WIN WILDLIFE-INSPIRED HOMEWARE COLLECTIONS PAGE 30 THE MAGAZINE FOR WWF MEMBERS SUMMER 2020

GHOST CAT Solving the mystery of Nepal’s elusive snow leopards

ARCTIC SOUND SANCTUARY GIANTS OF THE DEEP How you’re helping protect Discover the new robot cameras sensitive Arctic marine life from helping us reveal the secret lives increasing underwater noise of Scotland’s basking sharks CONTENTS In the Arctic, natural sound is in danger of being overwhelmed by TOGETHER, WE DID IT! 4 SECRET SHARKS: ON CAMERA 22 an increasingly loud, manmade “WE’RE COMMITTED racket, putting bowhead whales, A round-up of all you’ve helped How SharkCam is revealing the belugas and narwhals at risk us achieve in recent months surprisingly sociable behaviour of Scotland’s basking sharks. WWF IN ACTION 6 By Derek Niemann TO RESTORING Environment news, including our fght against deforestation INTERVIEW: CHRIS JOHNSON 26 The Antarctic is changing, so OUR OCEANS SEARCHING FOR SHADOWS 10 we’re studying sealife to ensure Thanks to you, we’re helping it’s got breathing space to adapt to tag and track more of Nepal’s elusive snow leopards FIGHT FOR YOUR WORLD 28 FOR FUTURE to uncover their mysterious Be part of the change and do your lives. By Paul Bloomfeld bit to protect our precious planet OCEANS OF NOISE 14 GIVEAWAYS 30 GENERATIONS” As sea ice melts, the peace of the Win wildlife-themed homeware Arctic Ocean is being destroyed. and eco-friendly kids’ clothes Find out how we’re working to reduce manmade noise to protect CROSSWORD 31 sealife. By Paul Bloomfeld Solve our crossword and you could win a copy of Handbook of BIG PICTURE 20 Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises Shocking illegal deforestation in the Amazon has been discovered NOTES FROM THE FIELD 31 and reported, thanks to drones Katherine Elliott encounters you helped us to provide cheetahs in the Maasai Mara

MEET THIS ISSUE’S GUEST CONTRIBUTORS CHRIS JOHNSON DR MELANIE SHEREN leads our LANCASTER, SHRESTHA Antarctic WWF’s Arctic is a research programme, species officer for and is using innovative specialist, is studying WWF-Nepal. He was part technology to monitor the the effects of manmade of a recent expedition to effects of climate change. noise on marine life. fit snow leopards with “Marine ecosystems “We’re trying to reduce tracking collars. “We’re are undergoing a rapid the stressors that sealife proud and relieved our PROTECTING OUR BLUE PLANET transformation,” says experiences as sea ice efforts produced such Chris. “We must act now.” Oceans are an important part of our planet’s life- melts,” she explains. great results,” he says. support system. They produce around two-thirds of all the world’s oxygen, and absorb around a third of all climate-warming carbon dioxide and over GET IN TOUCH MEET THE ACTION TEAM Editor Liz Palmer [email protected] 90% of all the heat we produce. Without the oceans wwf.org.uk/contact Editorial executive Holly Towner protecting us, our planet would be 35°C hotter. Senior supporter engagement manager So it’s vital we keep them healthy. 01483 426333 Hannah Crawley Supporter engagement managers

COVER: But our oceans are under pressure. Almost six WWF-UK Living Planet Centre, billion tonnes of fsh and invertebrates (such as Ruford House, Brewery Road, Stephen Osborne, Merlin Meyer Senior editor Guy Jowett © GETTY | CONTENTS: | CONTENTS: © GETTY crustaceans) have been caught since 1950. Marine Woking, Surrey GU21 4LL plastic pollution has increased tenfold since 1980, For Immediate Media Co. and the climate crisis is destroying precious coral FOLLOW US Consultant editor Sophie Staford Art editor Nicole Mooney reefs and having devastating efects on sealife. wwf.org.uk/facebook Production editor Charlotte Martyn Thanks to your support, we’re working to ensure wwf.org.uk/twitter Account manager Katy Hewett

© VDOS GLOBAL / WWF-CANADA GLOBAL © VDOS oceans are well managed, and to protect whales Design director Will Slater wwf.org.uk/pinterest from the impacts of climate change (page 14). Editorial director Dan Linstead wwf.org.uk/news Together with Sky Ocean Rescue, we’re challenging THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS wwf.org.uk/youtube governments to do more to safeguard our amazing Paul Bloomfeld, Katherine Elliott, seas. From expanding protected areas to revealing wwf.org.uk/instagram Tessa Francis, Barney Jefries, the secret lives of basking sharks, we’re committed Chris Johnson, Melanie Lancaster, to restoring our oceans for future generations. Derek Niemann, Sheren Shrestha You can help by becoming an ocean hero (page 29). Produced in association with Immediate Media Co. www.imcontent.co.uk 2 | Action Summer 2020 THANK YOU TOGETHER, WE DID IT! “IT IS ONLY THROUGH COLLECTIVE ACTION TOWARDS A SHARED MISSION THAT WE CAN ACHIEVE BIG RESULTS” TOGETHER, WE DID IT! MARCO LAMBERTINI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WWF INTERNATIONAL Thanks to your membership, we can help protect wildlife and wild places. Here are some of the great things supporters There are around 430 adult wild tigers in the like you have helped achieve Russian far east and a small number have recently been recorded 6 across the border in China 1 AUSTRALIA YOU HELPED CARE FOR BUSHFIRE VICTIMS 6 RUSSIAN FAR EAST © NATUREPL.COM / VLADIMIR MEDVEDEV WWF You donated more than £2.7 million to our Australia bushfre emergency appeal for rescuing and treating YOU HELPED RUSSIAN TIGERS ROAR BACK injured wildlife and restoring their habitat. Over Thanks to you, Amur tigers are making a remarkable comeback 120,000 sq km of forest were destroyed by the fres, and 2 in the Russian far east. Tigers had been almost wiped out in an estimated 1.25 billion animals killed. Your support 5 4 the province of Evreiskaya, but with your support we’ve been enabled us to partner with organisations providing working with partners to release tigers from the rehabilitation veterinary care and food and water for starving animals, 3 centre back into the wild. A recent survey revealed there’s now and even deploying snifer dogs to fnd surviving koalas. a stable population with an estimated 20 individuals. Even It’s also helping us assess the damage, protect and replant better, they’re successfully breeding: the survey found three forest habitat, and advocate for better climate policies 1 tigresses with litters of one, two and three cubs. There’s now real from the Australian government. On top of the generosity potential for this tiger population to spread into neighbouring of supporters, we were overwhelmed by donations from areas in Russia and China, taking us that bit closer to our goal celebrities and companies, including Formula One’s The world’s only remaining population of doubling the number of tigers in the wild. The presence of a

© GETTY Lewis Hamilton and Pets At Home. There’s a long way to of Javan rhinos has increased despite healthy tiger population in the region will also boost eforts to go in our bushfre recovery mission, but together we’re threats such as poaching and the risk establish a transboundary protected area, linking Amur tigers in helping save what survived and restore what was lost. the Russian far east with those in northern China. This will help of natural disasters and disease tigers range freely, help to safeguard their habitat from logging

and mineral extraction, and protect all wildlife from poaching. © GETTY 2 UGANDA/DRC 3 BOLIVIA

