WWF Annual Review 2022 - 21

THERE'S ONLY ONE
POSSIBLE 'PEOPLE POSITIVE'
FUTURE AND THAT IS
A 'NATURE POSITIVE' ONE
IN 2023, MARCO WILL STEP DOWN FROM HIS
ROLE AS DIRECTOR GENERAL OF WWF INTERNATIONAL
AND BE A LEADING ADVOCATE FOR
WWF'S AMBITIOUS VISION AS
OUR SPECIAL ENVOY.
THE 'RISE' OF THE OCEAN
From the first World Oceans Summit to the
appointment by the UN Secretary-General
of a Special Envoy for the Ocean, the past
decade has seen the ocean rise fast up the
global agenda. We have seen an explosive
new impetus for creating marine protected
areas - growing from under 2% of the
ocean to more than 8%; still shy of the 10%
target set by the UN CBD and Sustainable
Development Goals, but impressive
nevertheless. Huge marine protected
areas were declared in Antarctica, Canada,
Colombia, Ecuador, French Polynesia,
Indonesia, Palau, Spain, the US state of
Hawaii and more, many with support from
WWF offices. New concepts of 'blue carbon'
and 'blue food' also gained attention, finally
acknowledging the crucial role of the ocean
in stabilizing the climate and addressing
huge societal challenges like food security
and nutrition. The WWF/Boston Consulting
Group (BCG) Gross Marine Product put a
value on the goods and services the ocean
provides to us every year: a staggering
US$2.5 trillion. The message was clear: the
blue economy is vitally important to us all,
and it, in turn, depends on a healthy ocean.
However, new threats also emerged, such
as deep-sea mining. Fortunately, WWF's call
for a moratorium is gaining momentum with
governments and many companies.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES TAKE CENTRE STAGE
The past decade has seen the long overdue
recognition of the effective stewardship of
Indigenous Peoples and other traditional
local communities over significant areas
of land and waters that still harbour
rich biodiversity. The importance of
appropriately respecting their rights and
supporting their agency in delivering
conservation while shaping a sustainable
future for their communities is front and
centre on global and national decision-maker
agendas today. Here too at WWF we
have taken important steps to reflect
and act to strengthen both our internal
environmental and social safeguarding
policies and our collaboration with
Indigenous Peoples to advocate
for their rights in local, national
and global forums. Conservation
without the full and effective
2022
AT THE UN
CBD COP15,
GOVERNMENTS
AGREE TO THE
KUNMING-MONTREAL
GLOBAL PLAN to halt and
reverse biodiversity
loss by 2030. The
race to a naturepositive
society
has started!
Main: small skipper
butterflies, UK; above:
Txai Suruí, a member
of the Suruí people and
founder of the Rondônia
Indigenous Youth
Movement
participation of communities is
unethical and utterly ineffective.
Still, many Indigenous Peoples and
other communities living in and around
the world's most precious natural spaces
continue to face discrimination, threats, land
grabbing, abuse and exclusion. There is a
long and difficult road still to travel but WWF
will continue to strengthen our support and
collaboration in the coming years.
21
WWF Annual Review 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WWF Annual Review 2022
