WWF Travel Blog

Napoleon wrasse, Raja Ampat Archipelago © Robert Delfs/WWF-Canon

WWF has enjoyed significant conservation achievements so far in 2009. Below are a few success stories in places you can visit with WWF Travel. They not only highlight exciting results but also emphasizing WWF’s continuous commitment to confront the ongoing challenges faced by our planet.

Conservation in Mexico: This summer, WWF launched an initiative with Fundación Carlos Slim, the Mexican federal government and other partners to establish Mexico as a global model for conservation. This program aims to protect Mexico’s rich natural heritage and promote sustainable development within six priority regions that collectively represent 30 percent of the country. Our strategy will include efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change, develop comprehensive water management policies, strengthen civil society, develop innovative financial mechanisms and invest in local sustainable economies.

Choose from several WWF tours to Mexico.

Sea Commitment: On the marine conservation front, we saw great success this May when the presidents and prime ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste adopted one of the most comprehensive and specific plans ever for ocean conservation. The 10-year plan sets time-bound steps to address growing threats to the Coral Triangle’s reefs, fisheries, mangroves, threatened species and other marine and coastal areas.

Go snorkeling in the Coral Triangle.

International Markets: WWF works with producers and businesses that use agricultural products in their supply chains to promote better practices and measurably reduce the most significant impacts of production on the planet’s water, air, soil and biological diversity. We have established a market transformation strategy for such key commodities as beef, cocoa, cotton, palm oil, sugar and soy. WWF is currently assessing the world’s major users of palm oil, which is found in everything from cosmetics to ice cream to chocolate bars. Certified sustainable palm oil, available since last November, provides assurance that valuable tropical forests have not been cleared and that environmental and social safeguards have been met during production. WWF helped set up the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil as an international body for the industry to develop sustainability standards.

Visit Borneo, where WWF is safeguarding rain forests from deforestation.

Rebirth of Rhinos: WWF is celebrating a decade of rhino conservation in Africa. Today there are 14, 500 white rhinos and nearly 4,000 black rhinos in the wild. These numbers are up from 1997, when there were only 8,466 white rhinos and 2,599 black rhinos.

Look for rhinos during one of several African safaris.

Giant panda, China's Sichuan Province © Susan A. Mainka / WWF-Canon

Rebuilding China: Since the May 2008 earthquake that devastated southwest China’s Sichuan Province, WWF and our humanitarian partners have been caring for pandas on the impacted reserves and lessening the suffering of the neighboring communities. We’ve been rebuilding infrastructure and equipment within the panda reserves and providing monitoring and patrolling equipment. We have also supplied technical and financial support during field surveys and helped set up temporary monitoring posts within the hardest-hit reserves.

Take your children to see pandas on our China for Families tour.

Protected Areas in Bhutan: WWF was intimately involved in establishing Bhutan’s Wangchuck Centennial Park, the country’s second-largest park—and the only place on Earth where the habitat of snow leopards and tigers intersect. WWF helped conduct surveys and assisted with the development of the park’s preliminary management plan.

Tour Bhutan with WWF’s travel partner, Natural Habitat Adventures.

Read more about WWF’s 2009 conservation successes.