© GETTY YOU HELPED GIVE MOUNTAIN GORILLAS A BOOST YOU HELPED FIRE- 4 INDONESIA 5 KENYA Thanks to your support, the number of mountain gorillas in the HIT COMMUNITIES Bwindi-Sarambwe ecosystem has risen from an estimated 400 in YOU HELPED RARE RHINOS BREED SUCCESSFULLY YOU’RE HELPING CREATE A BUZZ START TO RECOVER © GETTY 2011 to at least 459 in 2018. This brings the total number of wild Your support has been critical in increasing the population of one You helped provide 150 beehives for mountain gorillas to a minimum of 1,063 when combined with results Thanks to your generosity, of the world’s most endangered animals. Javan rhinos are found communities in Kenya’s Mara ecosystem – from the Virunga volcanoes survey of 2015-16. They’re still communities in Bolivia in only a single protected area, Ujung Kulon National Park on and that’s good news for elephants too. As endangered, but this increase shows what can be achieved. are rebuilding their lives the Indonesian island of Java. Numbers are precariously low, but human populations rise and natural habitats We work through the International Gorilla Conservation after last year’s devastating camera traps have recently spotted four new calves, bringing the shrink, people and elephants are increasingly Programme to ensure communities beneft from living forest fres. Our Amazon total population to 72 – up from about 50 a decade ago. That’s coming into confict. Elephants can destroy crops, alongside mountain gorillas and see the value in emergency appeal raised almost £1 million to support eforts in the result of intensive and they can be dangerous too – but they’re scared protecting the apes and their habitat. All mountain Bolivia and Brazil. We provided medicine, food, water pumps and © STEPHEN conservation work you of bees. Not only are the hives a great deterrent, gorilla tourism is currently suspended in frefghting equipment to areas afected by the fres. We’ve also helped fund, including but by enabling local people to improve their BELCHER PHOTOGRAPHY / WWF response to coronavirus, but by helping to embed been working with indigenous communities who depend on the population monitoring, incomes they can also support more positive © MARIZILDA CRUPPE / WWF-UK best practice into the day-to-day management forest for their livelihoods and have been hit by the loss of fruits, clearing invasive arenga attitudes towards conservation. In Oloisukut of mountain gorilla sites, we nuts, timber and other products they harvest. Looking ahead, palm trees, and working conservancy, over 100 women will beneft from can ensure that, when visits we’ll support our local partners to assess the environmental and with local communities 50 of the new modern hives. The women have resume, responsible gorilla socioeconomic impacts of the fres not only in the Amazon but to grow rhino food plants kept bees before, but traditional hives made from tourism continues to be a in the neighbouring Chiquitano dry forest and Pantanal regions to enrich their habitat. wooden logs weren’t as efcient. Now, they expect cornerstone of mountain too. We’ll help them determine the restoration eforts that will be The rhinos clearly to harvest 850kg of honey, worth around 340,000 gorilla conservation. needed to help forests, biodiversity and communities recover. appreciate our eforts. Kenyan shillings (£2,600), twice a year.

4 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 5 WWF IN ACTION FOR YOUR WORLD DISCOVER OUR SUSTAINABLE NEWS IN BRIEF SHOPPING BASKET How we’ve been fghting for wildlife and our world Unsustainable food production and unnecessary food

waste contributes to climate change and causes almost / WWF-UK GRAY © JOSEPH 60% of global biodiversity loss. So we’re working with Tesco to make sustainable food available to everyone

PLANTING SEEDS OF HOPE Over 750,000 seagrass seeds have been planted in Dale Bay, Pembrokeshire, as part of our seagrass restoration project with Sky Ocean Rescue and Swansea University. 1. THE AIM Thanks to around 2,000 volunteers, We’re working with Tesco to halve thousands of small hessian bags were the environmental impact of the flled with sand and prepared for planting. average UK shopping basket. To do Cultivated seeds were added to the bags, this, we need to understand the tied at metre intervals to a length of rope, impact our favourite foods are and dropped along the seabed. Over time, having on the planet the bags and rope will disintegrate, leaving the seedlings to take root and grow into a seagrass meadow that will store carbon and provide habitat for amazing marine life. 2. THE INVESTIGATION Conversion of forests to oil palm NEWS IN NUMBERS plantations is one of the biggest We’re starting by focusing on causes of habitat loss for orangutans. 20 typical household staples – We want more companies to commit from tuna to tomatoes, beef to to sourcing sustainable palm oil that respects nature, wildlife and people bread, biscuits and bananas. We’ll be looking at more products in future

BROKEN PROMISES ON PALM OIL ARE HARD TO STOMACH 594Rhino poaching in South Africa has fallen Products on our supermarket shelves that they’re not selling products involved in or investing in projects to restore the for the ffth year in a row, according to the are still causing the destruction of destroying nature – and that they’re fully environment and protect human rights in 3. THE IMPACT latest government fgures. Last year, 594 tropical rainforests and harming committed to a world where unsustainable landscapes where palm oil is produced. We measured the impact each product rhinos were killed by poachers – down from wildlife including orangutans and palm oil no longer exists.” Shockingly, a quarter of the companies has on seven key issues afecting the 769 the year before, and a peak of 1,215 in elephants, according to our latest The scorecard examined 173 companies surveyed didn’t have any commitments to planet: climate change, deforestation, 2014. Habitat loss and poaching remain huge Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard from Europe, North America, Australia and buying only certifed sustainable palm oil. sustainable agriculture, marine threats to rhinos, but these fgures suggest It’s been 10 years since we began scoring Asia, including all the big UK supermarkets Of the rest, two-thirds set 2020 as a target – sustainability, sustainable diets, our conservation eforts are working. companies on their eforts to clean up the as well as brands such as McDonald’s and but only half of them have reached it. packaging waste and palm oil sector, and many top brands and Unilever (the company behind products such Some companies are leading the way, food waste retailers have trumpeted commitments to as Magnum ice cream and Dove soap). however. Topping the list was Ferrero, maker Thanks to our eliminate deforestation from their supply We scored them according to what they’re of Nutella, which scored 20 points out of a campaigning, chains by 2020. Yet despite many encouraging doing to tackle the impacts of their own possible 22. Among UK companies, Marks © NATUREPL.COM / ANUP SHAH / WWF SHAH / ANUP © NATUREPL.COM 1.6 million people signs of progress, not a single company scored operations, such as having a public and time- & Spencer and Co-op scored highest, with 4. THE IMPROVEMENTS in China pledged top marks in the latest assessment. And those bound commitment to eliminate deforestation Tesco, Asda and Unilever also doing well. We’re working to fnd ways to reduce the impact of all these to ‘travel ivory broken promises mean vital natural habitats from their supply chains, and buying palm Palm oil is a highly efcient vegetable free’ during last continue to be destroyed. oil that’s been certifed as sustainable by the oil crop that can be produced in a way that foods. For example, we’re making sure the soy used to feed animals 1.6Mautumn’s Golden Week holiday, the busiest “Consumers don’t want their food or Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). safeguards people, wildlife and nature. in Tesco’s supply chain time for foreign travel. Despite a global ban other purchases to come with a side order of But we also awarded marks to those We need to show companies and governments on the commercial international trade of deforestation and destruction of wildlife,” organisations that are going a step further that we want deforestation of our plates for doesn’t contribute to Find out more at deforestation ivory, a recent study found 27% of Chinese says our palm oil expert, Dr Emma Keller. – by insisting that their suppliers also have good. You can fnd out more at: nationals who travelled outside the country “UK companies must prove to their customers deforestation-free policies, for instance, wwf.org.uk/deforestation-free wwf.org.uk/basket at least once a year bought ivory while away. 6 | Action Summer 20192020 Action Summer 2020 | 7 WWF IN ACTION FOR YOUR WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF GETTING THE LOWDOWN ON LIONS While Russian polar bear numbers are holding up, With our partners in Kenya, we’ve thousands of kilometres, identifying Canadian populations are embarked on the biggest and most hundreds of individual lions (from their sufering. Rapidly melting sea ice is believed to be a accurate survey of lion populations unique whisker patterns, for example). key factor in this decline ever undertaken To supplement this, we’ll be carrying The number of African lions has fallen out interviews with more than 3,500 local by an estimated 43% over the last three experts across the rest of the country to © TRISTAN FEWINGS / WWF-UK FEWINGS © TRISTAN generations. But for conservation eforts get a clear idea of how many lions and to really make a diference, we need other large carnivores are living outside accurate data on where lions are found the main areas. and how they’re faring. So far, results are mixed. In parts of It’s thought there were about 2,000 southern Kenya, numbers are lower than lions in Kenya 10 years ago. But that had been estimated. But they’re holding fgure was based on estimates and various up in the Maasai Mara, where much of the diferent study techniques, so it’s not conservation work you support is focused. MIXED PICTURE MARATHON MAN likely to be very reliable. The stats suggest the Mara ecosystem is To put that right, we’ve joined forces home to 484 lions, and that numbers are Running one marathon is an achievement; with Kenya Wildlife Service, Kenya stable or even increasing slightly. FOR POLAR BEARS running 52 in a year is something else! Wildlife Trust and other local partners to Surveys like this are important The latest assessments of polar But that’s what long-standing Team Panda carry out the frst ever lion survey to apply because having an accurate picture of lion bear populations have brought member and WWF supporter Craig Brewster the same methods across a whole country. populations enables us to see how well both good and troubling news did over 12 months. Craig came up with the The survey will provide us with an conservation initiatives are working, and Scientists from the IUCN Polar ‘ridiculous’ (his word!) idea to celebrate his accurate ‘baseline’, and will be repeated in to make better decisions in future. And a Bear Specialist Group studied 50th birthday. After thousands of miles in six future so we can see how things change. nationwide picture means we can protect trends in the 19 ‘subpopulations’ countries, he ran his fnal marathon on New There are two parts to it. First, we’re key areas and improve connections of polar bears across the Arctic. Year’s Eve. It was tough at times. “We had carrying out sight-based surveys in the between diferent prides of lions. Encouragingly, they found that snow, ice, torrential rain, 50mph winds and places we know the main lion populations We’ll let you know when the results are numbers were stable in the 36ºC heat,” he says. “Several times I almost are found – an area of 77,595 sq km. in. To get more involved, you can adopt a Chukchi Sea between Alaska and quit, particularly when facing 11 marathons in The teams have already driven tens of lion at wwf.org.uk/lionadopt Russia, and the Barents Sea of the December.” Craig, we salute you! northern coasts of Norway and

