The Environment

Top 5 questions about climate change

1. Why is climate change happening and is it not too late to fix?

Climate change is probably the biggest challenge the world is facing, but its not too late to fix it.

First of all, it is important to clarify that climate change is happening because of human interference. This fact that has been confirmed by the Nobel Peace Price-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

If you dont believe us, take a look at this and see if we can convince you.

Each year we release almost 30 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, mainly as a result of burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas.

The main sectors responsible for fossil fuel consumption and climate polluting CO2 emissions are:

energy generation

transport

industry

households

This means that we need political action to make changes happen. One of the most important steps is a global agreement once the current Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

We need to ask our leaders to agree on a more ambitious post-Kyoto regime, with CO2 emission reduction targets in the order of 80% by the middle of the century.

But this does not only rely on politics and leaders, theres also a lot we can do to fight climate change on our daily lives.

2. Sure, but how serious do governments really take the Kyoto Protocol and how will any new agreement help stop climate change?

First, we need to go back in history a little bit. In 1992 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was established and, to date, 189 countries have ratified it, giving it legal force at the national level. A couple of years later, in 1997, the convetion led to the creation of the Kyoto Protocol.

The famous protocol is the main mechanism by which the UNFCCC plans to reach its aim to: stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

In plain English, this means that the Kyoto Protocol tries to minimize the human impact on climate change. The protocol entered into force in 2005 as the only mandatory and legally binding global treaty for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

A few countries have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. These countries, such as the United States, demand more effective mechanisms, but fail to present an environmentally effective and economically feasible alternative.

Governments of developed countries that have ratified the protocol are referred to as Annex I countries. These countries have agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by a collective average of 5% below their 1990 levels.

Developing countries, known as Non-Annex I countries, have no greenhouse gas emission reduction obligations.

But much deeper cuts in CO2 emissions are necessary in order to keep global warming below the danger threshold of 2C.

3. If climate change is unavoidable, could we not adapt to it?

WWFs main priority is mitigating climate change.

And we are optimistic that if we manage to achieve deep cuts in CO2 emissions to keep global warming below 2C, we might also be able to keep the impacts of climate change within tolerable limits.

However, climate change is already happening and affecting people and nature all over the world. Extreme weather events, rainstorms and heat waves are affecting biodiversity and threatening precious ecosystems, thus putting decades of hard work and massive investments in nature conservation and sustainable development at risk.

The poor usually suffer most because they often live in heavily exposed regions, have limited ways to protect their livelihoods and face brutal challenges in the wake of natural disasters.

This is why, apart from mitigation to prevent things from getting worse, WWF also promotes adaptation and resilience.

From tropical forests to arctic glaciers and coral reefs, WWF focuses on understanding climate change impacts and developing solutions and strategies to build resistance and resilience in highly exposed ecosystems and communities.

Building resistance and resilience are management tools to help limit pollution, prevent habitat loss or invasive species, and establish protected areas.

But, again, only swift action to reduce CO2 emissions will bring about a long-term solution to the problems caused by climate change.

4. How can carbon offsets meaningfully contribute to solve climate change?

Offsetting emissions is only the second option. The best is always to avoid emissions altogether.

Offsetting through financing clean energy projects has become popular and gaining support from small and large emitting companies. A company avoids net carbon emissions through five important steps:

Assess current emissions (from production, heating, lighting or travel.

Avoid CO2 emissions by identifying all carbon-intensive activities which are not necessary (e.g. replace some business travel by video conferencing).

Improve energy-saving measures and ensure the efficient use of energy to stop the energy waste (e.g. replace inefficient office appliances).

Offset unavoidable emissions through investment in clean energy projects that are certified with the Gold Standard, initiated and supported by WWF.

Review the strategy annually to avoid more emissions and become more efficient every year, and decrease the amount of CO2 emissions that need to be offset step by step. The target should be to reduce offset to zero over time.

5. What else can realistically be done by WWF, companies, communities and you?

We can all help in different ways to tackle this global problem. Here youll find some ideas on what you can do to help.

As an organizaion, WWF works to keep global warming well below 2C. This is the danger threshold beyond which climate change is predicted to become uncontrollable.

WWF offers Climate Solutions, an energy vision for 2050 that shows how we can meet a global demand for energy while achieving the necessary drop of about 80% in global CO2 emissions to stay below 2C.

The Climate Solutions report identifies six key solutions to the challenge of meeting global energy demand without damaging the global climate:

Improving energy efficiency

Stopping forest loss

Accelerating the development of low-emissions technologies

Developing flexible fuels

Replacing high-carbon coal with low-carbon gas

Equipping fossil fuel plants with carbon capture and storage technology

Top 5 questions about forests

1. What is deforestation?

Deforestation is the action or process of clearing of forests (Merriam-Webster). In other words, it is a general term that refers to the destruction of our forests.

