Press Releases

- Causes include same environmental destruction - such as deforestation, unsustainable agriculture and the illegal wildlife trade - which contributes to virus outbreaks like COVID-19 

- WWF is calling for urgent action to set nature on a path to recovery 2030 by ending the destruction of natural habitats and reforming our food system  

10 September, [Gland] – Global populations* of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have suffered an average two-thirds decline in less than half a century due in large part to the very same environmental destruction which is contributing to the emergence of zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2020, released today. 

The Living Planet Index (LPI), provided by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), shows that factors believed to increase the planet’s vulnerability to pandemics - including land-use change and the use and trade of wildlife - were also some of the drivers behind the 68 per cent average decline in global vertebrate species populations between 1970 and 2016. 

“The Living Planet Report 2020 underlines how humanity’s increasing destruction of nature is having catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations but also on human health and all aspects of our lives,” said Marco Lambertini, Director General, WWF International. 

“We can’t ignore the evidence – these serious declines in wildlife species populations are an indicator that nature is unravelling and that our planet is flashing red warning signs of systems failure. From the fish in our oceans and rivers to bees which play a crucial role in our agricultural production, the decline of wildlife affects directly nutrition, food security and the livelihoods of billions of people.”

He added: “In the midst of a global pandemic, it is now more important than ever to take unprecedented and coordinated global action to halt and start to reverse the loss of biodiversity and wildlife populations across the globe by the end of the decade, and protect our future health and livelihoods. Our own survival increasingly depends on it.” 

The Living Planet Report 2020 presents a comprehensive overview of the state of our natural world through the LPI, which tracks trends in global wildlife abundance, and contributions from more than 125 experts from around the world. It shows that the main cause of the dramatic decline in species populations on land observed in the LPI is habitat loss and degradation, including deforestation, driven by how we as humanity produce food. 

Endangered species captured in the LPI include the eastern lowland gorilla, whose numbers in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo have seen an estimated 87 per cent decline between 1994 and 2015 mostly due to illegal hunting, and the African grey parrot in southwest Ghana, whose numbers fell by up to 99 per cent between 1992 and 2014 due to threats posed by trapping for the wild bird trade and habitat loss.

The LPI, which tracked almost 21,000 populations of more than 4,000 vertebrate species between 1970 and 2016, also shows that wildlife populations found in freshwater habitats have suffered a decline of 84 per cent - the starkest average population decline in any biome, equivalent to 4 per cent per year since 1970. One example is the spawning population of the Chinese sturgeon in China’s Yangtze river, which declined by 97 per cent between 1982 and 2015 due to the damming of the waterway.

“The Living Planet Index is one of the most comprehensive measures of global biodiversity,” said Dr Andrew Terry, ZSL’s Director of Conservation. “An average decline of 68% in the past 50 years is catastrophic, and clear evidence of the damage human activity is doing to the natural world. If nothing changes, populations will undoubtedly continue to fall, driving wildlife to extinction and threatening the integrity of the ecosystems on which we all depend. But we also know that conservation works and species can be brought back from the brink. With commitment, investment and expertise, these trends can be reversed.”

The LPR 2020 also includes pioneering modelling which shows that without further efforts to counteract habitat loss and degradation, global biodiversity will continue to decline. Based on a paper, ‘Bending the curve of terrestrial biodiversity needs an integrated strategy,’ co-authored by WWF and more than 40 NGOs and academic institutions and published today in Nature, the modelling makes clear that stabilizing and reversing the loss of nature caused by humans’ destruction of natural habitats will only be possible if bolder, more ambitious conservation efforts are embraced and transformational changes made to the way we produce and consume food. Changes needed include making food production and trade more efficient and ecologically sustainable, reducing waste, and favouring healthier and more environmentally-friendly diets.   

The research shows that implementing these measures together rather than in isolation will allow the world to more rapidly alleviate pressures on wildlife habitats, thereby reversing biodiversity trends from habitat loss decades earlier than strategies that allow habitat losses and then attempt to reverse them later on.The modelling also indicates that if the world carries on with “business as usual”, rates of biodiversity loss seen since 1970 will continue over the coming years. 

“These losses would at best take decades to reverse, and further irreversible biodiversity losses are likely, putting at risk the myriad ecosystem services that people depend on,” said David Leclère, lead author of the paper and Research Scholar at the International Institute of Applied System Analysis.

The Living Planet Report 2020 launches less than a week before the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, when leaders are due to set the direction for The Future We Want, including with a focus on protecting our planet. A special Summit on Biodiversity, due to take place on 30 September, will bring together world leaders, businesses and civil society to highlight the urgent need for action on nature at the highest level. It marks a critical opportunity for leaders to demonstrate ambition and accelerate biodiversity action for sustainable development. 

With a new global biodiversity agreement scheduled to be negotiated next year, alongside increased climate action, the world has the opportunity to secure a New Deal for Nature and People that sets nature on the path to recovery by 2030 and secures a sustainable future for people and the planet.

Lambertini said: “The Bending the Curve modelling provides invaluable evidence that if we are to have any hope of restoring nature to provide current and future generations of people with what they need, then world leaders must - in addition to conservation efforts - make our food system more sustainable and take deforestation - one of the main causes of wildlife population decline - out of supply chains. 

“With leaders gathering virtually for the UN General Assembly in a few days’ time, this research can help us secure a New Deal for Nature and People which will be key to the long-term survival of wildlife, plant and insect populations and the whole of nature, including humankind.  A New Deal has never been needed more.”