© WWF-PORTUGAL Russia. It’s the frst time we’ve had

Supporters around enough data to assess the status UNITED FOR EARTH HOUR the world expressed of these important populations. their creativity © WILD WONDERS OF EUROPE / WIDSTRAND WWF With the news headlines dominated by But in Canada, things aren’t online for the global health crisis, this year’s Earth Earth Hour looking so good. Four polar bear Hour event was focused on connecting subpopulations now seem to be in people and inspiring hope for the future. decline in Hudson Bay and the And your support blew us away! Beaufort Sea as sea ice breaks up On 28 March, people around the globe earlier in the year, making it harder switched of their lights at 8.30pm for one hour to for bears to fnd food. show their support for a more sustainable future. According to scientists, numbers Dozens of UK landmarks, including Buckingham in Southern Hudson Bay dropped Palace and Blackpool Tower, went dark, as did by 17% and in Western Hudson Bay football stadiums, universities and even hotels. by 18% between 2011 and 2016 With the world staying at home to prevent the – though local people say they’ve spread of Covid-19, the Earth Hour celebrations seen more bears, which highlights SAFEGUARDING FRESHWATER HABITATS moved online. Our Facebook Live quiz attracted the need for more research. With a group of scientists, we’ve published an 21,000 viewers, while a virtual dance party With the Arctic heating up at Emergency Recovery Plan to tackle the crisis organised by Secret Sunrise was enjoyed by Hour is more than a symbolic event, it’s a global least twice as fast as the rest of facing the world’s freshwater ecosystems. Life hundreds of house-bound revellers. environmental movement to stop the destruction the planet, polar bear habitat is can’t exist without fresh water. Our rivers, lakes There was also a guided meditation session, of the natural world we depend on. visibly shrinking. It’s vital we keep and wetlands provide us with water, food and online storytelling, a kids’ quiz and even a virtual You told us the coronavirus outbreak made you monitoring how the bears are livelihoods, and protect us from foods, droughts tour of the ‘Among The Trees’ exhibition at want to take part in Earth Hour even more, to coping with the changing climate, © SHARON DREYFUSS / WWF-US DREYFUSS © SHARON

and storms. But they’re in trouble. Over the / WWF-UK CERNIUS © JUOZAS London’s Hayward Galleries, which attracted over feel connected to a global community during this while doing everything we can past 50 years, populations of freshwater species 9,000 viewers. And those are just the events in the challenging time. One supporter said: “Thank to put the lid on global warming Consistent© monitoring have fallen by 83% and nearly a third of our techniquesWWF-SINGAPORE will enable us UK. Hundreds more took place around the world. you for making us feel less helpless.” During these before it’s too late. freshwater ecosystems have been lost. We’re to accurately assess lions Your support for these Earth Hour events difcult times, we need more than ever to fnd You can help fght climate across Kenya, both in urging governments to adopt the solutions in densely populated areas was incredible – we all came together to show ways to connect with each other and inspire hope change by adopting a polar bear: our six-point plan as part of the new global deal and more remote regions we care about the future of our planet. Our for the future. For more ideas about how you can wwf.org.uk/polarbearadopt on biodiversity being agreed this year. health and happiness depend on nature, so Earth help beyond the hour, visit page 28. 8 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 9 WORDS BY PAUL BLOOMFIELD | IMAGE © DNPWC/WWF-NEPAL 1111 | |

ROCK STAR Autumn 2020 Summer 2020 Summer

SNOW LEOPARDS SNOW

Action Action landscape in which they live. ofering insights into how these locations atfour-hourly intervals, individuals successfully ftted with committee. Hiscollar will send GPS upper Dolpa region. He is one of two into the rocks in Nepal’s mountainous A young male snow leopard melts away spectacular but vulnerable cats use the after a local snow leopard conservation satellite-tracking collars last November during a pioneering 40-day expedition you supported. The team named him Zeborong

Summer 2020 AutumnSummer 2020

in Nepal is a crucial step forward step crucial a is Nepal in understand its habits and how it uses its its uses it how and habits its understand Collaringhabitat. twocats these of elusive for a needle in a haystack. But to protect protect to But haystack. a in needle a for to need we mountains’ the of ‘ghost the Looking for a snow leopard is like searching searching like is leopard snow a for Looking