2. So how much of a problem is deforestation?

Well, here are some interesting facts and figures:

we have already lost nearly 50% of the worlds original forests

each year, we lose 13 million hectares of forests, the equivalent of 36 football fields per minute

deforestation is the source of 15-20% of global carbon emissions

the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that at least 1/3 of the worlds remaining forests may be affected by climate change

3. What are the main causes for the destruction of our forests?

Forests around the globe are being destroyed mainly by:

clearing of land for agriculture and other land use

illegal logging

forest fires

climate change

The World Bank estimates that governments lose US$5 billion a year in tax revenue from illegal logging. This is money that could be used for economic and social development, such as building schools and hospitals.

Taking so many trees out of the forest contributes to climate change. That, in turn, causes extreme weather patterns such as drought and frequent fires that destroy forests.

So you see, this is a cycle of destruction that is damaging beautiful places where many endangered species live.

Forests are also home to some of the most culturally rich indigenous communities in the world, whose livelihood depends on the sustainability of the environment around them.

4. Thats a lot of problems, but can we do something to stop the destruction?

Of course!

We still have a lot to save and a lot do, but we must start now.

One of the first things you can do to help protect our forests is to use your power as a consumer. Simple actions such as choosing FSC-certified wood products and saving paper is already a great start.

5. What is WWF doing to address these threats?

Besides relying on the support of people like you, WWF is also working with governements, business and industry in a joint effort to protect our forests.

To date, WWF has helped establish nearly 80 million hectares of forest protected areas.

And through projects such as the Global Forest and Trade Network (GFTN), we are helping to bring together over 300 companies that sell more than US$44.6 billion worth of responsible forestry products per year and employ over 1.3 million people.

Top 5 questions about oceans

1. Oceans are so big and vast, can they really be threatened by human action?

True, we once considered our oceans inexhaustible. But there was also a time when people thought you could sail the seas and fall off the edges of the world.

The truth today is that we cannot fall off the edges of our planet, but our oceans are in a state of global crisis.

And the main cause for this is ... guess what? Humans and our destructive fishing techniques, or more simply put, a result of overfishing.

Todays industrialized fishing practices exceed natures ability to replenish the oceans fish stocks. As a result, more than 70% of the worlds commercial marine fish stocks are either fully exploited, overfished or recovering from overfishing.

Scientists have recently discovered that 90% of the big predatory fish are already lost species like bluefin tuna, swordfish and sharks all stripped from our oceans by industrialized fishing.

This is the single biggest threat to our marine waters. Unless the current situation

improves, scientists predict that stocks of all species currently fished for food will collapse by 2048.

2. But overfishing is just about fish. Isnt it going too far to say that it is devastating our oceans?

Well, not really.

The problem is not at all just about the fish that we eat, but how it was caught.

Some of the worst fishing techniques threaten not only the fish we target for food. Other species such as marine mammals and seabirds are caught incidentally in fishing gear and then discarded overboard dead or dying.

This ruthless process of non-target species is called bycatch and occurs wherever there is fishing.

Here are some facts and figures about it:

over 300,000 small whales, dolphins and porpoises die from entanglement in fishing nets each year

more then 250,000 endangered loggerhead turtles and critically endangered leatherback turtles drown annually on longlines set for tuna, swordfish and other fish

around 40 tonnes of cold-water corals are destroyed by fishing boats every year

100 million sharks are caught in hooks

as much as 150,000 tonnes of invertebrates are discarded annually in North Sea fisheries alone

3. How about if we eat only farmed fish? Is that a better option?

Farmed fish, or aquaculture, has the potential to provide food security, revenue and an alternative food source to that derived from wild caught fish. But we have to be extremely cautious with this option.

Why? Well, fish farming can cause other undesirable side effects to the environment and be economically unsustainable.

The main concerns about the impacts of farmed fish are:

intrusion of fish farms into vulnerable marine and coastal areas

increased pressure on species exploited on wild caught species used as fish feed

diseases which can infect wild stocks

interbreeding of escaped fish with wild stock

So, before any aquaculture development takes place, we have to be extremely careful!

4. Are you saying that fishing should be stopped? Wont fishermen lose their jobs?

We are not at all saying that we should stop fishing altogether. By no means!

But we must have better practices and management of how we fish. In fact, fishermen and coastal communities are the first to feel the impacts of depleting fish stock.

Newfoundland in Canada provides a sobering example of what happens to communities when fish populations are fished to commercial extinction.

For centuries cod stocks of the Grand Banks seemed inexhaustible. In the early 1990s, 110,000 people were employed in the fishing and fish processing industry. But in 1992, the cod fishery collapsed and some 40,000 people lost their jobs overnight, including 10,000 fishermen.

More than 10 years later, the cod have still not recovered. And the latest science indicates that the ecosystem has now substantially changed, meaning that the cod may never make a comeback.

Similarly, in Senegal fishermen no longer catch prized barracudas and red carp. Instead they must go after smaller and less appetizing kobos (a small coastal pelagic fish) because most of the time there is nothing else.

This means that the jobs and livelihoods of thousands and thousands of people around the world depend on the maintenance of fish stocks worldwide.

