People and Communities Stories

  • Meet the women in tech blazing a trail for conservation

    March 08, 2021

    Women leaders have established themselves as a formidable force in sustainability positions within tech. Though a relatively new discipline, this trend is helping to modernize environmental sustainability and conservation efforts as we know them—and will undoubtedly see its impact grow in the next decade.

    Florence Adewale stands in front of a group of elephants gathered under a roof
  • Protecting India’s fisheries

    March 08, 2021

    Dr. Vineetha Aravind is the lead coordinator for shrimp and cephalopod fisheries that are working to improve their sustainability through fishery improvement projects. She's helping to introduce new fishing nets that will reduce the amount of bycatch.

    Several fishing boats float in a canal-like space with palm trees in the background
  • How produce delivered by mail could help both people and nature

    February 24, 2021

    What if you could get fresh fruit and vegetables from local farmers delivered along with your mail? In a 2021 analysis, WWF looked at how the United States Postal Service—your daily mail carrier—could bridge the gap between farmers and food shoppers, in a proposed program we call Farmers Post.

    A woman with brown hair in a plaid shirt picks a cucumber growing in a greenhouse
  • WWF's Renee Johnson on the importance of diversifying the conservation space

    Our differences—the richness of all our unique views, experiences, and backgrounds—can help create stronger conservation outcomes. So we are taking steps to increase underrepresented populations within the organization.

    Renee Johnson smiles at the camera wearing a light green shirt
  • Small-scale dairy manufacturing provides local livelihood opportunities in western Mongolia

    February 02, 2021

    Dairy is a staple in the diets of Mongolian people but until recently, the sale of milk products was not a prominent source of income for local herders. As it turns out, diversifying community livelihood options in this village in the Bayan-ulgii province has also led to increased protections for snow leopards in the area. A win for people, and a win for nature.

    An adult yak stands with two baby yaks staring at the camera with a mountain range in the background
  • Natural Allies

    WWF Magazine: Spring 2021
    Indigenous peoples and local communities play a crucial role in protecting biodiversity and keeping forests intact.
    Women walking through forest
  • In response to Covid-19, a new partnership will boost the devastated nature-based tourism industry in Africa

    January 19, 2021

    With $1.9 million in funding from the Global Environment Facility, an African Nature-Based Tourism Collaborative Platform is being developed to connect funders to communities and small and medium enterprises involved in nature-based tourism in eastern and southern Africa—and who are most affected by the loss of revenue due to Covid-19.

    Rolling green hills with homes on them and large cloud-covered mountains in the background
  • Tatyana Minenko, polar bear patrol team leader

    Every fall, the Ryrkaipiy polar bear patrol, with the support of WWF Russia, works to protect the community and prevent human-wildlife conflict. Tatyana Minenko has been leading the patrol team since 2006. That’s when the climate crisis increased conflict in her village.

    Closeup of a woman looking through binnoculars, wearing yellow gloves and a white hat, blurry background
  • Sustainable pepper farming supports people and nature in Malaysian Borneo

    November 17, 2020

    Empowering farmers with green practices builds livelihoods while strengthening biodiversity. 

    A woman in a straw hat picks pepper off of large green pepper vines
  • 100 bison find a new home with the Rosebud Sioux Tribe

    October 30, 2020

    The Tribe will create the largest native-owned and managed bison herd in North America. These 100 bison are the first of as many as 1,500 animals setting foot on 28,000 acres of native grassland.

    Bison walk out into a brown field
  • Investing in "Thirty Hills"

    October 27, 2020

    Thirty Hills is the last large block of intact, lowland forest still standing in central Sumatra. After five years of successful forest conservation, we celebrate five major wins within this critically important landscape.

    The Bukit Tigapuluh, or “Thirty Hills,” landscape is one of the last great stands of rain forest in the deforestation hotspot that is the Indonesian island of Sumatra
  • Recognizing Indigenous Peoples' land interests is critical for people and nature

    October 22, 2020

    Although they comprise less than 5% of the world population, Indigenous peoples protect 80% of the Earth’s biodiversity. Recognizing their land rights should be placed at the center of conservation.