Supporters are invited to add their names to WWF’s petition which can be found at: panda.org/pandemics and help call on world leaders to implement policy frameworks and action plans that implement a ‘One Health’ approach which ensures they are doing all they can to protect us from future pandemics.

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Notes to Editors:

• *Using the data from 4,392 species and 20,811 populations, the 2020 global Living Planet Index shows an average 68 per cent decline in monitored populations. The percentage change in the index reflects the average proportional change in animal population sizes tracked over 46 years - not the number of individual animals lost.
• The LPR 2020 is the thirteenth edition of WWF's biennial flagship publication. 
• The full Living Planet Report 2020 and summary versions of the report are available here. At this link, you will also find an additional in-depth report into the Freshwater LPI findings, a report on the effect of climate change on species, ‘Biodiversity In A Warming World’, as well as Broll footage and images.
• To complement the findings of the ‘Bending the curve of terrestrial biodiversity needs an integrated strategy’ paper, the Living Planet Report curated a special collection of 20 essays from world-class experts from China to Mexico, ranging from young activists, authors and academics to business leaders, journalists and indigenous leaders, to share with us how they picture a healthy planet for people and nature. They include Sir David Attenborough, pioneer of nature documentary film-making and WWF ambassador and Cass R. Sunstein, behavioural economist and New York Times best-selling coauthor of Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness.
• More information about the Bending the Curve paper written by David Leclère, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA); Michael Obersteiner, IIASA; Mike Barrett, WWF UK; Robin Freeman; ZSL; Tamás Krisztin, IIASA; Hugo Valin: IIASA; Piero Visconti, IIASA; Rosamunde Almond, WWF NL; Fulvio Di Fulvio, IIASA; Steffen Fritz, IIASA; Monique Grooten, WWF NL; Petr Havlík: IIASA; Martin Jung: IIASA; Lucy Young, WWF UK; and others can be found here. The paper will be published in Nature on 10 September.
• 'One Health' is defined by the World Health Organization as an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes. It brings together the expertise across public health, animal health, plant health and the environment. It is endorsed by multiple international and national organizations including World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations System Influenza Coordination, the World Bank, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others.

The Department of Forest Inspection (DoFI) raided a shop in the Luang Prabang airport on January 15th, confiscating powdered pangolin scale, elephant skin and bear bile meant for use in traditional medicine.
 
The seizure, which was made possible by a tip-off from an informer and funding from WWF-Laos, targeted a Lao owned, Chinese managed store on the third floor of the Luang Prabang International Airport. This store was known to sell illegal wildlife products and had been under investigation in the past.
 
The items confiscated included:19 bottles of bear bile capsules; 17 tins of bear bile powder; 28 bottles of what is thought to be pangolin scale powder, equalling 3.2kg; and 16 large and 24 small bottles of elephant skin powder, which collectively came to 4.1kg.
 
Falsely believed to have medicinal properties, the items were being sold to primarily Chinese tourists who were visiting the ancient capital city. The price points for the illegal items were quite high, with pangolin scale selling at about US$43 per 100g bottle, bear bile powder selling for 200,000 LAK (about US$22) per 75g tin, and elephant skin powder retailing at US$160 per 70g bottle and US$230 per 150g bottle.
 
“This seizure shows the effectiveness of DoFI’s collaboration with WWF and the strength of the information network that has been set up to report wildlife crimes,” said, Mr. Air Vilaketh, Deputy Head of Wildlife and Aquatic inspection division, Department of Forest Inspection (DoFI) who oversaw the seizure. “We are hopeful that applying consistent pressure on those who engage in wildlife crimes will create a sufficient level of risk around the trade to disincentivize this kind of behavior in the future.”
 
While forensic tests still need to be conducted on the materials to confirm the actual identity of the powders, selling items labeled as illegal wildlife products is already a crime. The owner and manager of the store are currently under investigation.
 
DoFI and other members of the Lao Wildlife Enforcement Network have been active in combating the illegal wildlife trade, with another raid in October of last year resulting in the seizure of 3kg of ivory, again from the Luang Prabang airport.

 

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Notes to Editors:

For more information, please contact: 

Bounpone Sookmexay, Communications Manager, WWF-Laos

+856 20 5955 8034 

bounpone.sookmexay@wwf.org.la

Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, 19^th December 2019 -- ​A social marketing training workshop was held today in Luang Prabang for 30 local tour guides to enhance their ability to help Chinese tourists avoid the risk of buying illegal wildlife products while traveling in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR).  
 
The workshop took place as part of a collective effort to promote responsible tourism and reduce illegal wildlife trade in Southeast Asia and was co-organized by WWF-Laos, WWF-China and TRAFFIC in collaboration with Trip.com (the largest online travel agency in Asia), Intrepid Group (the largest small group adventure travel company in the world), and the Luang Prabang Provincial Offices of Forest Inspection and Information Culture and Tourism.
 
The responsible tourism initiative aims to steer travelers in Lao PDR away from opportunities to become engaged in illegal wildlife trade.
 
With the ivory trade ban in China implemented at the end of 2017 and the growing purchasing power of Chinese consumers, some Chinese nationals have been tempted into buying ivory and other illegal wildlife products while traveling to Southeast Asia.
 
A Recent Study of ivory consumption by Chinese nationals identified outbound travelers as a key group of past and potential buyers of Ivory.
 
“Given the influx of Chinese business and leisure travelers into Laos, we believe this is a critical moment to engage tour guides to help address illegal wildlife trade in the country,” said Khamkhoun Khounbolin, Wildlife Coordinator of WWF Laos.
 
