Canon / Mauri Rautkari
Firewood demands are high in Nepal. © WWF-Canon / Michel Gunther
The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation provided a grant of £204,719 to support six projects.
Dar es Salaam Charcoal Project
This project aims to reduce deforestation from charcoal production in Tanzania’s coastal forests while ensuring an affordable energy supply to people. It aims to promote alternative cooking fuels to charcoal and sustainable charcoal production and to improve the efficiency of charcoal kilns and cooking stoves.
For more information:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/africa/solutions_by_region/...
Oil Sands Campaign, Canada
This project aims to restrict the expansion of oil sands exploitation and prevent negative impacts on Alberta’s forests, wetlands, wildlife, people and the Earth’s climate by leveraging the resources of investors and pension funds to put pressure on oil companies, raising awareness of the problem in Canada and internationally to put pressure on the Canadian Government, and working on the ground with local communities to produce evidence of pollution caused by the mining.
For more information:
http://www.wwf.org.uk/researcher/programmethemes/oilgasandmining/0000000...
Amur-Heilong Programme
This project aims to conserve the wetlands and forests of this spectacular and remote region, specifically to protect 30% of wetlands on the Russian side; 20% of temperate forests and 10% of boreal forests by the end of 2008. Specifically, it has targets to establish a viable population of at least 200 breeding female Amur tigers (about 500 tigers in all) over an extended range and of at least 50 Amur leopards in southwestern Primorsky Province. it also plans to establish two million hectares of additional protected areas, ‘buffer zones’ and corridors and one new trans-boundary protected area (Russian-Chinese border), reduce illegal timber exports in Evreiskaya, Khabarowskii and Primorsky provinces by 50% and ensure anti-poaching structures work within a clear legal framework and on a secure financial basis.
For more information:
http://www.wwf.org.uk/researcher/places/0000000307.asp
Thirsty Crops; Godavari River, India
This project aims to secure clean, continuous flow in the Godavari River providing sustainable sources of freshwater to poor communities. Specific objectives by 2011 include reducing agricultural water abstraction and pesticide use by 40% and improving the livelihoods of farmers through better management practices and facilitating the establishment of national policy and international private sector enabling environments to encourage and magnify the long-term uptake of these practices.
For more information:
http://www.wwfindia.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater_wetlands/our_wor...
The Transfly – New Guinea Wetland
This project’s activities include: surveying resources such as cassava, rubber, and vanilla that have economic development potential; assisting communities to design and run co-operatives based on the most viable enterprises and managed to deliver equitable social benefits; training people in lobbying and advocacy so they can assert their rights over ancestral lands; assessing the impact on the natural environment of deer (an introduced species) in the project region; conducting biological studies of four species of introduced fish species in the area to assess their impact on native fish stocks and habitats; and assessing the extent of grassland conversion to woodland and trial management of fire as a means of reversing this change.
For more information:
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/asia_pacific/our_solutions/...
Sacred Himalayan Landscape
This project aims to safeguard the biological and cultural treasures of the region, ensuring rights over resources and supporting local livelihoods. Specific objectives include: linking protected areas through corridors; conservation of biodiversity (including snow leopard and red panda); sustainable livelihoods; maintaining 'ecological services' – e.g. a reliable source of freshwater; promoting community-based conservation; and addressing climate change impacts on mountain communities.
For more information:
http://www.wwfnepal.org/where_we_work/mountain.php#
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