SHADOWS CHASING CHASING

Action Action

| |

1010 XXX SNOW LEOPARDS LOFTY AMBITIONS The expedition team treks into the high Himalayas to the base camp at Samling Monastery, perched at an altitude of 4,150m. CAT SCAN The group includes WWF conservationists, Zeborong, a three- to four-year-old adult male working with staf from Shey Phoksundo National weighing 38kg, is captured and swiftly sedated. Park and Nepal’s Department of National Parks Then he’s weighed, measured and given a once- and Wildlife Conservation, vets from the National over by a vet to ensure he’s healthy. The traps Trust for Nature Conservation, and the local are connected to transmitters that inform the community. During the 12-day journey from monitoring team as soon as they’re triggered – Kathmandu, the team traversed 5,300m though there are some false alarms triggered by passes to reach the heart of Shey Phoksundo. livestock or other wildlife. Great care is taken to It’s Nepal’s largest national park, home to set the traps in locations that provide space for the Himalayan wolves, antelope-like gorals, blue team to safely sedate and collar the leopards. Each sheep, black bears and snow leopards. collar, which costs around US$3,500, will transmit for 18 months then drop of automatically. ADOPT A SNOW LEOPARD Your membership already helps support our work monitoring snow leopards and helping to conserve their environment. But if you’d like to do more, adopting a snow leopard could help us expand our vital research by ftting collars on two more cats in Nepal. This will help us understand snow leopards’ movements and infuence conservation planning. You’ll also support community-run livestock insurance schemes to help local herders protect their livelihoods and reduce confict with these top predators. You can fnd out more at wwf.org.uk/snowleopardadopt

FREE TO ROAM Samling, the second male snow leopard collared during the expedition, is fve or six years old and named after an ancient monastery. After he wakes from sedation, he gradually vanishes into the mountainous terrain. The team is now monitoring the GPS data from Zeborong and Samling’s collars to build a picture of their movement patterns and identify their home ranges and corridors, as well as their behaviour patterns. Thanks to your support, this work will help us identify and protect critical and climate-resilient habitats to safeguard the MAPPING CAMERA TRAPS future of this extraordinary animal. As well as collaring snow leopards, the expedition team worked with park staf and local citizen scientists – here seen planning camera locations – to set up more than 300 camera traps. The data gathered will help improve population estimates for these elusive cats. The Dolpa region in which Shey Phoksundo lies is thought to host the highest density of Nepal’s 301–400 snow leopards – 10% of the world’s estimated total of 4,080–6,590 individuals. Information from the camera traps and local insights helped the team decide where to set the traps. ALL IMAGES © DNPWC/WWF-NEPAL “We can only work in the landscape with the community’s help,” says Sheren Shrestha, a WWF senior researcher, who joined the expedition. “They know the snow leopards’ movements and coexist with them.”

12 | Action Summer 2020 PRESERVING OUR OCEANS ARCTIC NOISE

Our oceans are alive with an orchestra of marine wildlife. But as the ice melts, the harmony of Arctic seas is being drowned out by increasing human activity. We’re working to understand the impact of this audio intrusion – and how to help combat it

DROWNING IN SOUND? / NATUREPL.COM NICKLIN © FLIP IMAGE WORDS BY PAUL BLOOMFIELD PAUL BY WORDS

Marine mammals such as beluga whales in the Arctic depend more on their hearing than other senses because sound travels well under water. But the Arctic Ocean is getting noisier and this could have a profound impact

on animals that rely on sound to survive

14 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 15 PRESERVING OUR OCEANS ARCTIC NOISE

The once-serene Arctic Ocean is now an aural assault course for ■ Arctic shipping ■ Recorded THE RISE OF ■ wildlife, as melting ice opens it up 60,000 trafc is expected to underwater for intrusive human activity SHIPPING NOISE commercial tankers noise from UNDERWATER NOISE and container ships quadruple ship trafc THE EFFECTS OF OIL AND GAS are on the seas at by 2025. is doubling any given time. every decade. ■ Oil and gas exploration uses seismic airguns ■ Ships with airguns fre them every ■ According to a 2014 report, Inuit that are six to seven orders of magnitude 10–12 seconds for weeks or months. throughout the Arctic say seismic ■ The distance travelled by ships louder than the loudest ship sounds. The sound can travel further than surveys are driving animals away ■ 90% ■ In 2017, almost in the Canadian ■ The sounds they emit are at frequencies from their hunting grounds. of all goods . Arctic has nearly similar to cetaceans’ communication signals, 4,000km travel by ship. 90 vessels causing confusion among marine mammals travelling the Northern Sea tripled and increasing the potential for harm. Route violated safety rules. in 25 years.

BOW/STERN THRUSTER HYDROPHONES PICK SEISMIC AIRGUN: FIRES DRAG FROM Pacifc UP SOUND WAVES WHERE PROPELLER HIGH-ENERGY SOUND POOR HULL ENGINE AND Ocean REFLECTED WAVES AT THE SEABED VESSEL NOISE MAINTENANCE ON-BOARD CAVITATION (IMPLODING LIQUID ENERGY COMES FROM MACHINERY BUBBLES TRIGGER SHOCKWAVES)

Arctic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

KEY TO ARCTIC THE SOUNDS SHIPPING ROUTES ■ Bowhead whales sing ■ East Greenland narwhals ■ Noise can damage beluga ■ Underwater noise makes it hard OF MARINE Northwest Passage ■ for almost 24 hours a day spend on average 27% of whales’ hearing by causing a for walrus mothers and calves to Northeast Passage ■ in winter to woo mates. their time echolocating. loss of hair cells in their ears. fnd each other if they’re separated. ANIMALS Arctic Bridge Route ■

MAJOR SOURCES OF UNDERWATER NOISE

■ Piledriving ■ Military ■ Seismic ■ Shipping ■ Sonar ■ Wind farms ■ Pleasure and other activity surveys and fshing craft ofshore boats construction

soft alto voice swells in the maestro’s free-jazz horn playing – and just accessing areas that were previously resources, for shipping navigation, for along the Arctic coast of Russia can cut the “Noise travels at a shallower depth darkness. Rising to a strident treble, as varied. A three-year study published icebound and therefore inaccessible. installing infrastructure such as wind distance between ports in east Asia and in Arctic waters,” explains Dr Melanie

it swoops and soars, then settles in 2018 recorded 184 diferent song types The 2019 Special Report on the Ocean turbines, and for ship-based tourism – Europe by 30–40% compared with using Lancaster, WWF’s Arctic species specialist. GRAPHIC: KETILL BERGER, FILM & FORM, FILMFORM.NO / into a soothing adagio, ebbing in just one area, the Fram Strait between and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate by but also potentially detrimental impacts. the Suez Canal, and trafc on that route “Also, ice blankets the water from wave and fowing in pitch, volume and Greenland and Svalbard. the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Along with oil spills and ship strikes increased signifcantly from 2009 (two and wind action for much of the year, so it’s Aurgency. Eventually the last note recedes, The bowhead’s unique vocalisations Change (IPCC) makes sobering reading. on marine wildlife, there’s another, less vessels) to 2013 (71 vessels). much quieter than most of the rest of the and another mesmerising performance by are accompanied in the Arctic by a range It concludes that the current loss of summer well-studied threat: underwater noise. Similarly, the Northwest Passage speeds world’s oceans. Hence we think that the the Arctic’s oldest crooner is over. of other sounds: whistles and clicks of Arctic sea ice is at its worst in at least 1,000 up travel between north Atlantic and north marine wildlife of the Arctic is less used to The bowhead whale – the longest-lived narwhals and belugas, creaking of ice, barks years. IPCC models project continued Pacifc ports. Because more vessels are noise than animals in other regions.” SHRINKING SEA ICE WWF ARCTIC PROGRAMME mammal on Earth, reaching 200 years old and grunts of seals and walruses. But they’re declines in Arctic sea ice through to the end We know that maritime trafc in the taking advantage of this shorter route, the Shipping is not the only human activity – has been dubbed ‘the jazz singer of the being increasingly backed by an expanding of the century. Arctic has grown. The IPCC suggests that total distance travelled by ships in Arctic that produces noise. Vessels exploring for Arctic’, intoning diverse melodies almost and disruptive percussion section – the The loss of sea ice opens up areas of the shipping activity during the Arctic summer Canada nearly tripled between 1990 and oil and gas reserves use seismic airguns non-stop during its winter mating season. rhythmic throb of ships’ engines, the airgun Arctic that were historically inaccessible increased signifcantly over the past two 2015. As shipping trafc grows, so does to survey the seabed, and construction In truth, the bowhead is more Miles Davis shots of seismic surveys, the thump of to human activity, presenting economic decades, concurrent with reductions in noise – an efect more noticeable in the of infrastructure such as wind turbines