“To curb the poaching of endangered species, reducing the demand for their products is key, and currently that demand is emanating from visitors of some East Asian countries.”
 
Over 30 tour guides who work primarily with Chinese tourists participated in the training event, which included background information on the smuggling of illegal wildlife products across borders, and on what it means to participate in sustainable tourism.

Participants role-played potential scenarios, such as talking potential buyers out of buying illegal wildlife products, telling customers about the legal consequences of transporting such products home, and identifying alternative products that could legally be purchased as souvenirs. At the end of the day, participants took a pledge towards promoting sustainable tourism practices and working to prevent their customers from purchasing illegal wildlife products.

“Collaboration with the tourism industry is key to helping combat wildlife trafficking,” said James Compton, Senior Director of Asia-Pacific, TRAFFIC.
 
“Collaborating with the tourism industry is key in combatting wildlife trafficking,” said James Compton, Senior Director of Asia-Pacific, TRAFFIC. “In some instances tour guides, on behalf of the tourists, are helping facilitate the smuggling of wildlife products across the border into China. This training aims to stop this, make tour guides more aware of the penalties involved, for them and the tourists, and to support the government of Lao’s effort for sustainable tourism”.
 
This event was co-funded by the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the European Commission (EC).
 
​--------------End-------------
 
Notes to Editors:
For more information, please contact: 
Bounpone Sookmexay, Communications Manager, WWF-Laos
+856 20 5955 8034 
bounpone.sookmexay@wwf.org.la
 

 

Pakse City, Chapamsak Province, October 29, 2019 -- Officials from WWF-Laos and the Department of Forestry (DoF) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry kicked off the Laos side of an ambitious project to protect the forests and wildlife of Southern Laos and Central Vietnam today during a ceremony in Pakse City, Champasak Province. 
 
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is for a six year 3.3 million Euro (Laos side) project titled “Avoidance of Deforestation and Forest Degradation along the Border in Central Vietnam and Southern Lao PDR in Salavan and Sekong Provinces (Carbon and Biodiversity, Phase 2). It was signed at Alavanh hotel, Pakse City by Mr. Sangthong Southammakod, Deputy Director General of DoF and Mr. Somphone Bouasavanh, Country Director of WWF-Laos, in the presence of officials representing the central and the two provinces of Sekong and Salavan. 
 
The Carbon and Biodiversity Phase 2 project (CarBi 2) is a transboundary project that contributes to the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of ecosystems and the conservation of biological diversity in the Central Annamites Landscape (CAL). Through innovative and transformational conservation interventions, CarBi 2 supports the governments of Laos and Vietnam to meet their obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
 
The project area falls within the CAL mountain range, covering an area of about 300,000 hectares in the provinces of Salavan and Sekong in the South of Laos as well as in three Vietnamese provinces. Being one of the biggest contiguous natural forests in continental Asia, the region is a storehouse of rich biodiversity. In Laos, the project will help conserve the biodiversity and ecosystems in and around the forest complex of Xesap National Biodiversity Conservation Area. This will be achieved through improved natural resource management by key actors including civil society organizations and by reaching across borders to cooperate with Vietnam.
 
“The growing pressure from wildlife consumption, large-scale forest conversion, legal and illegal logging, poaching, overharvesting of natural resources and the impact of unsustainable infrastructure projects, threaten this world class landscape with widespread habitat and biodiversity loss,” said Somphone Bouasavanh. 
 
“Our vision is to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature by supporting the Government of Laos to conserve forests and protect wildlife,” he added. “By implementing this CarBi 2 project, WWF-Laos hopes to bring not just effective nature conservation to the Central Annamites Landscape, but also improved livelihoods for the people who live there.”
 
The keys activities of the CarBi 2 include: 

• Effectively expand and conserve the protected area network; 
• Enhance the capacities of local actors to implement national policies and international regulations on illegal wildlife and timber trade, including CITES and Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT); 
• Increase effective community engagement in sustainable natural resource management and protection; 
• Develop sustainable financing mechanisms and promote to key decision makers.

The activities will be implemented in the districts of Kaleum - Sekong, Samouy and Ta Oy - Salavan Provinces by the Implementation management Committee consisting of DoF, Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office (PAFO) in Sekong and Salavan Provinces and WWF-Laos.
 
The six-year EUR 3,309,877 project is funded by the German Development Bank KfW and is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of Germany’s Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) (established under a decision by the German Bundestag).
 
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Notes to Editors:
For more information, please contact: 
Bounpone Sookmexay, Communications Manager, WWF-Laos
+856 20 5955 8034 
bounpone.sookmexay@wwf.org.la
 
About WWF-Laos
 
 WWF-Laos is the local office of the WWF International Network, the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organization. It has more than 5 million supporters and offices active in over 100 countries. WWF’s mission is to help reduce the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. To do this, WWF works with a broad spectrum of partners including governments, industry, and local communities to find solutions to the challenges that face our natural world.
 
Our Laos programme officially began in 1997 with the headquarters office established in 2001. Our work has focused on research, advocacy and building partnerships aimed at protecting Laos’ most precious habitats and species, building local and national capacity to conserve them, and improving the livelihoods of the communities who depend on them most. 

