WWF Travel Blog

© Robert Delfs / WWF-Canon

Integral to WWF’s mission is the understanding that a complete travel experience includes protecting and preserving our natural assets. When you travel with WWF, a portion of your tour cost goes into WWF’s general conservation fund, to work on projects around the world.

Your travels undoubtedly supported WWF’s top accomplishments of 2009:

Mexico, Naturally: 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 among seven different tours in Mexico

Protecting Indonesian rain forests: In Indonesia, WWF has been working to help implement Sumatra’s historic island-wide commitment to protect what remains of the species-rich forests and critical areas–key habitat for tigers, elephants, orangutans and rhinos. This landmark project follows on the heels of Sumatra’s recent expansion of Tesso Nilo National Park to more than double its previous size.

Both achievements are the result of WWF’s successful partnerships, local-to-global strategy and foundation in solid science.

•  Visit comparable rain forests in nearby Borneo

Important U.S. legislation: The recent passage of the American Clean Energy and Security Act by the U.S. House of Representatives is America’s biggest step to date in responding to the energy and climate crises. This landmark move to cap greenhouse gas emissions and jumpstart a clean energy economy came at a crucial time, given the increasing urgency of the climate change problem and the international climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.

WWF actively engaged on Capitol Hill to help shape the legislation and to ensure that it sets the stage for constructive international negotiations this fall. In addition, WWF’s Conservation Action Network activists helped push the bill to passage in the House.

Successes in the Coral Triangle: On the marine conservation front, we saw great success in 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.

•  Snorkel throughout Indonesia’s Raja Ampat Archipelago

•  Voyage from Papua New Guinea to Bali next fall

An Amazonian effort: The government of the State of Amazonas announced the creation of six new state-protected areas totaling over 2.3 million hectares. The newly declared areas, coupled with 5.5 million hectares of existing federal protected areas, complete the BR-319 Protected Area Mosaic along the Porto Velho-Manaus Highway. This will provide an important barrier to deforestation along a major road in the Amazon that is scheduled to be paved.

By preventing encroachment along the road’s route, the mosaic of protected areas will protect globally important ecosystems and prevent the release of carbon emissions that result from deforestation.

•  Spend a week cruising the Amazon River and its tributaries

The Time for Earth: As Earth Hour commenced, some 996 global landmarks from mountains to historic buildings and modern architectural landmarks had officially registered to participate in the event. They included: the Pyramids and Sphinx, the Acropolis, the Eiffel Tower, Table Mountain in South Africa, the Vegas Strip, New York’s Broadway Theatre District and the United Nations’ Headquarters. China participated for the first time, cutting the lights at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. Parliament buildings went dark in the United Kingdom, France, Greece, Indonesia and Denmark. Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries marked Earth Hour.

National park in Bhutan: This past winter, 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.

•  Travel to Bhutan with WWF’s travel partner, Natural Habitat Adventures

Strategic alliances in Africa: At a meeting in Maputo in March, CARE and WWF launched a long-term strategic alliance. Beginning with a major initiative targeting the Mtwara and Nacala development corridors in southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique, they will identify how their combined and new strategies can address the escalating threats to coastal, marine and terrestrial ecosystems in order to sustain the livelihoods of resource dependent communities. 

While grounded in local realities, the initiative will also engage at the national and global scale and pay special attention to the need to create institution to negotiate the trade-offs between competing values of conservation and development.

•  Travel to Tanzania and elsewhere in East Africa on a 2010 safari

When you travel with WWF, not only are you seeing the world’s places that need our protection, but you’re also contributing to their conservation.

•  Learn more