World Wide Fund for Nature
Formed in 1961 as the World Wildlife Fund, the organisation changed its name in 1986 to World Wide Fund for Nature, to better reflect the scope of its activities, retaining the WWF initials. However, it continues to operate under the original name in the United States and Canada.[1]
Corporate ties
Writing in 1997, Brian Tokar observed in his book, Earth for Sale, that the World Wildlife Fund was
- associated with nineteen corporations cited in the National Wildlife Federation's recent survey of the 500 worst industrial polluters. These companies included such recognized environmental offenders as Union Carbide, Exxon, Monsanto, Weyerhaeuser, Du Pont, and Waste Management.[2]
In her book Green, Inc., journalist and former employee of Conservation International Christine MacDonald lays bare the corporate ties of WWF-US, the US branch of WWF-International:
- Its partners include mining, logging, consumer goods, financial services, high-tech, and large retailers.[3]
WWF's corporate partners are perhaps not surprising in the light of its board of directors, which includes Pamela Ebsworth, the wife of retired cruise ship baron Barney Ebsworth; General Electric executive Pamela Daley, and S. Curtis Johnson, the Johnson & Johnson heir.[4]
According to Christine MacDonald, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase & Co. are WWF partners. WWF also has ties (relationships include donations, partnerships, programmes, projects, joint councils, and advisory boards) to Alcoa, Home Depot, Johnson & Johnson, PG & E, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Starbucks.[5]
CounterPunch editor Jeffrey St. Clair accuses WWF of backing nearly every trade bill to come down the pike, from NAFTA (North American Free Trade Ageement) to GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and of sidling up to some unsavoury government agencies advancing the same neoliberal agenda across the Third World.[6]
People
| Years | Name |
|---|---|
| 1962–1976 | HRH Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld |
| 1976–1981 | John H. Loudon |
| 1981–1996 | HRH Prince Philip of Great-Britain, Duke of Edinburgh |
| 1996–1999 | Syed Babar Ali |
| 2000 | Ruud Lubbers |
| 2000–2001 | Hon. Sara Morrison |
| 2001–2010 | Chief Emeka Anyaoku |
| from 2010 | Yolanda Kakabadse |
Notes
- ↑ WWF quick facts
- ↑ Brian Tokar, Earth for Sale: Reclaiming Ecology in the Age of Corporate Greenwash, South End Press, 1997, pp. 20, 25, cited by Michael Barker in "The Philanthropic Roots Of Corporate Environmentalism", Swans Commentary, 3 November 2008, accessed January 2009.
- ↑ Christine MacDonald, Green, Inc., Lyons Press, 2008, p. xiv
- ↑ Christine MacDonald, Green, Inc., Lyons Press, 2008, p. 24
- ↑ Christine MacDonald, Green, Inc., Lyons Press, 2008, p. 28
- ↑ Jeffrey St. Clair, Panda Porn: The Marriage of WWF and Weyerhaeuser", Dissident Voice, 5 December 2002, accessed January 2009
- ↑ WWF Presidents of the Organization over its history
