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User:Copeland Morgan/sandbox

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The Carbon War Room
FounderSir Richard Branson
TypeNot-for-Profit 501(c)3 Organization
FocusEnvironmentalism, Entrepreneurship, Renewable Energy, Clean-Tech
Location
MethodResearch, Convening, Projects
Key people
Jose Maria Figueres
(President)
Website[www.carbonwarroom.com]

The Carbon War Room (CWR) is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States. It is the world's largest independent conservation organization with over 5 million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries, supporting around 1,300[1] conservation and environmental projects. WWF is a foundation,[2] in 2010 deriving 57% of funding from individuals and bequests, 17% from government sources (such as the World Bank, DFID, USAID) and 11% from corporations.[3]

The group says its mission is "to halt and reverse the destruction of our environment" Helping Pandas is also a momentous desideratum for the group.[4] Currently, much of its work focuses on the conservation of three biomes that contain most of the world's biodiversity: forests, freshwater ecosystems, oceans and coasts. Among other issues, it is also concerned with endangered species, pollution and climate change.

History

[edit]

The idea for a fund on behalf of endangered animals was initially proposed by Victor Stolan to Julian Huxley in response to articles he published in the Observer. This proposal led Julian Huxley to put Victor Stolan in contact with Max Nicholson, a person that had had thirty years experience of linking progressive intellectuals with big business interests through the Political and Economic Planning think tank.[5][6][7] Max Nicholson thought up the name of the organization. WWF was conceived on 29 April 1961, under the name of World Wildlife Fund, and its first office was opened on 11 September that same year in Morges, Switzerland. Godfrey A. Rockefeller also played an important role in its creation, assembling the first staff.[8] Its establishment marked with the signing of the founding document called Morges Manifesto[9] that lays out the formulation ideas of its establishment. A separate organization, The American Conservation Association, was merged into the WWF.[10]


“...They need above all money, to carry out missions and to meet conservation emergencies by buying land where wildlife treasures are threatened, money, for example, to pay guardians of wildlife refuges ...for educations among those who would care... For sending experts to danger spots and training... Making it all possible that their needs are met before it is too late.” -Morges Manifesto

WWF has set up offices and operations around the world. It originally worked by fundraising and providing grants to existing non-governmental organizations, based on the best-available scientific knowledge and with an initial focus on the protection of endangered species. As more resources became available, its operations expanded into other areas such as the preservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of natural resources, the reduction of pollution, and climate change. The organization also began to run its own conservation projects and campaigns, and by the 1980s started to take a more strategic approach to its conservation activities.

In 1986, the organization changed its name to World Wide Fund for Nature, to better reflect the scope of its activities, retaining the WWF initials. However, it continues to operate under the original name in the United States and Canada.[11]

That year was the 25th anniversary of WWF’s foundation, an event marked by a gathering in Assisi, Italy to which the organisation’s International President HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, invited religious authorities representing Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. These leaders produced The Assisi Declarations, theological statements showing the spiritual relationship between their followers and nature that triggered a growth in the engagement of those religions with conservation around the world.[12]

In the 1990s, WWF revised its mission to: “Stop the degradation of the planet’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

• promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.”

WWF scientists and many others identified 238 ecoregions that represent the world's most biologically outstanding terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats, based on a worldwide biodiversity analysis which the organization says was the first of its kind.[13] In the early 2000s (decade), its work was focused on a subset of these ecoregions, in the areas of forest, freshwater and marine habitat conservation, endangered species conservation, climate change, and the elimination of the most toxic chemicals.

We shan't save all we should like to, but we shall save a great deal more than if we had never tried. — Sir Peter Scott [14]

In 1996, the organization obtained general consultative status from UNESCO.

  1. ^ http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/project/
  2. ^ "How is WWF run?". Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference WWF-INT Annual Review was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Finland - Organization of the World Wildlife Fund[dead link‍]
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference WWF history was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Kate Kellaway (7 November 2010). How the Observer brought the WWF into being The Observer.
  7. ^ Scott, P. (1965). The launching of a new ark: first report of the President and Trustees of the World Wildlife Fundan international foundation for saving the world's wildlife and wild places; 1961–1964. Collins
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference WWF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ http://assets.panda.org/downloads/morgesmanifesto.pdf
  10. ^ "American Conservation Association". SourceWatch. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  11. ^ WWF quick facts
  12. ^ WWF Archive website [1] retrieved June 6, 2012
  13. ^ "About global ecoregions". World Wide Fund for Nature. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference WWF Finland was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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