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]
History and orientation
1001 Club
See main article:1001 Club
In the early 1970s, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom, together with a few associates, set up the 1001 Nature Trust, its purpose being to cover the administrative and fund-raising aspects of the WWF. The club garnered 1001 members who each contributed $10,000 to the trust.[2]
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.[3]
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.[4]
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.[5]
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.[6]
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.[7]
Who runs WWF?
Ex President working for Ford Foundation and Alcoa
Kathryn Fuller, WWF President and Chief Executive from 1989-2005, left the organisation to chair the Ford Foundation and sit on the Executive board of aluminium company Alcoa, who have been accused of multiple environmental and human rights abuses[8].
Who runs WWF? A BP board member
The Dutch WWF website tells us:
- Het internationale WWF-bestuur bestaat hoofdzakelijk uit vertegenwoordigers van de nationale organisaties. Voor Nederland is Antony Burgmans in het internationale bestuur vertegenwoordigd als voorzitter {The international WWF-board mainly consists of representatives of the national organisations. The Netherlands is represented on the international board by Anthony Burgmans, as chairman of the board}.[9]
Antony Burgmans is a non-executive board member of BP (the energy and biofuels giant that is also a member company of the Round Table on Responsible Soy) and a member of the Supervisory Boards of Akzo-Nobel, Aegon and SHV. He is chairman of the supervisory boards of WWF-Netherlands and Mauritshuis (The Hague).[10]
Activities
Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS)
Between 2008 and 2011 (ongoing) WWF came under heavy criticism from environmental and civil society groups for its central role in the Round Table on Responsible Soy, a big agribiz-led forum that claims to want to make soy production more responsible. (See Round Table on Responsible Soy.)
Worldwide protest at WWF launch of Aquaculture Stewardship Council
On 14 May 2009 over 70 human rights and environmental groups from around the world signed an open letter expressing outrage at the planned launch of the World Wildlife Fund's Aquaculture Stewardship Council.
In a letter sent to leading members of WWF,[11] campaigners claimed that the organisation's plans to certify the industrial production of shrimp and salmon are influenced by the vested interests of the aquaculture industry, and do not reflect or take into account the wishes of local communities and indigenous peoples who live alongside shrimp and salmon farms. They say that WWF continues to reject invitations to meet with representatives of affected communities in six different aquaculture regions across the world.
Campaigners also argue that the planned certification process is inherently flawed in favour of the aquaculture industry. They point to the fact that the certification body run by WWF is part-funded by the food industry, and that the individual employed by WWF to run the process, was previously employed as a regional vice-president for a controversial aquaculture multinational, that has been widely accused of labour violations and environmental destruction.
"WWF needs to explain why they are happy to engage with industry, but have repeatedly rejected calls for meetings from over 70 groups, representing tens of thousands of marginalised people from around the world?" asks Juan Jose Lopez, Coordinator of RedMangar in Latin America.
"How can any process be regarded as legitimate when a large Western NGO and its financial backers in the food industry are able to dictate what is best for the livelihoods of people in other countries around the world?" asks Alfredo Quarto, of Mangrove Action Project.
"The proposed certification by WWF promises to legitimise environmentally and socially damaging forms of aquaculture in the name of cheap prawns and salmon. It's high time that WWF stops 'Pandering' to the interests of big business, and instead begins to listen to the voices of real people that rely on the oceans and forests to survive." says Natasha Ahmad, ASIA secretariat.
People
- Anthony Burgmans, chairman of the board of WWF International and a Trustee of the same. He is also chairman of the supervisory board of WWF-Netherlands, and is a non-executive board member of BP.[12][13] He became Chairman and CEO of Unilever in 1999.[14]
- André Hoffmann, Vice President and Trustee of WWF International, is also Vice-Chairman of the Board of Roche Holding Ltd. as well as of the Board of Givaudan Ltd.; a member of the Board of Brunswick Leasing Ltd, Amazentis SA, MedAssurant Inc., INSEAD and biotechnology company Genentech, Inc.[15]
- Calestous Juma, Trustee of WWF International. He is also a proponent of genetically modified food (see Klaus Ammann). He is Professor of the Practice of International Development and Director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.[16] He is director, Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[17] He is editor of the International Journal of Technology and Globalisation and the International Journal of Biotechnology.[18]
| 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
- ↑ WWF Finland - History of WWF International Template:En icon
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Jaap Krater and Miriam Rose, 'Development of Iceland’s geothermal energy potential for aluminium production– a critical analysis',In: Abrahamsky, K. (ed) (2009). Sparking a World-wide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in the Transition to a Post-Petrol World. AK Press, Edinburgh.
- ↑ De organisatie, WWF Netherlands website, acc 7 Mar 2011
- ↑ WWF, Antony Burgmans, acc 7 Mar 2011
- ↑ "Letter to WWF from 70 International NGO Networks, Organizations and Individuals Opposing the Formation of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council", 14 May 2009, accessed 16 May 2009
- ↑ De organisatie, WWF Netherlands website, acc 7 Mar 2011
- ↑ WWF, Antony Burgmans, acc 7 Mar 2011
- ↑ WWF,Antony Burgmans, acc 7 Mar 2011
- ↑ WWF, André Hoffmann, acc 7 Mar 2011
- ↑ WWF, WWF International Board, acc 7 Mar 2011
- ↑ Calestous Juma, Harvard website, acc 29 Apr 2010
- ↑ WWF, WWF International Board, acc 7 Mar 2011
- ↑ WWF Presidents of the Organization over its history
