World Wildlife Fund

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Lore & Background

WWF was conceived on 29 April 1961, under the name of World Wildlife Fund, with its first office opened on 11 September in IUCN's headquarters at Morges, Switzerland. The idea was officially proposed by Victor Stolan to Sir Julian Huxley in response to articles he published in The Observer. Edward Max Nicholson thought up the name, and the original panda logo was designed by Sir Peter Scott. Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld helped to found WWF, becoming its first president in 1961. In 1970, along with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a few associates, Bernhard established WWF's financial endowment The 1001: A Nature Trust. Prince Bernhard resigned his post after being involved in the Lockheed bribery scandals.

In Their Own Story

In 1986, the 25th anniversary of WWF's foundation was marked by a gathering in Assisi, Italy, to which the organization's International President Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, invited religious authorities representing Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. These leaders produced The Assisi Declarations, theological statements showing the spiritual relationship between their followers and nature that triggered a growth in the engagement of these religions with conservation around the world. In 2023, Adil Najam, a globally renowned climate scientist and policy expert from Pakistan, was appointed as the president of WWF International, signifying the growing importance on climate change as well as of human well-being in the WWF agenda.

Reader's Guide

WWF aims to 'stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.' The Living Planet Report has been published every two years by WWF since 1998; it is based on a Living Planet Index and ecological footprint calculation. WWF has launched several notable worldwide campaigns, including Earth Hour and the debt-for-nature swap. Its current work is organized around these six areas: food, climate, freshwater, wildlife, forests, and oceans. WWF is a foundation with 65% of funding from individuals and bequests including The 1001: A Nature Trust, 17% from government sources (such as the World Bank, Foreign Office, and USAID) and 8% from corporations in 2020.

Did You Know?

• WWF was conceived on 29 April 1961, under the name of World Wildlife Fund, with its first office opened on 11 September in IUCN's headquarters at Morges, Switzerland.
• The original panda logo was designed by Sir Peter Scott from preliminary sketches by Gerald Watterson, a Scottish naturalist, based on a panda named Chi Chi from the London Zoo.
• Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld helped to found WWF, becoming its first president in 1961, but resigned after being involved in the Lockheed bribery scandals.
• In 2023, Adil Najam, a globally renowned climate scientist and policy expert from Pakistan, was appointed as the president of WWF International.

Foundations and Early Growth

WWF was conceived to act as an international fundraising organisation to support the work of existing conservation groups, primarily the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Its establishment was marked with the signing of the Morges Manifesto, the founding document that sets the fund's commitment to assisting worthy organizations struggling to save the world's wildlife. The manifesto stated: 'They need above all money, to carry out mercy missions and to meet conservation emergencies by buying land where wildlife treasures are threatened, and in many other ways. Money, for example, to pay guardians of wildlife refuges... Money for education and propaganda among those who would care and help if only they understood. Money to send out experts to danger spots and to train more local wardens and helpers in Africa and elsewhere. Money to maintain a sort of 'war room' at the international headquarters of conservation, showing where the danger spots are and making it possible to ensure that their needs are met before it is too late.'

The Irwin Era and Global Recognition

In 1986, the organization changed its name to World Wide Fund for Nature, while retaining the WWF initials. However, it continued at that time to operate under the original name in the United States and Canada. In the 1990s, WWF revised its mission statement to: 'Stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, conserving the world's biological diversity; ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable; [and] promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.' WWF researchers and many others identified 238 ecoregions that represent the world's most biologically outstanding terrestrial, freshwater, and marine habitats, based on a worldwide biodiversity analysis which the organization says was the first of its kind.

Legacy and Continued Expansion

WWF has set up offices and operations around the world. It originally worked by fundraising and providing grants to existing non-governmental organizations with an initial focus on the protection of endangered species. As more resources became available, its operations expanded into other areas such as the preservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of natural resources, the reduction of pollution, and climate change. The organization also began to run its own conservation projects and campaigns. In the early 2000s, its work was focused on a subset of these ecoregions, in the areas of forest, freshwater and marine habitat conservation, endangered species conservation, climate change, and the elimination of the most toxic chemicals.

Diverse Exhibits and Educational Facilities

WWF's giant panda logo originated from a panda named Chi Chi that had been transferred from the Beijing Zoo to the London Zoo in 1958, three years before WWF was established. Being famous as the only panda residing in the Western world at that time, her uniquely recognisable physical features and status as an endangered species were seen as ideal to serve the organization's need for a strong recognisable symbol that would overcome all language barriers. The organization also needed an animal that would have an impact in black and white printing. The logo was then designed by Sir Peter Scott from preliminary sketches by Gerald Watterson, a Scottish naturalist. The logo, simplified and made geometric in 1978, then was stylized and made less detailed in 1986 at the time that the organization changed its name, with the revised version featuring solid black shapes for eyes. In 2000, a change was made to the font used for the initials WWF in the logo.

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