• Hawksbill turtles, sea cucumbers, tokay geckos,and Asian big catsamong the big winners at CITES CoP18.
• Parties vote to maintain the existing international ban on elephantivory trade, but fail to strengthen country-specific actions to tackle ivory trafficking.
• Parties also fail to sufficiently address wildlife trafficking and consumption in Vietnamand neighbouring countries

 
Geneva, 28 August 2019 – The 18th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18) closes today in Geneva, with significant implications for the future of thousands of animal and plant species around the world. Representatives of 170 countries and numerous conservation and industry organizations discussed an unprecedented number of proposals related to sustainable trade of wildlife globally, with some species emerging as clear winners.
 
Among these were hawksbill and other marine turtles. In an unexpected but much needed move, governments adopted strong decisions to help tackle the illegal trade of marine turtles and halt their rapid decline. It will now be vital for range, transit and consumer countries to work together to implement these decisions and adequately protect these far-ranging species.
 
“Marine turtle conservation has received encouraging news from CITES but governments must implement these decisions swiftly and effectively for it to turn the tide for these species. As technology facilitates DNA sampling, species monitoring and oversight of fishing impacts, we must seize these opportunities to secure a future for these ancient mariners who have roamed our oceans for over 100 million years but are in steep decline today,” said Colman O’Criodain, Policy Manager, WWF Wildlife Practice. 
 
An array of other species also now have a chance of a brighter future given important decisions made at the meeting.
 
Three species of sea cucumbers- under severe decline due to their popularity in luxury cuisine markets in Southeast Asia - received trade protections for the first time, as did tokay geckos, mako sharks, and various timber species including Mulanje cedar, Mukula, and Spanish cedar. Trade was banned altogether for several reptiles threatened by the exotic pet industry, including pancake tortoises from East Africa and Southeast Asian box turtles and protections were increased for two spectacular bird species - the black-crowned crane from the savannas of Africa and the helmeted hornbill from the rainforests of Southeast Asia. There was also overwhelming support to more robustly tackle the trade of several big cats, including leopards, jaguars, and tigers- including improved scrutiny and reporting on breeding facilities like tiger farms, which are of serious concern for their potential contribution to illegal trade and poaching of tigers in the wild.
 
And in an important but somewhat less visible decision, Parties adopted a resolution to strengthen cooperation between CITES and the World HeritageConvention, promising to better unite efforts to tackle unsustainable wildlife trade and protect our planet’s most treasured places for people and wildlife. 
 
Ever the focus of attention at CITES meetings, elephants were again the subject of a number of decisions. Importantly, governments voted to maintain the existing ban on international elephant ivory trade that applies to all countries. Unfortunately, however, important discussions on strengthening plans to address individual countries’ roles in the illegal ivory trade fell short of what was needed.
 
“It is vital that the international community continues to focus efforts on tackling the main drivers of the illegal ivory trade to help secure a hopeful future for elephants. So long as ‘legal’ markets for ivory linked to trafficking persist, and countries fail to enforce national laws and reduce consumer demand for ivory, elephant poaching will remain a lucrative business - and a tragic reality” said Ginette Hemley, co-Head of Delegation for WWF at CITES CoP18.
 
Indeed, perhaps the biggest disappointment of the meeting was the failure to sufficiently hold Vietnam to account, despite it being a top destination and transit point for illicit ivory, rhino horn, and other wildlife products, in addition to it harboring numerous tiger farms of concern. Regrettably, Parties did not initiate a wide-ranging enquiry into Vietnam’s implementation of CITES, as they have previously done for Lao PDR, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other countries, which have supported them to move toward improved CITES compliance.
 
“Although Vietnam has taken some steps toward tackling the massive flows of illegal wildlife trade through and within its borders, there is inadequate transparency of the level of trade taking place, of the seizures made and their subsequent management. Additional focus on investigative work in relation to large seizures, and subsequent prosecutions and convictions are required. The Parties at CITES may have failed to act but Vietnam can still show a clear commitment toward ending its role in the illegal wildlife trade,”  said Margaret Kinnaird, WWF Global Lead on Wildlife and co-Head of Delegation for WWF at CITES CoP18.
 
Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Fauna and Flora meet every three years. The next meeting of the Conference of the Parties, CITES CoP19, will take place in 2022 in Costa Rica. 

                                             ---ends---

Notes to Editors:
 
Please find here below WWF’s media statements on specific decisions made at CITES CoP18:

• WWF statement on CITES discussion on pangolins
• WWF statement on CITES' decision on illegal marine turtle trade
• WWF statement on CITES' decision on Totoaba
• WWF statement on CITES' decisions on the illegal trade of jaguar parts and derivatives
• WWF statement on CITES' decision to include Tokay Geckos in Appendix II
• WWF statement on CITES' decisions on Asian Big Cats and captive breeding facilities
• WWF statement on CITES’ protection for sea cucumbers
• Global elephant ivory ban stands firm at CITES
• Saiga antelope gain zero-export annotation at CITES
• WWF statement on cooperation between CITES and the World Heritage Convention
• Scientists extract DNA from hawksbill turtle products to help save species
• Wildlife consumption in Asia under the spotlight at International Wildlife Trade Conference

 
There are 183 member governments to CITES. 170 were present at the Geneva CoP and 158 had credentials to vote.
 
For more information, please contact:
 
Rucha Naware | WWF International | rnaware@wwfint.orgor news@wwfint.org; +32465751339
 
About WWF
 
WWF is an independent conservation organization, with over 30 million followers and a global network active in nearly 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by 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. Visit www.panda.org/news

(12 Jun 2019) - A new study finds on average people could be ingesting approximately 5 grams of plastic every week, which is the equivalent weight of a credit card. The analysis No Plastic in Nature: Assessing Plastic Ingestion from Nature to People prepared by Dalberg, based on a study commissioned by WWF and carried out by University of Newcastle, Australia, suggests people are consuming about 2000 tiny pieces of plastic every week. That’s approximately 21 grams a month, just over 250 grams a year.
 
