WIN A SIGNED COPY OF ATTENBOROUGH’S NEW BOOK PAGE 30 THE MAGAZINE FOR WWF MEMBERS AUTUMN 2020 REEFS OF HOPE How you’re helping protect unique coral reefs that could survive climate change HEALING NATURE RISING TO THE CHALLENGE Forests are good for our health Thanks to you, we’re supporting and for our planet – so we’re fghting communities and wildlife through to keep a trillion trees standing the worst impacts of the pandemic CONTENTS TOGETHER, WE DID IT! 4 STANDING TOGETHER 22 “LIFE-CHANGING A round-up of all you’ve helped How we’re helping wildlife us achieve in recent months guardians respond to the coronavirus crisis, thanks to you. WWF IN ACTION 6 By Paul Bloomfeld EVENTS SUCH AS Environment news, including choices for a better future INTERVIEW: COLIN BUTFIELD 26 On the making and meaning of THE PANDEMIC CAN HOPE FOR CORAL REEFS 10 David Attenborough: A Life With your support, we’re working On Our Planet to protect the most resilient coral reefs in seven countries. FIGHT FOR YOUR WORLD 28 GIVE US TIME TO By Paul Bloomfeld Be part of the change and do your bit to protect our precious planet THE WONDERS OF TREES 16 Forests are crucial to our physical GIVEAWAYS 30 RETHINK AND RESET” and mental wellbeing, so we’re Win a copy of A Life On Our taking action to protect and Planet by David Attenborough restore a trillion trees and help you reconnect with woodlands. CROSSWORD 31 By Derek Niemann Solve our crossword and you could win a copy of Lily Cole’s BIG PICTURE 20 book Who Cares Wins Discover the mysterious kingdom of an iceberg and how studying NOTES FROM THE FIELD 31 seals from space may hold the Against all odds, a tiger is spotted secret to protecting Antarctica in a surprising place in Nepal MEET THIS ISSUE’S GUEST CONTRIBUTORS CAROL PHUA STUART DAVID CURNICK is WWF’s DAINTON, leads the global Coral head of fieldwork for Reef Rescue Trillion Trees, our coral reef Initiative manager. She says: “With the challenge monitoring project in Fiji says: “If we can protect of biodiversity loss and on behalf of the Zoological reefs that are less climate change, it’s Society of London. “Our vulnerable to climate critical we protect forests coral reefs have reached a change, they’ll bring life and put back trees in our tipping point. We urgently NURTURING A GREEN RECOVERY back to our oceans and landscapes to restore the need innovative solutions help other reefs.” to save them,” he says. The Covid-19 crisis has reminded us how closely people balance with nature.” and nature are interlinked. Unless we act now, the destruction of habitats and exploitation of wildlife will increase the risk of future pandemics, with serious GET IN TOUCH MEET THE ACTION TEAM Editor Liz Palmer [email protected] consequences for our health, economies and ecosystems. Editorial executive Holly Towner wwf.org.uk/contact As we emerge from this crisis, we have an opportunity Senior supporter engagement manager to heal humanity’s broken relationship with nature. 01483 426333 Hannah Crawley Our recent report, Covid-19: Urgent call to protect people WWF-UK Living Planet Centre, Supporter engagement managers and nature, demanded rapid global action to tackle Ruford House, Brewery Road, Stephen Osborne, Merlin Meyer Senior editor Guy Jowett the causes of pandemics. We must curb the trade and Woking, Surrey GU21 4LL consumption of threatened wildlife, halt deforestation For Immediate Media Co. and land conversion, and fnd more sustainable ways FOLLOW US Consultant editor Sophie Staford Art editor Nicole Mooney to produce food to reduce the risk of diseases passing wwf.org.uk/facebook COVER: Production editor Charlotte Martyn from animals to people. wwf.org.uk/twitter Account manager Katy Hewett © GETTY | CONTENTS: A better future starts with the decisions people, Design director Will Slater wwf.org.uk/pinterest governments and companies around the world make Forests cover almost a third Editorial director Dan Linstead today. So we’re urging world leaders to embrace a just, of the Earth’s land, but we’re wwf.org.uk/news losing them at an alarming rate. THANKS TO OUR CONTRIBUTORS wwf.org.uk/youtube healthy and green recovery where people and the This threatens the prosperity Paul Bloomfeld, Colin Butfeld, David planet thrive and pandemics are less likely. of people and wildlife. So we’re wwf.org.uk/instagram Curnick, Stuart Dainton, Damian Fleming, working for a world where one © GETTY The fght for our world has never been more Barney Jefries, Derek Niemann, Carol trillion trees are regrown, saved Phua, Samundra Subba important. We need to work in partnership with from loss and better protected nature, rather than against it. around the world by 2050 Produced in association with Immediate Media Co. www.imcontent.co.uk 2 | Action Autumn 2020 THANK YOU TOGETHER, WE DID IT! “THE SOLUTIONS FOR NATURE RECOVERY ALREADY EXIST – NOW WE NEED TO EMBRACE THEM. THIS CAN START WITH