than Al Jolson, its music akin to that piledrivers. In short, the sounds of humans opportunities – for exploitation of mineral Arctic sea ice. The Northern Sea Route formerly tranquil Arctic Ocean. often involves percussive piledriving, 16 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 17 ARCTIC NOISE

An increase in leisure cruises in the Arctic is adding to the noise. This drowns out communication between walrus mothers and their calves

Clearly, further research is crucial. that accelerates global warming and the loss We need to record underwater noise levels of sea ice. And we’re continuing our eforts to now so we can measure future increases. ensure the UK government follows through We need to further study the ecology on its commitment to meet a net-zero of Arctic species, and how they react to emissions target. increased underwater noise. And we must There’s much to be done to understand work to limit these impacts. and manage the impacts of underwater “Currently, we’re working with the noise in this beautiful region. But with your government of Canada and the Arctic help, we hope to ensure that the love songs Council working group on the Protection of bowheads will continue to serenade the Narwhals emit intense high-frequency of the Marine Environment to map Arctic for many centuries to come. clicks and use the echoes to locate underwater noise from shipping across the prey and avoid obstacles. Distant icebreakers cause them to stop calling Arctic, and overlay this with important and sink lower in the water areas for Arctic biodiversity,” reports Melanie. “We’re aiming to understand PROTECT THE ARCTIC what the normal background levels are, to You’re supporting our work to identify quiet areas that could potentially be combat the most urgent threats to both increasingly common in the Arctic as raising your voice to be heard,” says Melanie, near airguns during seismic surveys. summer area for narwhals that’s also sanctuaries for marine mammals and other the Arctic and its rich biodiversity. summer sea ice becomes less extensive. providing a helpful analogy. “You have a This may be because the whales stopped close to an iron-ore mine opened in 2014, wildlife, and to defne areas that are already If you’d like to make an extra gift, Increasingly, then, manmade noise may couple of alternatives: you don’t talk as calling, moved away, or both. It’s also which drives ship trafc through the Sound starting to get noisy.” this will make a bigger diference. mask or obscure important natural sounds, much, or you just go somewhere else – and noteworthy that bowhead courtship songs via the Arctic Bridge Route. By satellite- On a global scale, we’re following the £10 could help pay for acoustic heighten stress levels among animals and belugas seem to do one of these things.” are a similar frequency to ship noise, so they tagging narwhals, we hope to improve our upcoming submission by the governments of tags for narwhals, belugas or | © ALAMY / WWF-CANADA STOCK GEOGRAPHIC / NATIONAL NICKLEN © PAUL change their behaviour. are more likely to be masked. understanding of this cetacean’s ecology and Canada, Australia and the US to the Marine bowhead whales Arctic cod, too, react to vessel noise by the impacts of climate change – including Environment Protection Committee of the THE SEARCH FOR HARMONY moving away from the sound and curtailing increased noise from shipping. UN International Maritime Organisation £20 could go towards Narwhals and belugas, both Arctic residents, NARWHALS their exploratory activities, which reduces (IMO, the global shipping regulator) to hydrophones to record produce a range of vocalisations – squeaks, the distance over which they forage, so CHANGING BEHAVIOUR put underwater noise back on its agenda. underwater noise levels whistles and clicks – for communication they’re less efective at fnding food. Indeed, We also need to understand larger-scale By highlighting the global nature of the £50 could help our work to and echolocation. Research in the western ‘FREEZE’ AT manmade noise is the biggest factor impacts. “Ship noise doesn’t necessarily problem, we’re hopeful that many of IMO’s implement a network of Canadian Arctic showed that recorded afecting the ability of fsh in various marine cause injury or death, but it does tend to 174 member states will recognise the need marine protected areas beluga vocalisations decreased signifcantly environments to feed, avoid predators and change the way animals behave,” Melanie for new action on this issue. across the Arctic when vessels were close, suggesting that THE APPROACH reproduce successfully. explains. “It might cause animals to The UK doesn’t have Arctic territory, but belugas either moved away or reduced how Older studies suggest that narwhals temporarily move out of an area where it has £279 billion invested in companies £100 could support our advocacy often they vocalised in response to trafc. ‘freeze’ at the approach of ships, staying they’ve been feeding, for instance, and that are active in the region. We’re working work to ensure that UK OF SHIPS development activities in the Another study in the Canadian high still and silent. But more research is the result could be mass displacement of to infuence the UK government’s Arctic Arctic found that belugas showed a strong It’s a similar story for our sub-aqua needed. We’re working with the Canadian animals, separating large numbers from Policy Framework to ensure activity in the Arctic are sustainable ‘fee’ response to an icebreaker between soloists, bowhead whales. An acoustic study Department of Fisheries and Oceans on their food source. It’s important for us to Arctic is sustainable. This includes following Donate today: wwf.org.uk/noise 35km and 50km away. “Imagine yourself in in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea found that their a long-term seasonal project at Tremblay understand how those behavioural changes our Arctic Blue Economy principles and a noisy restaurant where you have to keep communication rate dropped signifcantly Sound, Bafnland. This is an important will have an impact at population level.” steering away from oil and gas extraction 18 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 19 THE BIG PICTURE

EYES IN THE SKIES This shocking image shows an ugly secret hidden deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest – recent deforestation on a large scale. But thanks to you we are increasing chances of detection in remote areas This image was captured by a drone you helped fund, making its frst surveillance fight over once-pristine rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Home to the indigenous Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people, the region covers 18,671 sq km and contains undiscovered wildlife, unexplored caves full of rock drawings and the source of water for at least 12 of Rondônia’s river systems. The Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau rely on the rainforest for their way of life, but loggers and land grabbers covet their land. Over the years, they’ve regularly invaded, but since 2018 the level of threat has intensifed. Last year, land grabbers burned forests here and elsewhere to make way for cattle pasture, believing they were unlikely to be punished by the government. The devastating fres were so widespread they could be seen from space. Thanks to your amazing response to our Amazon emergency appeal, and in partnership with Kanindé Ethno-Environmental Defense Association, we’re helping the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau protect their rainforest. We provided 13 drones to monitor deforestation and land grabbing, and trained 42 indigenous people to © MARIZILDA CRUPPE / WWF-UK operate them. These ‘eyes in the skies’ will enable the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau to fnd and document incursions and alert local authorities to illegal activities. The drones will also help them prepare for the next dry season in July by increasing surveillance and monitoring. See page 4 to fnd out how else the emergency funds have been spent.