The University of Newcastle is the first global analysis to combine data from over 50 studies on the ingestion of microplastics by people. The findings are an important step towards understanding the impact of plastic pollution on humans. It also further confirms the urgent need to address the plastic system so that it does not pollute ecosystems in the first place.
 
“These findings must serve as a wake-up call to governments.  Not only are plastics polluting our oceans and waterways and killing marine life - it’s in all of us and we can’t escape consuming plastics. Global action is urgent and essential to tackling this crisis,” said Marco Lambertini, WWF International Director General
 
“While research is investigating potential negative effects of plastic on human health, we are all clear that this is a worldwide problem that can only be solved by addressing the root cause of plastic pollution. If we don’t want plastic in our bodies, we need to stop the millions of tons of plastic that continue leaking into nature every year. In order to tackle the plastic crisis, we need urgent action at government, business and consumer levels, and a global treaty with global targets to address plastic pollution,” continued Lambertini.
 
The study demonstrated a wide range in ingestion patterns. Whilst being mindful of the limitations of this evolving field of research, initial findings point towards a global average ingestion rate of plastic by humans of approximately 5 grams per week.
 
The single largest source of plastic ingestion is through water, both bottled and tap, all over the world. Large regional variations are reflected again, with twice as much plastic found in the US or India than in European or Indonesian water. Of the consumables studied,  those with the highest recorded plastic levels include shellfish, beer and salt. The findings of the report demonstrate that the problem of plastic pollution is a universal one and directly affecting people. Leakage of plastic into our environment and food chain has been met so far with an inadequate global response by governments.
 
No Plastic in Nature: Assessing Plastic Ingestion from Nature to People calls for governments to step up and play a key role in ensuring the entire chain in the plastic system, from manufacturers to consumers, are held accountable to the common goal of ending plastic pollution. WWF is mobilising the public to support the global petition calling for a legally binding treaty on marine plastics pollution that has already garnered over 500,000 signatures.  The treaty would establish national targets and transparent reporting mechanisms that extend to companies. Additionally, the treaty should provide for financial and technical support for low-income countries to scale up their waste management capacity.
 
"WWF-Laos sees the urgent need for action to reduce, reuse and recycle - especially our consumption of single-use plastic. To help achieve this goal, we have decided to ban single-use plastic at the WWF-Laos office. Anyone who brings it into our office will be fined" Somphone Bouasavanh, WWF-Laos Country Director. "We also want to serve as an example to other offices and people in Laos, spreading the knowledge that the impact of plastic on the environment and human is much larger than we can imagine. A small act of saying no to single use-plastic will help build a future where people live in harmony with nature" he added.
 
Ingestion is just one aspect of a much wider plastics crisis. Plastic pollution is a major threat to wildlife, not only through microplastic ingestion but via entanglement and habitat destruction. Plastic pollution also has damaging economic consequences, with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) estimating its annual economic impact on the ocean economy at US$8 billion.
 
“While the awareness of microplastics and their impact on the environment is increasing, this study has helped to provide an accurate calculation of ingestion rates for the first time. Developing a method for transforming counts of microplastic particles into masses will help determine the potential toxicological risks for humans moving forward,”  comments  Dr Thava Palanisami,
project co-lead and microplastics researcher at the University of Newcastle.
 
 
                                                   - Ends -  

Notes to editors
 
Please find here the 60-second campaign video.
Download graphics here.
Download the report by Dalberg here.
 
Key stats on plastic pollution:
 

• Overall CO2 emissions from the plastic life cycle are expected to increase by 50%, while the CO2 increase from plastic incineration is set to triple by 2030, due to wrong waste management choices.
• Eight million tonnes of plastic pollution ends up in the ocean every year.
• An additional 104 million metric tons of plastic is at risk of leakage into our ecosystems by 2030 without a drastic change in approach.
• Since 2000, the world has produced as much plastic as all the preceding years combined, a third of which is leaked into nature. 
• More than 270 wildlife species have been documented as having been harmed by entanglement, while more than 240 species have been found to have ingested plastics.

 
 
For more information contact:
 
Lianne Mason | WWF | lmason@wwfint.org | +65 91002437 

Vientiane, 20 February 2019 -- Officials from Sayabouri Province and village leaders from Ban Navaen met with the World Wide Fund for Nature in Laos (WWF-Laos) in Phiang district on 7 February 2019 to review the outcome of the survey and mapping of household land use and holdings, income, and other socio-economic and agricultural parameters.
 
The meeting was chaired by Mr. Somboun Koumbasith, Deputy District Governor of Phiang District, and Mr. Khamkeung Phanlack, Deputy Director of the Sayabouri Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office, and facilitated by the WWF-Laos forest and land use planning consultant, Mr. Chris Flint. The comprehensive presentations to the meeting were based on the work undertaken by the Phiang District Agriculture and Forestry Office, the Natural Resources and Environment Office, and the Nam Poui National Biodiversity Conservation Area (NBCA) staff, who spent more than a month working closely with the village leaders and the 790 families in Ban Navaen. 
 
Nam Poui NBCA, Sayabouri Province, is home to some of the most endangered wildlife species in Laos, including wild elephants and dholes. The 15,000-hectare area of Navaen village is located inside the northern part of Nam Poui NBCA, and most of the families rely on agriculture for their livelihood, including upland cropping of “job’s tears” and rice, paddy rice farming and animal raising. While Nam Poui NBCA was created, along with another 17 NBCAs, in 1993, Ban Navaen was declared a development village in 1991. Thus, the original population of 90 Lao Loum families has steadily increased to the current 790 families, from Lao Loum, Khmu and Hmong ethnic groups, living in three large sub-villages.
 
