WWF works to conserve nature and ecological processes through a combination of on-the-ground conservation projects, advocacy work promoting conservation through national and international policies, and international campaigns that help spotlight crucial environmental problems. Through its global network WWF plays a key role in many of the most important conservation achievements worldwide.
Approaching five million regular supporters and with a network of 27 National Organizations (NOs), 22 Programme Offices (POs), and five Associate organizations which subscribe to WWF's Mission, WWF is the world's largest independent organization dedicated to the conservation of nature. WWF's annual global conservation expenditure amounts to more than US$ 200 million through its field, policy and education programmes in roughly 100 countries around the world.
Since its inception in 1961, WWF has been engaged in a wide variety of conservation activities, such as protected area establishment and management, species conservation, research, environmental education and awareness building, environmental policy development and implementation, and advocacy. Through its Global Conservation Programme, WWF has contributed significantly to the development and impact of the world conservation movement and to sustainable development in a period of great pressure on the world's natural resources.
In carrying out its work WWF cooperates with many partners, including UN organizations and IUCN-The World Conservation Union, and donor/development agencies such as the European Commission, USAID, and the World Bank, with which WWF has formed an alliance to address forest issues.
As we look to WWF's agenda for the next century, when the quest for natural resources will become even greater, and we recognize that no single organization can claim to credibly cover the entire conservation agenda, it is essential that WWF sets clear priorities for its work. The purpose of this document - a revision of WWF's Global Priorities to the Year 2000 published in January 1994 - is to further define WWF's global conservation priorities and WWF's approach to address these priorities, with the ultimate goal of achieving the conservation of biodiversity.