20 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 21 MARINE TAGGING TECHNOLOGY BASKING SHARKS

Together with Sky Ocean Rescue and other organisations, we’re uncovering the secret lives of basking sharks in the UK, revealing hidden depths to these gentle giants of the ocean

fash of fn; a cavernous gape like the inside of a ribcage; a tapering body the length of a school bus. Until very recently, the world’s second- largest shark was all mouth and no biology: our understanding of the basking shark barely Adipped below the surface. But thanks to an exciting project involving underwater robot cameras, all this is about to change. We’ll be able to see and understand these mysterious sharks as never before. These fsh need our help. Though they roam the seas of every continent except Antarctica, scooping up plankton in their wide-open jaws, basking sharks are globally endangered. Fortunately, the UK is ideally positioned to help them, because a small area of the west coast of Scotland is the summer home to astonishing numbers. In the so-called Sea of the Hebrides, bounded to the west by the archipelago that includes Coll and Tiree, as many as 900 sharks have been counted in a single day, thought to be the largest recorded gatherings on the planet. However, this vital drop of the ocean currently afords the basking shark no special protection in law. WORDS BY DEREK NIEMANN; IMAGE © NATUREPL.COM / ALEX MUSTARD / 2020VISION / WWF / 2020VISION MUSTARD / ALEX © NATUREPL.COM IMAGE NIEMANN; DEREK BY WORDS SUBMARINE SURVEILLANCE Last summer, we embarked on a project with Sky Ocean WHAT Rescue to support our case for designating the area as a marine protected area (MPA) to better safeguard the sharks. We were joined by experts from Scottish Natural Heritage and the University of Exeter, along with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) of Massachusetts, who made the same journey across the Atlantic that the sharks themselves might have followed in the spring. Except our travellers brought with them some extraordinary kit we hope will enable us to make LIES some remarkable discoveries. Just about everything scientists know about basking

In a frst for UK marine conservation, sharks is based on observations at the surface. But underwater cameras have been groundbreaking new technology can provide clear and used to observe the behaviour of sharp flm of the animals’ lives from the bottom of the basking sharks in the Inner Hebrides. sea. The REMUS SharkCam autonomous underwater These graceful giants binge on plankton from late April to autumn vehicle is equipped with 360-degree cameras and navigational and scientifc instruments that enable it to BENEATH locate, track and flm tagged marine animals, such as 22 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 23 MARINE TAGGING TECHNOLOGY XXX

STEP 1: A PURPOSEFUL PAIR STEP 2: FIND YOUR SHARK Just before dawn, two boats head out to sea together. The larger one In the choppy waters of the Hebrides, the crew scan the horizon carries the heavy gear – the SharkCam, flming equipment and monitors. for hours at a time, looking for the shark’s pointed dorsal fn, which The smaller, faster and more manoeuvrable boat will get right up close to protrudes just above the surface of the sea. “Blue, blue, nothing the basking shark, without causing it undue stress, so a tag can be ftted. but blue,” laments one of the team. And then she spots one.

HOW

Despite their size, little is known about TO TAG A basking sharks’ lives. Most studies have been restricted to watching them feed on plankton near the surface of the ocean. BASKING But what they get up to on the seabed has remained a mystery... until now SHARK

great whites. Nothing like this has ever been success! The whole team cheered. Straight hall too, as pairs circled each other head attempted with basking sharks before. away, we winched SharkCam from the boat to tail. Surely this was courting behaviour; But frst you have to tag several sharks into the water and it sped of after the fourth could this be where the sharks mated, too? STEP 3: A ‘GAME’ OF TAG STEP 4: SHARKCAM IS OFF! with a device that guides SharkCam in visual shark. Our mission now was to follow the Dr Suzanne Henderson from Scottish A team member wields a pole with a hook on the end, As soon as the tag is fxed on the shark’s back, the crew on the bigger which they loop over the shark’s dorsal fn. The tag (right) is boat prepare to launch SharkCam into the sea. Looking somewhat like pursuit. And this involves a long day at sea. shark for around four hours. An onboard Natural Heritage, who worked on the project, secure, trailing along the animal’s back. It has a built-in GPS a rocket, this 360-degree robot camera is computer-programmed to The honours fell to two teams who set out computer meant the WHOI team could tell says: “The footage is a frst. It makes us and will drop of after about a week, to be collected later. follow the shark’s tag as if it were a magnet. from Tobermory harbour before the sun where the shark went and how deep it was. reassess our understanding of the basking rose. “It took nearly fve hours for our boat to They were exhilarated, giving us all a running sharks’ underwater behaviour, with these © NATUREPL.COM / WILD WONDERS OF EUROPE / SÁ / WWF |© NINA CONSTABLE / WWF-UK CONSTABLE |© NINA / WWF / SÁ EUROPE OF WONDERS / WILD © NATUREPL.COM reach the basking shark hotspot,” explains gentle giants spending more time swimming WWF’s Tessa Francis. “While the WHOI just above the seabed than previously team prepared the equipment, I watched THE CAMERAS thought. It brings home why it’s so important pufns and other seabirds. On arrival, a that the species and its habitat is protected.” pod of bottlenose dolphins came to greet us, Last autumn, our fndings were submitted but the telltale dorsal fn of a basking shark REVEALED A UNIQUE to a consultation led by the Scottish was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t until the government on whether the Sea of the afternoon that we spotted our frst one.” GLIMPSE INTO THE Hebrides should become an MPA – the world’s frst protected area specifcally for ACCESS ALL AREAS SHARKS’ LIVES basking sharks. Such a move would put legal The teams were in two boats – one measures in place to manage fsheries in the responsible for tagging the sharks, the commentary: ‘The shark is spending a lot of area and other activities that could disturb other for deploying SharkCam. The tagging time on the ocean foor.’ It was incredible!” the sharks. We expect a decision will be made boat had a vet on board and only allowed What the cameras revealed was both later this year, so watch out for updates. themselves a maximum of three attempts to extraordinary and unprecedented, giving approach and tag a shark to avoid distressing a unique glimpse into the sharks’ highly the animal. But sharks have slippery backs, sociable lives on the seabed. Groups of SEE FOR YOURSELF STEP 5: IT’S BEHIND YOU STEP 6: ANALYSING THE RESULTS and attaching a tag isn’t easy. sharks fed and hung out together, often Watch the incredible footage from Though the SharkCam follows the basking shark at all times, both on the The SharkCam is studded with fve or six cameras that relay high- surface and at the bottom of the sea, it’s set to keep a respectful 5–10 metres defnition videos back to the team on their computer. There are many “After failing to tag three sharks, we were resting for hours at a time on the lush turf of our shark-tagging adventure at back from the shark at all times, so that it causes minimal disturbance. hours of footage to analyse, as well as sonar imaging to interpret, plus all feeling a bit anxious,” recalls Tessa. “Then kelp. The foor became an underwater dance wwf.org.uk/baskingsharks It’s a way of gaining intimate knowledge without being obtrusive. pictures from tiny cameras that were mounted on the tag itself. 24 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 25 INTERVIEW

An inquisitive humpback whale approaches the research team’s boat. Humpbacks make an epic 8,500km journey to the Antarctic Peninsula every year to feed and build up sufcient energy stores to sustain them for the FEELING rest of the year Chris Johnson leads WWF’s Antarctic programme, using innovative technology to learn how climate change afects whales along the Antarctic Peninsula