This increase in population has put unsustainable pressure on land and forest resources, leading to dramatic degradation of production land (and increased poverty), uncontrolled grass and forest fires, forest degradation, and land expansion outside the agreed village boundaries into the NBCA. In addition, land governance has become a critical issue due to informal buying and selling of land in this NBCA enclave, with impacts such as dispersed family land holdings constraining land management and increasing gaps between the few larger land holders and the many families with insufficient land.
 
WWF-Laos has supported conservation work within Nam Poui NBCA for the past 10 years, particularly patrolling and law enforcement, as well as human-elephant conflict prevention and biodiversity monitoring. However, out of concern for the village land and livelihood issues, and their impact on the natural resources of the NBCA, WWF-Laos decided to also fund this detailed forest and land use planning exercise. The overall objective of forest and land use planning is to stabilize and enhance land use in and around the NBCA, with a vision of well-managed and fertile lands farmed by healthy villagers who are proud of the surrounding natural forest, which provides not only clean water and plenty of non-timber forest products but also good habitat for wildlife, which can ultimately become a tourist attraction.
 
The land use planning teams collected data and made precise maps of each villager’s land holdings in order to create a land inventory. They also found a range of land documents had been provided to villagers over the years, although these documents often do not reflect real land use and tenure. A key recommendation from this work was for relevant district agencies to coordinate to ensure that (i) the land tax registry and (ii) the family household registries are consistent with (iii) the detailed land inventories developed by this current work.
 
Finally, it was agreed by the meeting that while some priority actions require government agency co-ordination and thus minimal funding, the larger task of restoring land fertility and forest productivity and improving land and forest governance will require considerable time and financial support.
 
The achievements of this initiative and the results that came out of the meeting were made possible by the excellent collaboration by all agencies involved on the ground, the support of GIZ in the early stages, as well as initial mapping support by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) and The Agro-Biodiversity Initiative (TABI).

                                       ###
 
Notes to Editors:
For further information please contact:
Bounpone Sookmexay, WWF-Laos Communication manager
+856 20 5955 8044
bounpone.sookmexay@wwf.org.la
 
About WWF-Laos
www.wwf.org.la

Bangkok, December 12, 2018 -- A bat that could be a member of a 1990s band *NSYNC, a gibbon with a Star Wars name and a toad straight from Middle Earth are among the 157 newly discovered species in the Greater Mekongregion described by the world’s scientists in 2017. The report, New Species on the Block, describes three mammal, 23 fish, 14 amphibian, 26 reptile and 91 plant species discovered in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam by scientists who ventured into the region’s jungles, mountains, rivers and grasslands, often under punishing conditions.
 
The 157 species discovered in 2017 means that an average of three new species a week are discovered in the region. Thirty-nine species were discovered in Myanmar, a good sign that the opening of the country to field research and conservation will yield many more species in the future. Vietnam had 58 new species, Thailand 35, Laos 24 and Cambodia eight. 
 
The new species include:
 

• A bat whose hair bears a likeness to Lance Bass’ iconic frosted tips of the band *NSYNC, was discovered in the sub-Himalayan habitat of the Myanmar’s Hkakabo Razi forest. 
• A pancake shaped catfish that was found in fast flowing cold water in Myanmar’s remote Hponkan Razi Wildlife Sanctuary. 
• A bamboo species from Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains with a unique bulb-shaped base that grows along roadsides, making it vulnerable to clearings.
• A tiny toad with sharp horns that was named after an elf due to its discovery in a foggy, mountainous, moss covered ‘elfin forest’ in Vietnam. Its habitat and eyelid horns have led some to call it the ‘Toad from Middle Earth.
• A newly discovered Thismia herb species from Laos that is already endangered due to its habitat being leased out for limestone mining.
• A leaf-toed gecko discovered in Thailand’s Khao Sam Roi Yot, or “Mountain of Three Hundred Peaks,” which has two distinctive ‘racing stripes’ from its snout to the tip of its tail. 
• Myanmar’s Salween River Basin Mud Snake, which is threatened by development of its habitat and agricultural expansion.
• The Skywalker Hoolock Gibbon that is listed as one of the top 25 most endangered primates on the planet. 

 
“There are many more species out there waiting to be discovered and tragically, many more that will be lost before that happens,” says Stuart Chapman, WWF’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director for Conservation Impact. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Ensuring that large reserves are designated for wildlife, along with increased efforts to close illegal wildlife trade markets, will go a long way to conserving the extraordinary wildlife diversity in the Mekong region.”
 
Dr. Evan Quah of Universiti Sains Malaysiabelieves that his team’s work in discovering a new snake species has shown that Myanmar’s Salween River basin is an area rich in unrecognized diversity.” He is “confident that with more thorough surveys, many more species new to science remain to be discovered here.”
 
According to WWF’s most recent Living Planet Report, there has been a 60% decline in population size of the world’s wildlife in the last 40 years. In the Greater Mekong region, the decline is probably much worse given the large-scale destruction of wild habitats and the industrial-scale poaching in many parts of the region. 
 
In the markets of the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar, Lao PDR, and China meet, endangered species are often openly sold or transported to neighbouring countries with large consumer demand for wildlife products such as China and Vietnam. 
 
