WWF Australia - 2009 conservation achievements
You are helping WWF to achieve conservation solutions
As we reach the end of another year, it has been one in which your support has enabled WWF to be part of some remarkable wins for the environment and on some of the most serious issues facing the planet.
You have been a part of everything we have achieved this year. Thank you. Together, we are making a tangible difference.
The year in review – 2009
- Your commitment enabled WWF to place pressure on governments for a $375 million commitment to clean up the waters of the Great Barrier Reef and change farming practices that have lead to the pollution of up to 700 reefs.
- You enabled WWF to ensure that vast areas of the majestic Kimberley coast are now off-limits to major resource development until a scientific and conservation strategy is prepared.
- Thanks to you, WWF worked with the South African government to create the Southern Ocean's largest marine sanctuary - 180,000 square kilometres around the Prince Edward and Marion Islands, off the coast of South Africa.
- You enabled WWF to work with community groups, landholders and other conservation partners to protect highly endangered species such as the Gouldian finch, Carnaby's black cockatoo, brush-tailed rock wallabies and a range of shorebirds.
- Through WWF, your voice was heard and governments listened and acted. In an historic move, the Commonwealth and all State and Territory governments forged an agreement to expand Australia's protected areas over the next two decades, dramatically boosting the likelihood of survival for many of Australia's struggling native species.
- As a WWF supporter, you helped us bring the enormous weight needed to pressure the Australian government into declaring one million square kilometres of the Coral Sea as a conservation zone.
The year ahead – 2010
With your continuing support, WWF will be working to achieve the following in the coming year.
- To ensure that Australia cuts its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% relative to 1990 levels by using energy more efficiently, operating a successful emissions trading scheme and developing low-emission energy resources.
- To work with countries such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to protect their forests and cut global emissions.
- To ensure the biodiversity of the Southwest Australia Ecoregion and the Kimberley is protected
- To reduce threats to the Great Barrier Reef and its catchments.
- To safeguard the natural resources of the Coral Triangle, Coral Sea and South-west Pacific.
- To protect the Southern Ocean and ensure that its natural resources are used sustainably.
- To stabilise Australia's ecological footprint and bring it back into balance with nature. We want to ensure that by 2050 Australians are living within the Earth's capacity to sustain life and that the natural resources of our planet are shared equitably.
- Globally, the production of major commodities such as fish, timber, minerals, beef and agricultural products such as sugar and palm oil is costing the environment dearly.
WWF-Australia, as part of a global network, has the unique ability to drive large-scale changes from the local level to the global. Achieving concrete results is difficult; however with our partners we can do it.
Together, we will develop and implement innovative, lasting solutions for conserving biodiversity and reducing humanity's ecological footprint. Together, we are building a future in which people live in harmony with nature.
Thank you!
We couldn’t do it without you.
Click here to read more in our Living Planet supporter magazine.