THE HEAT What’s special about Antarctica? How have drones supported your research? Antarctica is a place where scientists come to I’m working with a team from Duke University on determine the health of the world. And it’s changing new drones that can fy above a whale and take a alarmingly fast here! Antarctica has lost more sea ice photograph of its body. This helps us see how big in the past four years than the Arctic has lost in the it’s growing as it feeds on krill. This is particularly past 34 years. Sea ice is a crucial habitat for krill – important for migratory species such as the tiny planktonic crustaceans that support the whole humpbacks that breed of Colombia and Ecuador. Antarctic food web. Krill are the reason why so many They only feed here in the Antarctic Peninsula, then penguins, seals and whales feed here. they head back to their breeding grounds, where they don’t feed for most of the year. So the whales really What other changes are you seeing? have to bulk up when they’re in Antarctica! As the climate changes, oceans are getting warmer. Sea temperatures along the Antarctic Peninsula have How will you use this information? risen by more than 2.7°C since the 1970s – about fve The drone images enable us to do a health checkup, times the global rate of warming. As suitable habitat measuring how much weight they put on during the recedes, the range of Antarctic krill is contracting summer feeding season. Then we can fnd them in south. Their shifting distribution will afect all the their breeding grounds and see how much weight species that rely on this food source. Many whales they lost on migration. We’re monitoring the long- migrate here to feed, and it will impact their body term health of a number of migratory whale species condition, reproductive ftness and population this way. Comparing the pictures year-on-year will abundance. It will also bring the whales and other reveal if it’s been a good or bad feeding year, and how krill predators, such as penguins, seals and seabirds, much climate change afected the availability of krill. into increasing confict with commercial krill fshing, putting Antarctica’s iconic wildlife under pressure. Why is this research so vital? By combining information from video tags and How do you study the whales? drones, we can fgure out where the whales’ most Working with a team of experts, including whale critical feeding habitats are all around the continent. © KC BIERLICH / DUKE UNIVERSITY MARINE ROBOTICS & REMOTE SENSING LAB SENSING & REMOTE ROBOTICS MARINE UNIVERSITY / DUKE BIERLICH © KC ecologist Dr Ari Friedlaender of the University of Then we’ll work with scientists and governments to California, Santa Cruz, we use new technology to try and protect this last great wilderness. If we can observe minke and humpback whale behaviour get the most vital areas of our oceans designated beneath the ocean’s surface. We’re using tags ftted as marine protected areas, it will help give wildlife with ‘whale cams’ to get a whale’s eye view under breathing space to adapt to our changing climate. water. This helps us discover where the whales are, what they’re doing and how healthy they are. How will your fndings inform our work? Antarctica is special – there’s nowhere else like it Can you explain how the tags work? on Earth. And the science is clear: climate change The tag is the size of an iPhone and has a video is threatening the stability of marine ecosystems camera on the front and suction cups on the bottom. and they’re undergoing a rapid, unprecedented We stick it to the back of a whale, and when it dives transformation. We have 10 years to limit global we get an awesome view of the whale and its friends warming to 1.5°C. As governments around the world feeding on krill. This lets us work out how the whales are making commitments to fght climate change, are feeding and how much krill they’re eating each this year we can deliver on commitments to establish day. The tag also has sensors that show – in 3D – marine protected areas around Antarctica, creating how the whale twists and turns as it dives. a safety net for some of our most precious wildlife. 26 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 27 THANK YOU FIGHT FOR YOUR WORLD “I LOVED 2 BUILD A MOVEMENT EVERY FIGHT FOR We want to hear from future protectors of the planet MINUTE OF YOUNG PEOPLE UNITE! RIDELONDON Today’s young people will be the stewards of our planet in the years to come. That’s why we’re putting them AND AM SO YOUR WORLD at the centre of our work. If you know someone aged between 11 and 18 PROUD TO who’s passionate about protecting 3 GIVE FOR At a time when the whole world is fghting one of the most challenging the planet, encourage them to email our youth engagement HELP THE YOUR WORLD health issues of our generation, the need to unite and make our voices team and discover how they heard for the planet has never been greater. #FightForYourWorld can be part of WWF. CAUSE” Join Team Panda by signing up for Please get in touch with us: one of our fundraising events – [email protected] BEN G, or take on your own challenge TEAM PANDA DO IT FOR THE PANDA CYCLIST If you’ve been thinking about doing more INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION for your world, why not take on a personal Our youth ambassadors are a dedicated challenge and support our work at the same MAKE A STATEMENT group of young people who are time? You can join Team Panda by taking on 1 DEMAND ACTION passionate about taking action for a run, walk or cycle or by setting your own Next time you sit down to the planet. Ollie, Hattie, Anastasia, challenge while raising money to support us. Help us put an end to deforestation in our food 1 enjoy a meal, get creative Sally, Will (above), Izaak, Jemba and Every team member receives a fundraising and design a plate placard that Rowan meet regularly with our youth pack, along with regular updates that will MAKE A PLATE PLACARD shows you don’t want your engagement team and colleagues across help you keep up to date and motivated. Most As you may have read in your last issue of Action, precious food to cause deforestation. the organisation to discuss ideas, help importantly, you’ll get our ‘The Panda Made landscapes such as the Amazon and Cerrado are being burned Think about what you’re eating. If it’s shape projects, attend and host events, Me Do It’ top and panda ears headband! to make way for agriculture every year – killing wildlife and 2 meat or dairy, the supply chain may and meet key stakeholders and decision- We ofer charity places in the most popular making the climate crisis worse. Shockingly, the food we buy in have included soy grown on deforested makers. Ultimately, these brilliant UK-based challenge events, such as the the UK is part of the system driving this devastation. land in South America. If it’s vegan, it may young people are stepping up to help Brighton Marathon, RideLondon and more. contain unsustainable palm oil that’s driving us take action, protect our planet And once you’ve done one, you’ll want to do deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. and create a brighter world for more! So, what are you waiting for? future generations. Youth ambassadors such To see which events you can sign up to, Now, conjure up your best food jokes and puns. as Ollie host events and To fnd out more, visit our website help bring our work to a visit wwf.org.uk/events or get in touch You’ll need some paper or card to write your

wwf.org.uk/youthengagement wider audience at [email protected] / WWF CHILVERS | © MARK | © GETTY / WWF-UK J RATCLIFFE | © CHRIS UK / WWF CONROY © STEPHEN 3 message on (recycle a cereal box if you have one), a lollipop stick, glue, ruler and scissors. Design your tiny placard, cut it out, stick it on a 4 lollipop stick and place it in your meal. Then take a photo and share it as widely as possible 5 on social media with your friends and family as well as all your followers to raise awareness of this vital issue. 4 BE THE CHANGE Don’t forget to tag @wwf_uk. You can also email your photo to us at: [email protected] Become a real-life Ocean Hero HELP PROTECT OUR OCEANS There’s no way for us to know which food is causing Sky Ocean Rescue and WWF are working deforestation, and we don’t think this is right. But if enough of to protect and restore our amazing oceans, as seagrass, to achieving change at the plastic that could end up in our seas, eating us speak up and raise awareness of this vital issue, we can get and we need your help. We’re committed to highest levels of government, we’re striving sustainable fsh or reducing your carbon deforestation of our plates for good. tackling the threats, restoring the oceans to continue to futureproof our oceans for emissions, everyone can play an important By adding a tiny protest sign to your next meal and sharing it and challenging the UK government to generations to come. role in the fght to save our seas. with the world, you can show governments and businesses that do more. From fnding pioneering ways Join the fght by becoming an Ocean Find out how you can help at you want action to protect our amazing forests. of bringing back important habitats such Hero. Whether it’s saying no to unnecessary wwf.org.uk/oceanhero