    Two people drive a small boat through muddy waters and green marshland
  • Common Ground

    WWF Magazine: Winter 2020
    Tawau, the east malaysian district where Christina Ak Lang grew up, is a tropical paradise.
    Aerial photo of palm field
  • Flow Lines

    WWF Magazine: Winter 2020
    Keeping water flowing for people and wildlife in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area will take action at every level. Here's what WWF is doing for it.
    Aerial photo of three elephants wading through water
  • Predator-proof pens protect community livelihoods in Nepal

    September 11, 2020

    New predator-proof pens improved both financial and psychological well-being for communities, who no longer having to guard their livestock throughout the night and can feel secure that their livelihood is safe.

    Woman in front of pen of goats in Khata corridor, Nepal
  • Gaining safe water access amid the ongoing pandemic crisis

    August 27, 2020

    Conservation, communities, and corporate come together to implement a new infrastructure project, giving two Honduras communities access to drinking water in their homes.

    A group of Honduran men in a forest surrounded by bags of concrete and other materials to build a new water system
  • COVID & the Ba’Aka Tribe of Dzanga-Sangha

    August 06, 2020

    In the Central African Republic, WWF supports the Indigenous Ba’Aka tribe of Dzanga-Sangha in social distancing to protect themselves from COVID-19. 

    A group of Ba'Aka people walking into the forest
  • An all-female ranger team challenges the workforce gender gap

    July 30, 2020

    In Northeast China, the only all-female ranger team monitors the region's tiger range. 

    An all-female team of rangers treks through a snowy forest in China looking for clues of big cat whereabouts
  • How four communities value and protect their mangroves

    July 23, 2020

    Around the world, communities depend on mangroves for food, protection, and income. These coastal forests provide for communities and the communities, in turn, protect the mangroves. It’s a relationship found all over the world across the more than 100 countries where mangroves guard the coast. Here are four places where a snapshot tells the story.

    Patroling a mangrove forest for poachers
  • Safe Zone

    WWF Magazine: Fall 2020
    In the heart of the Central African Republic, Dzanga-Sangha stands as a model for stability and peace—and a safe place for elephants and gorillas to roam.
    Ba’Aka elders facing camera
  • In the Colombian Amazon, a forest explorer catalogs a community’s resources

    Marisela Silva Parra, 41, is the only female member of a WWF-supported group of local farmers and community leaders who are helping their community realize the value of its natural resources. The group calls themselves Los Exploradores—The Explorers.

    Portrait of Marisela Silva Parra standing in the forest with a clipboard
  • Blood-free honey — How a safer harvesting program is reducing deadly human-tiger conflicts

    May 12, 2020

    WWF India, in association with the Sundarbans Biosphere Reserve (SBR) Directorate, has implemented a program to significantly reduce the number of tiger-related deaths of honey collectors.

    Honey collection in the Sundarbans
  • Rosebud Sioux Tribe will create the largest native-owned and managed bison herd in North America

    May 07, 2020

    The Rosebud Sioux tribe committed 28,000 acres of native grassland for the creation of a new plains bison herd. With a capacity to support 1,500 animals, the Wolakota Buffalo Range will become North America’s largest Native American owned and managed bison herd.

    A lone bison on the Fort Peck Tribes Cultural Buffalo Herd Ranch Facility
  • The first rule of gorilla tracking? Listen well

    May 05, 2020

    Twenty years ago, a gorilla habitation program provided the Ba’Aka living near the Dzanga Sanga Park with a new opportunity. And by 2020, Dzanga-Sangha employed more than 50 Ba’Aka as gorilla trackers.

    Ossolo Dacko, a BaAka tracker for the western lowland gorilla habituation program, Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve, Central African Republic