07 Jun 2007 - Moscow,
Russia – A new national park has been created
in the Russian Far East, following years
of advocacy work by WWF and local environmental
groups.
The Zov Tigra (Call of the Tiger) National
Park encompasses 82,152 hectares in the
forest area of the Sikhote-Alin mountain
range in the far eastern Primorye region.
It is the third of 21 protected areas planned
for Russia by 2010.
The park is home to abundant wildlife,
including the endangered Siberian (or Amur)
tiger.
In the 1940s the Siberian tiger was on
the brink of extinction, with no more than
40 tigers remaining in the wild.
Thanks to vigorous anti-poaching and other
conservation efforts by the Russians authorities,
with support from many partners including
WWF, the tiger population has shown signs
of recovery, remaining stable throughout
the last decade with some 500 individuals.
“The main purpose of the national park
is to conserve biodiversity and develop
eco-tourism in the region,” said Yurii Bersenev,
protected areas coordinator for WWF-Russia’s
Far Eastern office.
“Thanks to the positive cooperation between
WWF and the Russian authorities, we were
successful in establishing the park. We
are happy to see this unique natural area
finally getting the protection it deserves.”
Yulia Fomenko, Head of Communications
WWF-Russia, Far Eastern Branch
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WWF and Coca-Cola announce partnership
to conserve freshwater resources
05 Jun 2007 - Beijing, China – The Coca-Cola
Company has launched a multi-year partnership
with WWF to conserve and protect freshwater
resources, including seven of the world’s
most important freshwater river basins.
“We are focusing on water because this
is where The Coca-Cola Company can have
a real and positive impact,” E. Neville
Isdell, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola
Company, told WWF's annual meeting in Beijing.
“Our goal is to replace every drop of water
we use in our beverages and their production.
For us that means reducing the amount of
water used to produce our beverages, recycling
water used for manufacturing processes so
it can be returned safely to the environment,
and replenishing water in communities and
nature through locally relevant projects.”
In 2006, The Coca-Cola Company and its
franchised bottlers used approximately 290
billion litres of water for beverage production,
an amount equivalent to roughly one-half
the annual water use in the metropolitan
area of the company’s headquarters, Atlanta,
Georgia. Of that amount, approximately 114
billion litres were contained in the company’s
broad portfolio of beverages sold in markets
around the world, and another 176 billion
litres were used in beverage manufacturing
processes such as rinsing, cleaning, heating
and cooling.
As part of its US$20 million pledge, Coca-Cola
will support more efficient water management
in its operations and global supply chain,
and reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
“The Coca-Cola Company is answering the
call to help solve the global freshwater
crisis through this bold partnership,” said
James Leape, Director General of WWF International.
“The company is stepping into new and uncharted
territory, and we look forward to working
together to meet the bold commitments they
have made to water stewardship.”
Reduce, recycle, replenish
As part of its commitment, Coca-Cola will
set specific water efficiency targets for
global operations by 2008 to achieve best
in class performance among peer companies.
These targets will build on improvements
already made by the company and its bottlers
in water-use efficiency over the past five
years, a period where total water use has
decreased by 5.6% while sales volume has
increased by 14.6%. In that same period,
water efficiency improved 18.6%.
The company will also align its entire
global system in returning all water that
it uses for manufacturing processes to the
environment at a level that supports aquatic
life and agriculture by the end of 2010.
While water is treated currently to comply
with local regulations and standards, Coca-Cola
has written wastewater treatment standards
that are more stringent than applicable
standards in some parts of the world.
And Coca-Cola will expand support of healthy
watersheds and sustainable communities to
balance the water used in its finished beverages.
Engagement will include a wide range of
locally relevant initiatives, such as watershed
protection, community water access, rain
water harvesting, reforestation and agricultural
water use efficiency.
Numerous projects are already underway.
Currently, Coca-Cola has community and watershed
programmes in 40 countries focused on education
and awareness, productive water use, watershed
management and water supply, sanitation
and hygiene. The company also has some 300
rainwater harvesting structures throughout
its global operations.
“Society is just beginning to understand
the world’s water challenges,” continued
Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Isdell.
“No single company or organization has
all of the answers or holds ultimate responsibility,
but we all can do our part to conserve and
protect water resources. Our company will
need time and cooperation from our bottlers,
our suppliers and our conservation partners
to accomplish the goal of replacing the
water we use. We will be open about our
progress and engage others to better understand
what it takes.”
END NOTES:
• WWF and the Coca-Cola Company have been
working together for several years on a
number of pilot projects to conserve water,
address water efficiency in the company’s
operations and protect species.
