60th Anniversary - 8

REDEFINING HUMANITY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH NATURE
No-one could have foreseen the dramatic
transformation of our society and planet in the
years that followed WWF's birth. A rapid increase
in population and consumption, combined
with accelerating economic and technological
developments, and escalating socio-economic
inequality, have altered almost every aspect of
human society. Our civilization has developed
faster than ever before, but unequally and at the
expense of the natural world.
In 1980, the visionary thinking of the UN
Environment Programme (UNEP), International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and
WWF led to the World Conservation Strategy,
helping pave the way to the concept of sustainable
development embraced at the UN Rio Earth
Summit a decade later. A just and prosperous
future for humanity was for the first time
inextricably linked to the need to protect and
manage sustainably natural systems and resources.
Today, it is clearer than ever before that we have
not only been failing our moral duty to coexist
with nature and the planet's amazing diversity
of life, but we are also threatening our climate,
60 YEARS OF ACTION FOR NATURE AND PEOPLE
food, fresh water and health. We know the Earth's
natural systems can't withstand the accelerating
destruction of the natural world - from dramatic
declines in wildlife populations to raging wildfires
across continents. And the past year's COVID-19
pandemic outbreak, with its roots in wildlife
trade, deforestation and industrial animal farming,
has further exposed the vulnerability of humanity
to environmental collapse.
But the last six decades have also seen
powerful progress. There have been staggering
improvements in scientific understanding of the
climate and nature loss crises, and how they
should be addressed. And a widespread awakening
about people's reliance on nature for their
well-being and survival. A commitment to nature
conservation has moved from a matter of
personal inclination to a global priority for all.
There have also been many tangible achievements
to be proud of in the past 60 years, including
the actions taken by WWF and the conservation
movement as a whole, and increasingly by
governments and business, without which the
planet would have been in a much worse state
today. In the 1980s, a mere 1% of the Earth's
60th Anniversary

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 60th Anniversary
