Who, what, when, where, how much...

What is WWF?
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations. An independent foundation registered under Swiss law, WWF is a global organization acting locally through a network of over 90 offices in over 40 countries around the world which vary in their degree of autonomy. The central secretariat for the network (called WWF International) is located in Gland, Switzerland. (WWF offices | organizational structure)

What does WWF stand for?
WWF originally stood for "World Wildlife Fund". However, in 1986, WWF had come to realize that its name no longer reflected the scope of its activities, and changed its name to "World Wide Fund For Nature". The United States and Canada, however, retained the old name.

The resulting confusion caused by the name change in 1986, together with its translation into more than 15 languages, led the WWF Network in 2001 to agree on using the original acronym as its one, global name - the acronym that it had always been known by since its inception way back in 1961: "WWF".

What is WWF's mission?
WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:

• conserving the world’s biological diversity
• ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable
• promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

What issues does WWF work on?
WWF has identified six global issues that need to be addressed in order to achieve its mission: climate change, forests, freshwater, marine, species and toxics. Each of these priorities has a dedicated programme, together with measurable targets against which they can be judged.

WWF has also identified the world's most biologically outstanding habitats, or ecoregions. The ecoregions identified by this science-based ranking, the Global 200, are the regions on which WWF concentrates its programme efforts.

WWF also works on a number of cross-cutting issues that directly affect programmatic and ecoregional work. These include trade and investment (e.g. World Trade Organization rules), indigenous and traditional peoples (e.g intellectual property rights), and the impacts tourism. Particular attention is paid to the root causes of biodiversity loss, such as poverty, migration, macroeconomic policies, and poor enforcement of environmental legislation.

How many projects does WWF have?
Since 1985, WWF has invested over US$1,165 million in more than 11,000 projects in more than 100 countries. WWF runs some 1,300 projects at any one time.

Who does WWF work with?
In carrying out its work, WWF cooperates with many partners, including UN organizations, IUCN, and development agencies such as USAID and the World Bank, with which WWF has formed an alliance to address forest issues. WWF also works with business & industry partners.

When was WWF founded?
WWF's first office was founded on 11 September 1961 in the small Swiss town of Morges.

Who is in charge?
WWF is governed by a Board of Trustees under an International President, HE Chief Emeka Anyaoku. President Emeritus is HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The Director General of WWF International is Jim Leape.

WWF supporters
WWF has nearly five million supporters and offices in more than 90 countries on five continents. P@ssport, WWF's international campaigning tool, has over 40,000 activists from more than 170 countries.

How many people does WWF employ?
WWF employs over 3,800 people worldwide.

What is WWF's annual income & expenditure?
You can download the latest Annual Review.

How popular is this site (www.panda.org)?
Almost half a million people visit the site and more than 100,000 publications downloaded every month.