5. Is there something we can do to help solve this probem? Or is it too late?

The good news is that, yes, theres still a lot we can do if we start to act now!

WWFs marine conservation work focuses on finding solutions to:

make fishing sustainable

improve marine habitats

mitigate effects of climate change

promote sustainable use of marine areas

promote sustainable seafood choices

Helping marine life is also one of the challenges where our power as a consumer and our every day choices can make the greatest impact!

Top 5 questions about species

1. Why should I be concerned about the extinction of species? Is it not all part of a natural process?

Our planet is in a state of constant change in which species evolve; some disappear.

But this process is something that happens over hundreds of thousands and even millions of years.

The current speed at which species are disappearing, however, is directly connected to the way we are over-exploiting our planet. This is leading to what scientists call: the 6th wave of extinction.

The rapid loss of species that we are witnessing today is estimated by some experts to be between 100 and 1,000 times higher than the expected natural extinction rate!

And this is even a conservative estimate. Some studies estimate current extinction rates as 1,00011,000 times higher than what would happen naturally.

Unlike mass extinction events, which involve major geological events, the current extinction phenomenon is caused by a single species: humans.

2. But why and how are we causing species to decline so fast?

The greatest threats to species and the places where they live are:

habitat loss

human-animal conflict

unsustainable trade

climate change

bycatch

invasive species

pollution

Some species are impacted by only one of these factors, while others are hit by a combination of them.

3. What species are most endangered?

We get asked this a lot. And we sometimes answer: the one that just went extinct while you were reading this text.

And we say this because species conservation is not just about saving a single individual species. It is about thinking about the broader context.

For example, when we seek your help to save marine turtles, we need to:

secure the beaches where they lay eggs

protect the oceans where they feed

guarantee the livelihood of people who depend on them

All of WWFs work on species focus on the bigger picture - their habitat, local communities, populations and reducing threats.

Everything in nature is connected and so are the solutions to environmental problems.

4. Is there any good news about species?

In fact, yes! WWFs field experience has proven that many species can rebound if provided adequate protection and habitat.

Some major success examples are:

Pandas in China

African rhinos

We can also list tigers in the Russian Far East, the bald eagle in North America and many others.

Some whale populations, such as the blue whale, nearly hunted to extinction at the turn of the 20th century, are slowly rebounding after the global hunting ban in 1986.

5. How can I help save species?

The examples above demonstrate how we can work together to find alternative and more sustainable ways of living.

This is how WWF works and we believe that a global effort where everyone has a role to play is the best approach on how we can protect and recover species and their habitats.

Top 5 questions about water

1. How bad is the global water crisis?

1.1 billion people lack access to water and 2.6 billion lack adequate sanitation; most of these populations are in developing countries

Over 50% of the worlds wetlands have been lost in the last century alone

Most of the worlds largest rivers are losing their connection to the sea and nearly a quarter of those left risk being disconnected in the next 15 years

Only one-third of the worlds 177 large rivers (1,000km and longer) remain free-flowing, unimpeded by dams or other barriers

There has been more than a 50% decline in freshwater species populations over the last 30 years, making species loss in freshwater ecosystems faster than any other biome

2. Where is the water crisis the most serious?

Most developing countries face serious problems. In Africa, almost half of the population suffers from one of the six major water-related diseases, such as diarrhoea, which kills millions of children worldwide millions every year.

But many developed nations such as Spain and Australia are also having water problems due to pollution, overuse or mismanagement.

3. What are some of the major factors contributing to the water crisis?

Unchecked dam building and excessive irrigation are among the main reasons. On average, agriculture uses up to 70% of all water diverted from river basins.

Dams have already fragmented 60% of major rivers worldwide and displaced up to 80 million people.

Hundreds of dams are under construction worldwide and even more are being planned.

4. Ok, this is a lot of bad news, but is there anything we can do to fix the problem?

Yes, theres still a lot we can do. If we work hard to conserve our wetlands and rivers - the source of our drinking water - theres hope for a brighter future.

Important actions include:

saving water currently wasted in irrigation

fixing leaking pipes

improving existing infrastructure

stopping the construction of massive dams

Another important step is to work with local communities to help them value and defend their water resources by:

establishing river basin committees to manage shared resources where rivers cross borders

channelling aid to the countries in greatest need

5. What is WWF doing?

In the last eight years, WWF has helped conserve up to 92 million hectares of wetlands critical to water, food and aquatic life throughout the world.

WWF is pioneering integrated river basin management (IRBM) or conserving nature from source to sea. along the Yangtze and Danube rivers. This means taking the whole river basin into account and involving stakeholders from countries who share a river basin.

WWF brings together local and national government officials to suport river management groups, such as the Lake Chad River Basin Commission for the benefit of five African countries.

WWF assists local and indigenous communities in building their capacity to establish watershed management projects. In South Africa, for example, the Working for Wetlands programme employs thousands of people to rehabilitate the countrys remaining wetlands.

Other water-saving projects are being developed to improve the way we grow cotton, sugar and rice - three of the worlds thirstiest crops.

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