Latest WWF Stories

GENEVA (Reuters) - Rich countries have to make drastic changes to policies if they are to avoid the water crisis that is facing poorer nations, the WWF environmental organization said on Wednesday.In a survey of the situation across the industrialized world, it said many cities were already losing the battle to maintain water supplies as governments talked about conservation but failed to implement their pledges."Supporting large-scale industry and growing populations using water at high...

BRUSSELS -- Illegal fishing has devastated Europe's stocks of the highly prized bluefin tuna and threatens the species' survival in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, environmental campaign group WWF said on Wednesday.International quotas that aim to keep fish stocks viable were exceeded in both 2004 and 2005 for bluefin tuna, it said."Fleets from the EU -- mainly France -- Libya and Turkey are the main offenders," WWF said in a report. "These countries are greatly...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Toxic chemicals are harming Arctic animals including polar bears, beluga whales, seals and seabirds, the environmental group WWF said on Thursday. It said pollutants such as flame retardants, pesticides and fluorinated chemicals made Arctic wildlife vulnerable to health problems including immune suppression and hormone disturbances. "We can no longer ignore the proof that chemicals are damaging the health of wild animals," said Samantha Smith, director of the...

GENEVA -- Toxic chemicals are harming Arctic animals including polar bears, beluga whales, seals and seabirds, the environmental group WWF said on Thursday.It said pollutants such as flame retardants, pesticides and fluorinated chemicals made Arctic wildlife vulnerable to health problems including immune suppression and hormone disturbances."We can no longer ignore the proof that chemicals are damaging the health of wild animals," said Samantha Smith, director of the Swiss-based...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Toxic chemicals are harming Arctic animals including polar bears, beluga whales, seals and seabirds, the environmental group WWF said on Thursday.It said pollutants such as flame retardants, pesticides and fluorinated chemicals made Arctic wildlife vulnerable to health problems including immune suppression and hormone disturbances."We can no longer ignore the proof that chemicals are damaging the health of wild animals," said Samantha Smith, director of the...

GENEVA -- The first photograph of a member of a nearly extinct species of rhinoceros has been taken in the remote rainforests of Borneo, conservationists said on Wednesday.The Sumatra rhino, whose picture was caught by a motion-triggered camera trap, is believed to be one of as few as 13 whose existence was confirmed in Borneo by a field survey last year, the Sabah Wildlife Department and global conservation group WWF said.The cameras are part of a protection effort launched in late 2005 to...

By Ed Stoddard JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Delighted conservationists said on Friday that they had found conclusive proof of the existence of a rare giraffe-like creature in Congo's Virunga National Park that has defied the odds of survival in a region battered by savage conflict. First discovered in what is now Virunga in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1901, the shy forest-dwelling okapi had not been found in the park since 1959. It was known to be present elsewhere in the...

By Ed StoddardJOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Delighted conservationists said on Friday that they had found conclusive proof of the existence of a rare giraffe-like creature in Congo's Virunga National Park that has defied the odds of survival in a region battered by savage conflict.First discovered in what is now Virunga in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 1901, the shy forest-dwelling okapi had not been found in the park since 1959.It was known to be present elsewhere in the Congo, but...

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Donors have pledged $240 million to help Africa manage its fisheries which green groups say are being depleted by pirates and rapacious foreign trawlers in another blow to the world's poorest continent."The funding will be used to assist countries' efforts to better manage their marine fisheries and improve the living conditions of fishing communities," conservation group WWF said in a statement on Tuesday."Among the activities eligible for support...

GENEVA (Reuters) - Plants thought to help treat or cure cancer, AIDS and malaria have been found in the rainforests of Borneo, a report from the Swiss-based global conservation group WWF said on Thursday.But the rapid destruction of trees, much of it by illegal logging to meet growing world demand for timber, could wreck any chance of using these discoveries in the fight against disease, the WWF declared.A promising anti-cancer substance has been found in a Borneo shrub by researchers for an...