TOGETHER, WE DID IT! JUST ONE OR TWO SIMPLE ACTIONS” KATIE WHITE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF ADVOCACY AND CAMPAIGNS Thanks to your membership, we can help 6 protect wildlife and wild places. Here Polar bears are vulnerable while are some of the great things supporters they’re in their dens. So mapping den like you have helped achieve locations helps us push for greater protection of these areas 1 AMAZON YOU HELPED GAIN INSIGHTS INTO JAGUARS 6 CANADIAN ARCTIC © ALAMY With your help, we’ve been able to show just how 4 YOU HELPED MAP POLAR BEAR DENS important efective conservation areas are for jaguars 3 in a key part of the Amazon. A two-year project found Thanks to you, we’ve compiled a map of more than 1,500 around 2,000 jaguars living in a wildlife corridor that 2 polar bear dens across Canada. Researchers drew on years of links a protected area in Peru with one in Ecuador and an 1 monitoring data, including from feld programmes funded by indigenous territory in Colombia. This impressive number our polar bear adopters and other supporters, and the knowledge demonstrates that these largely undisturbed habitats of indigenous communities, to record sites where female bears are healthy. That’s important for top predators such as are known to make their dens and give birth. This information jaguars, which need large territories and plenty of prey, will help us learn more about how polar bears are adapting to such as tapirs. A total of 129 camera traps captured 64,700 their changing climate and improve protection for these crucial photos, from which researchers identifed individual ‘Super snifer’ dogs and areas as the warming Arctic opens up to more development. jaguars from the unique patterns of spots, or ‘rosettes’, on their handlers undergo Importantly, that includes preserving marine areas too – most their fur. Our goal is to create an interconnected network a rigorous nine-month dens are 20 miles or fewer from the coast, and bears spend a © GETTY of jaguar-friendly landscapes across Latin America by great deal of their time on sea ice. We recently launched a project 2030, to ensure the survival of the region’s largest cat, as training regime to develop specialist called ArcNet to create a network of marine protected areas PENGUIN © GETTY well as the countless other species that share its habitat. skills and a deep bond. The pairs across the Arctic, working closely with governments and marine 5 must pass an exam to qualify stakeholders. This will help both people and wildlife to adapt to 9 rapidly increasing pressures in the region. 2 KENYA 3 CAMBODIA © GETTY YOU’RE HELPING DRIVE DOWN ELEPHANT POACHING YOU HELPED 4 INDIA 5 ANTARCTICA Because of supporters like you, elephant poaching has been falling STOP NEW DAMS in one of Africa’s most iconic landscapes. Historically, more than YOU HELPED SNIFF OUT WILDLIFE CRIME YOU’RE HELPING PROTECT PENGUINS ON THE MEKONG © GETTY 60 elephants were killed by poachers each year in the Mau-Mara- Thanks to your support, two snifer dog squads will help detect Thanks to you, we’re one step closer to securing Serengeti landscape that links Kenya and Tanzania. But for each of the With your support, plans illegal wildlife items being smuggled by rail in India. Over the long-term protection for crucial penguin habitats in past fve years, numbers have been down to single digits. A vital part to dam the world’s largest past few years, we’ve worked with TRAFFIC, the wildlife crime the Southern Ocean. As Antarctica experiences rapid of that success is our work with communities, who are the guardians free-fowing river have monitoring network, to help train more than 60 teams of ‘super climate change, it’s vital that key wildlife feeding of their lands and who play a crucial role in protecting wildlife. Last been put on hold. Following snifers’ across India. The dogs have helped catch poachers and areas are protected from current and future threats. year, with your support, we helped recruit 15 years of campaigning by WWF and others, Cambodia has called a seize illegal wildlife products such as tiger bones and elephant But identifying these places in such a vast, remote community rangers in a poaching hotspot. 10-year halt to the development of new hydropower dams on the tusks. This is the frst time region is challenging. That’s why we took part in a You’ve also helped pay for training and mainstream of the Mekong river. The dams would have caused dogs will be deployed by massive research study, partly funded by our penguin equipment for rangers, enabling irreversible damage to unique ecosystems and freshwater species, the Railway Protection adopters and other supporters, which used satellite and them to respond rapidly to including the world’s largest population of Irrawaddy river Force on India’s busy electronic tracking data to discover where predator species wildlife crimes.