There is good news though. In Myanmar, wildlife trade in the Yangon region is now illegal, while in Laos, a new Prime Minister’s Orderon wildlife trade and enforcement has led to increased seizures of wildlife products. However, with a recent ban on ivory in China, there will likely be a shift in ivory market and more pressure on the wildlife of the Greater Mekong from tourists and traders. 
 
"There is blood, sweat and tears behind every new discovery,” said Chapman. “But it’s a race against time to announce a new discovery so steps can be taken to protect it before it’s too late.” 
 
For further information: Lee Poston, mobile: +66 918 832 290 lee.poston@wwfgreatermekong.org, Website:www.panda.org/greatermekong
 
Notes to Editors:
 

• Download photos, including captions and credits plus the full report and species list here.
• Some species are found in more than one country, which is why the species count per country is more than the total of 157. 
• Scientists typically wait to reveal new finds until an animal or plant is officially described as a new species — a time-consuming process — hence the lag between the initial discovery and announcement for some species spotlighted in the report.
• New Species on the Block is the tenth in a series of reports highlighting new species discoveries in the Greater Mekong region. For past reports, go here.

 
About WWF Greater Mekong: The Greater Mekong is home to some of the planet’s most endangered wild species, including the tiger, saola, Asian elephant, Mekong dolphin and Mekong giant catfish. A total 2,681 new species of plants, birds, mammals, fish, amphibians and reptiles have been discovered in the Greater Mekong since 1997. WWF-Greater Mekong works on conservation initiatives through country programmes in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. WWF-Greater Mekong’s mission is a future where humans live in harmony with nature. To learn more about WWF’s activities, please visit us atwww.panda.org/greatermekong

Oudomxay Province, Lao PDR, Sept. 6, 2018 – WWF today congratulated the Government of Laos for hosting a key regional meeting on transboundary illegal wildlife trade and for its commitment to tackling wildlife crime that threatens endangered species such as the elephants, tigers, bears and pangolin. The meeting was held on August 30 and 31 between governments, enforcement agencies, overseas missions of the US, UK and the EU and conservation organizations across the Greater Mekong Region and China.
 
H.E Lien Thykeo, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, stated that Lao PDR, especially at the leadership level, is committing to tackle the illegal wildlife trade and is working closely with international organizations to implement the Hanoi Statement from the 2016 Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade. The next major international meeting will take place in London on October 11-12, hosted by the UK Government and Laos committed to attend the conference.

“Laos cooperated with many countries on protecting and inspecting the illegal wildlife trade and has agreed with Vietnam, China, South Africa and Thailand to organise the meeting on combating illegal wildlife trade across around the border,” said Dr. Lian Thykeo. “In order to effectively take action on the illegal wildlife trade, the Greater Mekong countries should act on the commitment that we have on CITES.”
 
Mr. Thongphanh Ratanalangsy, Deputy Director General of the Department of Forest Inspection, stated during the second-day’s opening of the conference the Lao Government’s intention to follow CITES recommendations “to continue to implement the PM05, including phasing out the domestic ivory market and other illegal trade in wildlife.” PM05 is a Prime Minister’s Order issued May 18, 2018 that directs Ministers, Heads of Ministry-Equivalent Organisations, the Vientiane Capital Governor and Provincial Governors across the Lao PDR to take strict action on wildlife law enforcement, compliance with national laws on the management and inspection of wildlife trade, and commitments to international laws.
 
“WWF is pleased to support the Government of Laos in taking action against the domestic sale of ivory and the illegal sale and purchase of wildlife products in Laos; similarly we would support the other Greater Mekong Countries,” said Francois GUEGAN, Conservation Director, WWF-Laos. “This meeting sends a signal, not only in Laos, but in the region that the Governments are serious about working across national borders to enforce the laws that protect the endangered species such as tigers, elephants, rhinos and bears, and to stop the wildlife crime in the region.”   
 
In addition, commitments were made on cooperation between Laos, Vietnam and China around trade within the Golden Triangle region, including a commitment from China to host joint training exercises for Customs personnel. The Director General of Luang Namtha Provincial Office of Agriculture and Forestry also stated that more mechanisms are needed to improve the awareness of Chinese tourists and businessmen and women about wildlife policies in Laos. Vietnam meanwhile discussed expanding its current transboundary Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation around wildlife crime with Laos from four provinces to six.
 
The meeting was organized by WWF with support from the Embassy of Netherlands in Vietnam in cooperation with the Government of Laos and featured over 80 participants from Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, China as well as TRAFFIC, WCS, IUCN, CITES, UK Government, EU and USAID.   
 
“Time is running out for wildlife living in the Mekong region and also endangered species illegally traded internationally. The time for talk is over and action to investigate, arrest and prosecute illegal wildlife trade criminals is urgently needed,” said Stuart Chapman, Regional Representative, WWF-Greater Mekong.  

Participants in the meeting re-visited international, regional, bilateral and country commitments to combat illegal wildlife trade (IWT). This includes their responsibilities as signatories to CITES, the world’s main treaty regulating international trade in endangered species, follow-up of action points from the 2016 Hanoi Conference Statement, and ASEAN level developments.   
 
They identified the latest trends and issues on wildlife crime and trafficking in the region as well as focusing on critical issues concerning endangered species such as elephants, tigers, pangolins, bears and rhinoceros (through an expert panel discussion from countries and organizations). Participants also identified critical border hotspots and issues related to trafficking routes.  
 
