BiodiversityWWFPriorityPlacesandSpecies.pdfVIP

Conservation highlights WWF’s achievements in protecting biodiversity and reducing humanity’s footprint in priority areas of the new global conservation programme in FY2009 May 2009 Coral triangle heads of state summit Nurturing the green heart of Africa In May 2009, the six Coral Triangle heads of state made an historic and precedent-setting commitment to work together to protect marine environments and resources, ensure the food security of their peoples, and build climate change resilience. The Coral Triangle Initiative Leaders’ Declaration launched the most detailed regional action plan for ocean conservation ever seen, and the countries individually announced new commitments on finance, law and marine protected areas. President Yudhoyono of Indonesia made a personal plea to conserve the marine environment. The six countries will make a joint submission to the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December. The world’s largest Ramsar protected wetland – the 6.5 million ha Ngiri-Tumba-Maindombe complex – has been announced by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition, wetland sites totalling more than one million ha in both the Republic of Congo and Gabon were added to the Ramsar Convention list of internationally important wetlands. In Gabon, the country’s first two FSC-certified forests were announced covering 1.3 million ha. This brings the total FSC-certified forest area in the Congo Basin region to more than four million ha, well on the way to WWF’s target of seven million ha by 2012. Biodiversity: WWF Priority Places and Species WWF’s biodiversity meta-goal is to ensure the integrity of the most outstanding natural places on Earth. This includes the protection of biodiversity in high conservation priority areas, and restoring populations of those species with the highest ecological, economic and cultural value. 2 | Conservation Highlights - FY2009 Protected areas for a living planet This MAVA Foundation-funded