The vast and beautiful icy wilderness of Antarctica is the only home of the emperor penguin and is one of the planet's most important ecosystems. It is crucial to the world's climate but despite its size it is proving extremely fragile.

The emperor penguin, will cross one of the world's most hostile environments to get food for their young to stay alive, but it now faces a battle to survive as a species.

Emperor penguins have evolved to survive. They can endure blizzards with temperatures that plummet to -49ºC and trek for weeks to fetch food for their young. Yet the emperor penguin is struggling to overcome today's threats. In fact their population has declined by 50% in the last 50 years.

This decline has been compounded by dramatic climate changes in the Antarctic peninsula, which has experienced some of the greatest temperature changes on the planet. Ice shelves are collapsing and one of the emperor penguin's main food sources, krill, is becoming less available as the ice thins. Illegal and unsustainable fishing leave even less to feed on.

This is an ecosystem that is severely threatened. Please help our appeal by giving a donation today.

You can also help us tackle carbon emissions by supporting our call for a stronger Climate Change Bill. The UK's Climate Change Bill is a groundbreaking piece of legislation that could show international leadership in tackling our emissions of climate changing gases. But it has to be strong if it's to show true leadership. This is why we are asking you to add your name to the growing list of supporters who have signed our Climate Change Bill Petition.

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