WWF Annual Review 2019 - 23

OUR GLOBAL WORK

ACTION ON OCEAN PLASTICS CRISIS
Eight million tonnes of plastics end up in oceans
every year - a significant threat to people and
wildlife. Our advocacy has helped lead to action,
with Nordic, Caribbean and Pacific countries
calling for a global treaty to end the ocean plastics
crisis. Environment ministers also agreed new
measures under the Basel Convention, which
controls international movements of hazardous
wastes, to prevent developing countries being used
as a dumping ground for plastic waste. More than
1.5 million people around the world have signed
our campaign petition calling for a global treaty.

FINANCING FRAMEWORK ADOPTED BY KEY BODIES
The global ocean economy is set to grow faster
than the general economy - and yet environmental
impacts from unsustainable investment threaten
the resource base on which this depends. The
Blue Economy Finance Principles, which we
co-developed, are the world's first global
framework on financing a sustainable ocean
economy, covering all ocean-based industries
from shipping, fisheries and tourism to
aquaculture, energy and biotechnology. The
principles have now been adopted by influential
investment bodies the World Bank, European
Investment Bank, UN Environment Assembly
and Asian Development Bank.

PROTECTION FOR VITAL ARCTIC REGION
Our work has helped lead to a 322,000 sq km
interim marine protected area, called Tuvaijuittuq,
being designated in the Canadian Arctic. Scientists
believe sea ice will persist the longest here -
and so it could become a last refuge for sea ice
dependent wildlife. Thanks to the input of the
Qikiqtani Inuit Association, communities will
also benefit culturally and economically.
WWF-Canada continues to urge that Tuvaijuittuq
is joined to a nearby conservation area -
creating a massive safe habitat for Arctic
wildlife and the Inuit communities

© Meridith Kohut / WWF-US

they sustain.

WWF-INT Annual Review 2019 page 23

https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/press_releases/?354810/Momentum-building-behind-global-treaty-to-combat-marine-plastic-pollution&utm_source=WWF+International&utm_campaign=468a621fb3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_29_06_21_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_61baba9791-468a621fb3- https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/press_releases/?354810/Momentum-building-behind-global-treaty-to-combat-marine-plastic-pollution&utm_source=WWF+International&utm_campaign=468a621fb3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_10_29_06_21_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_61baba9791-468a621fb3- https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/press_releases/?346899/Developing-world-no-longer-a-plastic-dumping-ground-says-WWF https://wwf.panda.org/get_involved/campaign_with_us/plastics_campaign_page/ https://arcticwwf.org/newsroom/news/as-arctic-melt-accelerates-canada-moves-to-protect-the-last-ice-area/

WWF Annual Review 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WWF Annual Review 2019