• The partnership will focus on measurably
conserving seven of the world’s most critical
freshwater river basins: China’s Yangtze;
South-east Asia’s Mekong; the Rio Grande/Rio
Bravo of South-west United States and Mexico;
the rivers and streams of the South-eastern
United States; the water basins of the Mesoamerican
Caribbean Reef; the East Africa basin of
Lake Malawi; and Europe’s Danube River.
These river basins (also know as watersheds)
span more than 20 countries in North America,
Europe, Africa and Asia and were chosen
because of their biological distinctiveness,
opportunity for meaningful conservation
gains, and potential to advance issues of
resource protection.
Lee Poston, Director, Media Communications
WWF-US
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Not many fish left in Europe to celebrate
on World Ocean Day
08 Jun 2007 - Brussels, Belgium - Scientists
from the International Council for the Exploration
of the Sea (ICES) have rung the alarm bell
for many European fish stocks on World Ocean
Day.
According to the report that ICES released
today, fishing pressure must be decreased
on cod, whiting, herring, plaice, redfish
and Baltic salmon stocks in European waters
next year, in order to rebuild these declining
populations.
Given continued low levels of stocks, the
scientists recommend no direct fishing on
cod in the North Sea, in the Eastern Baltic
Sea and the Kattegat. The same goes for
redfish in the Barents and Norwegian Seas.
The scientists also urge for a reduction
in quota on herring* , whiting* and plaice*
in the North Sea, and advise that quotas
for Baltic Sea salmon should not be increased.
The European Commission and EU Fisheries
Ministers will have to seriously consider
the warning and address management of the
stocks accordingly before the end of the
year.
“The Commission’s good will and soothing
words are not enough to remedy the poor
state of many Europe’s fish stocks”, says
Aaron McLoughlin, Head of WWF European Marine
Programme. “The necessary steps towards
sustainable fisheries are still missing
and it is deeply worrying to hear scientists
coming back each year with evidence on stocks
in trouble. There is still too little progress
being made.”
* Herring: the advice recommends a quota
reduction of 27 per cent.
* Whiting: the advice recommends a quota
reduction of 66 per cent.
* Plaice: the advice recommends a quota
reduction of 18 per cent.
Note to the editors:
• The International Council for the Exploration
of the Sea (ICES) is the organisation that
co-ordinates and promotes marine research
in the North Atlantic. This year, ICES scientists
came to the conclusion that the overall
status of the fish stocks has not changed
much since last year’s assessment.
For the full ICES report, please see: http://www.ices.dk/committe/acfm/comwork/report/asp/advice.asp
• Today is World Ocean Day’s 13th edition.
Created in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio
de Janeiro, it is held annually on 8 June
in honour of our planet’s most diverse and
threatened ecosystem. World Ocean Day represents
an opportunity to celebrate oceans, marine
life and seafood but also to evaluate and
suggest better ways to take care of the
world’s oceans.
Caroline Alibert, WWF European Policy Office,
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Shahtoosh traders arrested
06 Jun 2007 - Kathmandu, Nepal – The Kathmandu
Metropolitan Police Crime Division arrested
three Indian nationals involved in selling
shahtoosh shawls made from the endangered
Tibetan antelope.
A month-long undercover sting operation,
known as Operation Heritage, led to the
arrest of Muhammad Alam, Soukat Ahmad Nazar
and Mudassir Alachhi with 19 shahtoosh shawls.
This is the first time that fully woven
shahtoosh shawls, worth over US$35,000,
were seized in such a large quantity in
the Nepalese capital.
“We are just small operators, you should
go after the big guys behind this multi-million
dollar business,” said one of the traders.
Studies have shown that Nepal is being
used as a transit point for smuggling shahtoosh
shawls and other illegal wildlife parts
to European and other markets.
“Our investigations show that the shawls
are still being sold to people who have
the money and the connections, not just
to tourists,” said Kathmandu Police Superintendent
Devendra Subedi.
International trade of the Tibetan antelope
— native to the Tibetan plateau including
Tibet Autonomous Region in Qingai and Xinjiang
provinces — is strictly prohibited according
to its endangered status on the IUCN Red
List of Threatened Species and Appendix
I of CITES.
Three Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii)
are killed to make a single shawl of shahtoosh
— Persian for "king of wools"
— although dealers claim that they collect
the tufts of hair that get caught in bushes
as the animals brush past. In reality, the
animal suffers days of agony in traps until
poachers come to collect them.
