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Annual Report


WWF AROUND THE WORLD

Smoke Pollution The following are a snapshot of WWF's year. They highlight a few of WWF's achievements, show the range of the organization's activities, and demonstrate that conservation is a continuous process with new problems arising just as solutions are found to others. That is why the WWF Network puts great emphasis on building local capacity - a way of ensuring that others can carry on the conservation work we value so highly.

A WWF survey of river systems, wetlands, and populations of shorebirds will provide vital data for the campaign to ensure that the Hidrovia waterway development does not damage Brazil's Pantanal, the world's largest wetland.

Weavers, woodcarvers, and herbalists in Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, who depend heavily on wild plants for their livelihoods, will benefit from the US$475,000 given to WWF-UK by the British National Lottery. WWF will use the funds to revitalize plant stocks and habitats and to promote those skills which enable their sustainable use.

TRAFFIC Europe, WWF, and the European Commission have joined forces with police and customs authorities throughout the European Union (EU), as well as airlines, airports, and travel agencies to publicize and enforce the EU's tough new laws restricting the importation of wildlife and wildlife products.

Forty species of orchid, ten of which are endangered, were identified in a haul of 843 plants seized at Mexico City Airport in January with the help of TRAFFIC International. TRAFFIC, a joint programme of WWF and IUCN -The World Conservation Union, works to reduce the illegal trade in wildlife, estimated to almost equal the value of the drug trade.

WWF and the Malagasy Department of National Education are sponsoring the planting of a tree for every child in Madagascar. With the participation of the Ministries of Education, Environment, Water and Forests, and the army, the 1.5 million trees, representing 300,000 hectares of reforestation, will help regenerate the island.

Toxic chemicals released into the atmosphere around the world accumulate in the Arctic and, together with climate change, are threatening the region. WWF is raising awareness of the dangers to this great wilderness, the summer breeding ground of millions of water birds and the habitat of animals like the polar bear, as well as tackling the root causes of global warming, and lobbying to reduce the overuse of toxic chemicals.

When dangerous smoke pollution from man-made fires spread over a vast area of Southeast Asia, WWF provided resources to the Indonesian government to map fire spots, and is now working with them on fire prevention and forest management techniques to avoid similar catastrophes in the future.

The gold and silver co is the second new fish species discovered in Vietnam's Vu Quang Nature Reserve, where WWF is working to conserve the country's richest and most untouched forests. It is here over the past five years that WWF discovered three new mammals, the saola, the giant muntjac, and most recently the Truong Son muntjac, as well as four new plant species.

WWF will contribute US$100,000 to setting up safeguards to ensure that the renewed trade in ivory is limited and controlled as agreed in June 1997 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The revised agreement allows for trade only in specified quantities of ivory from existing government stockpiles in Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe and only to Japan. The safeguards will include monitoring elephant populations in the three countries to assess what effect the renewed trade has on them.

Fritidsresor, a leading Scandinavian tour operator, agreed to donate 50 US cents for Mediterranean conservation for every client who books a Mediterranean holiday with them, if matched by 50 US cents from the tourist. Fritidsresor has now guaranteed WWF a minimum of US$800,000 from the first year of this innovative scheme: 50 per cent above the initial target.

WWF-Belgium involves more than 25,000 schoolchildren in checking the quality of water in the country's springs and wells. Over 800 water sources are checked and their nitrate levels recorded every six months, while the attendant press coverage helps raise a wider public awareness of the importance and complexity of freshwater management.

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