WWF news

Shipping accidents are a growing threat to UK seas

The waters around the British Isles have one of the highest numbers of shipping accidents in the world, a new study, released by WWF for World Oceans Day (8th June), has found.

The busy shipping lanes around the British Isles, North Sea and Bay of Biscay had the fourth largest number of shipping accidents in the world with 135 reported incidents between 1999-2011.

Protect the rainforest with Lily Cole’s Wild Rubber jewellery

Now you can look good and help save the rainforest at the same time, with a new limited-edition jewellery collection by Lily Cole, made from Amazonian wild rubber from the Sky Rainforest Rescue project area.

MPs to vote on future of Britain’s energy sector

This coming Tuesday MPs are due to vote on an amendment to the Energy Bill that would commit the UK a near carbon-free power sector by 2030. The amendment was introduced by Tim Yeo MP and Barry Gardiner MP and backed by an alliance of organisations from across the public and private who earlier this year called for MPs to approve the changes.

Sky Rainforest Rescue wins best charity partnership

Our partnership with BSkyB to help protect one billion trees in the Amazon rainforest has been recognized with a Charity Partnership Award at this year’s Business Charity Awards in London. The Sky Rainforest Rescue project, backed by over 40,000 WWF supporters, is working with local communities in the Brazilian Amazon to help make the rainforest worth more alive than dead.

Rare wildlife caught on camera: red pandas, blue-eared pheasants, and more!

These rare images taken in remote habitats in China show the dazzling array of species found in central-western China, where the giant panda lives alongside many other species including the red panda, Tibetan stump-tailed macaque, golden pheasant and leopard cat.

Prince Charles and Prince William call for action to end wildlife crime

Update: HRH The Prince of Wales (WWF-UK’s President) and HRH The Duke of Cambridge hosted a high-profile international conference at St James’s Palace on 21 May, in collaboration with the UK government, to focus world attention on the urgent battle to end illegal trade in wildlife (#endwildlifecrime).

See our Storify page all about the royal event here.

You can read the Prince of Wales's speech here in full. And watch this short video of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, speaking about illegal wildlife trade at the event...

Total won’t drill for oil in Virunga World Heritage Site

Great news from France - oil company Total has made an assurance that it won’t explore for oil within the boundaries of Virunga National Park in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). At the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Paris on Friday, chairman and CEO Christophe de Margerie responded to questions posed by WWF-France by confirming that Total is making a “commitment to respect the current limits” of the park, Africa’s oldest World Heritage Site.

Pandamonium puts the spotlight on art and nature

On 30 May, leading designers Sue Timney and Jason Bruges will put the spotlight on how art can articulate the environmental challenges we face at an exclusive event to mark Pandamonium, an innovative new design exhibition opening to the public this month.

CO2 hits highest level for 3 million years

The level of climate-changing carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere has reached 400 parts per million (400ppm) for the first time in human history.

Elephant massacre at world heritage site - time to end wildlife crime

At least 26 elephants were massacred in the Dzanga Bai World Heritage Site in the Central African Republic this week, after 17 people armed with Kalashnikov rifles entered this unique elephant habitat - it's known locally as the “village of elephants", though it's now being dubbed an “elephant mortuary”.

Lily Cole at the Met Ball, wearing an amazing Amazon wild rubber creation.

Lily Cole’s rainforest rubber rocks the Met Ball

Our celebrity ambassador Lily Cole was so moved by a trip to the Amazon that she made the ultimate eco-fashion statement at this year’s Met Ball (the fashion industry’s annual gala at New York’s Metropolitan Museum). Lily wore a specially-designed Vivienne Westwood dress with a corset made from Amazonian wild rubber from the Sky Rainforest Rescue project area.

Sky and WWF want young reporters to make the news

Know any budding presenters, journalists or reporters aged between 7 and 11? Sky and WWF are offering them a chance to show off their skills in our brilliant Young Reporter competition.

Is your furniture harming tigers in Russian forests?

The UK is contributing to an "epidemic” of illegal logging that’s seriously endangering Russian forests and rare tigers. And it could be down to the furniture we buy.

Newborn rhino already an orphan – this is why we do what we do

It’s barely two weeks since we were all celebrating the birth of two rare rhino calves in Assam in north-east India. Now one of the two mothers is dead. Slaughtered for her horn and claws. And her bewildered calf is struggling to survive without her.

WWF’s Threadless challenge: buy the winning t-shirt now!

We recently teamed up with Threadless, the well-known online design community, to launch a global WWF t-shirt challenge. We’re delighted to say that the winning design - ‘Melting Away’ by Jana Misheva from Macedonia - is now on sale (see photos below). We think it's great, so please buy it, because 25% of the sales will go straight to help WWF’s work, protecting wildlife and wild places around the world.

Earth Hour inspiration goes beyond one hour

WWF’s Earth Hour successfully completed another record-breaking sweep around the planet on Saturday 23 March - from Samoa on one side of the International Date Line to the Cook Islands on the other. Hundreds of millions of people again united to send a clear message - that we're determined to create a sustainable future for our planet.