28 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 29 COMPETITIONS NOTES FROM THE FIELD CROSSWORD Solve our crossword and you could win a WIN YOUR FAVOURITE copy of Handbook of Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises by Mark Carwardine, published EMILY TAN HOMEWARE by Bloomsbury and worth £35 Treat yourself to your choice of gift from our exclusive new range Cheetahs are famous for their bursts of speed We’ve teamed up with Sufolk-based artist and designer when hunting, but they Emily Tan to create a beautiful new collection of homeware, actually spend most of clothing and gifts. their time sleeping Driven by a desire to inspire positive impact and help the WIN! planet, Emily has designed a unique collection for WWF, including posters, cushion covers and mugs as well as BEAUTIFUL organic cotton tote bags and T-shirts. Each item features CELEB SPOTS one of three powerful designs depicting some of the world’s You don’t expect to encounter TV personalities HOMEWARE most iconic species – lions, penguins and snow leopards. in the middle of the African savannah. Like As well as featuring Emily’s striking artwork, all items millions of people around the world, I was are printed in the UK using AZO-free dyes on organic wowed by the footage of the fve cheetah cotton, FSC-certifed paper or clay. And they’re printed to brothers hunting together in Our Planet, the order to eliminate mass production. Netfix series. Now here they were in real life, We’re giving two members the chance to win an item of tails twitching, relaxing in the shade of a tree. their choice from Emily’s collection of wildlife-inspired Meeting these spotted celebrities was a designs. You can see the full range of her products by highlight of my visit to Kenya’s Maasai Mara last year to see the visiting our online store – wwf.org.uk/shop – and amazing work you’re supporting there. It’s an incredible landscape searching for ‘Emily Tan’. with the most spectacular wildlife – scenes of huge herds of To be in with a chance of winning, just follow the wildebeest crossing the croc-flled Mara river are world famous. instructions in the box below and mark your entry ‘Emily WWF Action crossword 45: Summer 2020 issue. Compiled by Aleric Linden But what you rarely see in wildlife documentaries are the people living nearby. Much of the wildlife in the Mara is found outside the Tan Competition’. Good luck! After solving the crossword, take each letter from the shaded squares Maasai Mara National Reserve, in the community-managed areas, (going from left to right and top to bottom) to spell out the prize word. called conservancies, that surround it. With your support, we’re To be in with a chance to win, just send a postcard with the prize word helping local communities to run key conservancies at Siana and to the address on page 30, or email it to [email protected]. Oloisukut in ways that allow people and wildlife to thrive together. The closing date is Friday 24 July WIN ECO-FRIENDLY KIDS’ CLOTHES! HOW TO Clues across 4 Decade in which the Exxon Valdez WILDLIFE FOR PEOPLE 1 Zero-emissions pedal vehicle (7) and Chernobyl disasters both Tourism creates local jobs and provides income. Oloisukut occurred (8) ENTER ACTION 7 Most Greenland residents belong conservancy has some of the highest girafe numbers in the region, Take your pick from our new F&F 5 Sweet product obtained from cane to this group of Arctic people (5) and girafe-themed gifts generate extra income for the community. clothing range at Tesco GIVEAWAYS 9 The large-scale restoration of and beet cultivation (5) nature (9) 6 Another term for killer whale (4) Sadly, the loss of tourism to this region due to coronavirus has Send an email with your 8 An agreement such as the Kyoto Kitting out your children doesn’t need to cost the 10 _ predator, animal at the top of the had a massive impact on these communities. So we’re looking name, address and phone food chain (4) Protocol (6) to support the fnancial sustainability of the conservancies and Earth thanks to our new sustainable F&F (Florence 12 Inner _ , underwater robot cameras number, along with Emily 11 _ Falls, natural wonder on the promote other sustainable livelihoods for local people. & Fred) clothing range at Tesco. Featuring a range Zambia-Zimbabwe border (8) flmed basking sharks here in the Tan or Florence & Fred It’s important that communities receive benefts from having of endangered wildlife from tigers to girafes, this 13 Sett-dwelling mammal (6) UK last year (8) 13 This group of whales includes blue charming and exclusive range caters for all young in the subject line, to 14 Inland shipping route. North wildlife on their doorstep, because living close to wild animals can [email protected] America’s St Lawrence is one (6) and right whales (6) create problems. Elephants destroy crops, while lions, leopards and cubs, from babies up to age 14. The 20-piece collection 15 Hunters of minkes and the like (7) 17 The Gulf of Genoa is part of this sea cheetahs prey on livestock. Thanks to you, and in particular to our includes sweatshirts, leggings and T-shirts in cool Alternatively, you can 16 Domesticated bovine animals (6) in the Mediterranean (8) lion adopters, the Mara Predator Conservation Programme, our neutral colours, entwined with animals, and aims to post your entry to 19 _ oil, popular product which has led 18 What’s harvested from cereal food crops (5) local partner, is ofering solutions. Reinforced livestock enclosures inspire a new generation of environmental champions. Action Magazine, to extensive deforestation (4) 22 Harmful phosphates were once 20 An animal’s breeding partner (4) built with recycled plastic poles are a lot more efective at reducing Made from sustainable, 100% organic cotton, these WWF-UK, Living Planet common in this laundry product (9) 21 Any agricultural product, cultivated attacks than traditional wooden ones. We’ve also given beehives to desirable essentials are produced with up to 94% Centre, Ruford House, and harvested (4) 23 _ pollution, a threat to the peace local women’s enterprise groups: not only does the honey provide a lower emissions and no pesticides or chemicals, so and safety of marine wildlife such Brewery Road, Woking, source of income, but bees also deter elephants (see page 5). they’re kinder to the planet. And the people making Surrey GU21 4LL. as whales (5) Spring 2020 answers 24 Extensive Eurasian grasslands (7) Despite the challenges, most local people want wildlife to return the clothes are treated right too. For every item sold, Prize word: CORALS ELLIOTT © KATHERINE a percentage of the price will help fund our work to Only one competition per Across 1. Agriculture 7. Logging 8. Ozone to their conservancies. Encouragingly, we saw that key habitats are Clues down 9. Park 10. Advanced 13. Amazon entry please. Closing date: 14. Adopts 16. Treeless 19. Pods recovering and wildlife numbers are starting to increase here. protect the planet for future generations. 1 Arctic whale noted for its large ice- Friday 24 July. For full terms 21. Bison 22. Extreme 23. Forest fres I even saw a mother cheetah with no fewer than seven cubs! We’ve got three £25 F&F vouchers to give away. breaking skull (7) Down 1. Algeria 2. Rain 3. Caged To enter, follow the instructions in the box on the right and conditions, visit: 2 A young whale (4) 4. Leopards 5. Range 6. Elephant 3 Worryingly, the climate currently 11. Disaster 12. Lowlands 15. Plovers and mark your entry ‘Florence & Fred’. wwf.org.uk/compterms 17. Rhino 18. Shelf 20. Star Katherine Elliott fnds itself in this state (6) WWF-UK regional manager – Africa 30 | Action Summer 2020 Action Summer 2020 | 31 ADOPT A #45 2020 • ISSUE • SUMMER • ACTION

SCAN WITH ARLOOPA APP

BETTER FUTURE

Download the free 1Arloopa app: arloopa.com Scan this page to 2experience the magic Watch as a jaguar appears 3and walks around!

Feeling inspired and want to do more? Help protect threatened species, including jaguars, with an animal adoption wwf.org.uk/adoptions © EMMANUEL RONDEAU / WWF FRANCE / WWF RONDEAU © EMMANUEL WWF.ORG.UK

FSC logo to go here

ALL INFORMATION CORRECT AT TIME OF PRINTING, MAY 2020