Participants developed a roadmap to increase awareness and knowledge of best practices and innovation in the areas of law enforcement, law/policy reform and judiciary processes, technology and innovative practices, cross-border collaboration, public outreach, demand reduction, community and NGO engagement.
 
Lao-Wildlife Enforcement Network also presented the law enforcement activities on combating illegal wildlife trade in Laos over the past years.  
 
WWF currently supports an anti-wildlife crime programme in the Greater Mekong Region, including in the Lao PDR, where wildlife poaching and illegal wildlife trade markets have caused serious declines and local extinctions of endangered species populations. The overall objective of the programme is to effectively reduce demand for illegal wildlife products, as well as to improve ranger capacity and support wildlife law enforcement activities and capacity building, for example, for the Department of Forest Inspection and its provincial offices of Government of Lao PDR.
 
###

Notes to Editors:
 
For more information, please contact:
Bounpone Sookmexay, Communication Manager, WWF-Laos
bounpone.sookmexay@wwfgreatermekong.org
Tel: +856 20 5955 8044

Vientiane, Aug 1, 2018 -- Laos Government law enforcement officers have shut down illegal wildlife trade in four shops at Don Sao Market in the notorious Golden Triangle, confiscating almost 400 items during surprise raids on July 27. The illegal items, consisting of 9 different types such as bracelets, necklaces, horns, teeth, bracelets, pendants and bangles --many from endangered species -- were taken for identification and the Chinese shop owners were ordered to no longer sell illegal wildlife items or reproductions of wildlife parts. 

 

The two hour-long seizure by the Provincial Wildlife Law Enforcement Network (P-WEN) of Bokeo Province and Department of Forest Inspection (DoFI) took place at four Chinese owned shops inside the Special Economic Zone. This area is well known as a hub of illegal wildlife trade and occurs inside the Golden Triangle, where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand intersect and many markets sell endangered species and their parts such as tigers, elephants, pangolin and bears. The trade takes place in shops, markets, restaurants and casinos. 

 

P-WEN enforcement officers from the Provincial Office Forest Inspection (PoFI) Department, Police, Army, Courts, Customs and Public Prosecution conducted the raids using four teams of seven people each. Analysis of the 393 items will determine if they are from endangered species or if they are fakes. They will be securely kept at the PoFI in Bokeo Province until a decision from Provincial Governor and DoFI.  

 

The P-WEN ordered the shop owners to sign warning letters that they were notified of their illegal actions and acknowledging that they can no longer sell or display wildlife items at their shops. They were also informed of the recent Lao Prime Minister Order 05 on Strengthening Strictness of the Management and Inspection of Prohibited Wild Fauna and Flora. This Order increases enforcement and penalties against illegal wildlife trade and is significant development in Laos’ efforts against this multi-national, multi-million dollar trade that is linked to organized crime. 

 

“WWF is proud to support in implementing this PM Order and taking action against the illegal sale and purchase of wildlife products in Don Sao Market,” said Somphone Bouasavanh, Country Director, WWF-Laos. “This action sends a signal, not only in Bokeo Province, but throughout the Golden Triangle and Laos, that the Government is serious about enforcing the laws that protect species such as tigers, elephants, rhinos and bears.” 

 

“We hope that by closing down illegal sales of wildlife products in these four shops we have sent a strong message that the Government of Laos will no longer tolerate the sale and consumption of wildlife species,” said Lattana Yangnouvong, Head of PoFI, Bokeo province. “We need to do work together across Bokeo Province and throughout Laos to show that we are serious about implementing the Prime Minister Order Number 05 and ending this illegal trade that is robbing the world of its wildlife.”

 

Many of the seized items will be sent to CITES Scientific Authority for identification and certification to determined if they are from endangered species. The rest will be securely kept by PoFI of Bokeo Province until further notice from the CITES Scientific Authority. CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora – the global treaty that regulates trade in endangered species. Laos PDR is a signatory to CITES. 

 

WWF currently supports an anti-wildlife crime programme in the Greater Mekong Region, including in the Lao PDR, where wildlife poaching and illegal wildlife trade markets have caused serious declines in endangered species populations. The overall objective of this WWF-Singapore funded programme is to effectively reduce demand for illegal wildlife products, as well as to improve ranger capacity and support wildlife law enforcement activities and capacity building for the Department of Forest Inspection and its provincial offices. Expected by the end of this year, WWF-Laos with an agreement of the Lao government will extend the project area to two new provinces and one of these is Bokeo province. 

 

###

Notes to Editors:

For more information, please contact:

 

Bounpone Sookmexay, WWF-Laos Communication Officer,

+856 2078008033

bounpone.sookmexay@wwfgreatermekong.org

 

Photo: 

 

• All photos shared here taken at Don Sao Market on 27 Jul 2018 during the confiscation and some of them were at the PoFi of Bokeo during the identification and the seizure items counting/recording. 

• Photo credit: © WWF-Laos

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NgqcXxazK9HS4mtZ-lYIaHJPSXGchQvS

 

 

About WWF-Laos

 

WWF-Laos is the local office of the WWF International Network, the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organization. It has more than 5 million supporters and offices active in over 100 countries.
 
Our mission is to support in reducing the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. To do this, WWF works with a broad spectrum of partners including governments, industry, and local communities to find solutions to the challenges that face our natural world.
 
Our Laos programme officially began in 1997 with the headquarter office established in 2001 and since then our work has focused on research, advocacy and building partnerships aimed at protecting Laos’ most precious habitats and species, building local and national capacity to conserve them, and improving the livelihoods of the communities who depend on them most. You can read more about WWF-Laos' diverse work here.