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Overview

Threats

WWF's Involvement

WWF Achievements

Selected WWF Projects in the Mediterranean Region


 
WWF Involvement header

WWF has been active in the Mediterranean region for more than 30 years, having established National Organizations (NOs) in France, Italy, Greece, and Spain. In 1992, WWF International established a Mediterranean Programme, with its coordination office in Rome. An increasing number of regional projects are now funded and managed through this programme.

WWF is acting both locally and regionally. In addition to the four NOs, it works with an associate organization in Turkey, the Society for the Protection of Nature (DHKD), and has opened a project office in Tunisia. This institutional presence enables WWF both to be sensitive to local needs and also to intervene at national level to influence government policies. Country needs may be specific or common to the region and working closely with local partners allows WWF to ensure that problems are tackled at the appropriate level.

In opening a project office in Tunisia in 1994, for the first time WWF decided to penetrate a relatively new territory for conservation: the Arab world. Given that over 200 million people from Iraq to Morocco read classical Arabic, the potential multiplier effect of translating and adapting environmental education material into Arabic and training some local university professors is tremendous. WWF faces a considerable challenge to exert its influence in a region facing some very serious natural resource issues coupled with problems generated by an exponentially increasing population.

To face the challenge, in 1995 WWF strengthened its Mediterranean Programme and developed a comprehensive five-year strategy. WWF's Mediterranean strategy is essentially three-pronged, focused on three priority biomes: forests, freshwater, and the marine environment. In addition, the Mediterranean programme recognizes the importance of operating such strategies as capacity building and public awareness alongside the actual biome-specific conservation work. Raising the level of public awareness on environmentally-related issues and increasing local capacity is one of the pillars of WWF's Mediterranean strategy. It also incorporates such cross-sectoral issues as energy, agriculture, and tourism.