For the first time in its 60-year history, WWF will remove the iconic panda from its logo for the day, while the wolf will be removed from the Wolves badge for the second year running to highlight the emptiness of a world without nature.
Russell Jones, general manager of marketing and commercial growth at Wolves, said: “We are removing the wolf from our badge today to support and raise awareness of World Wildlife Day. In many countries around the world the wolf is an endangered animal.
“Just last year we partnered with the WWF in Mexico to raise awareness of the endangered Mexican wolf. As part of the campaign we worked with local schools to educate them on the dramatic impact that losing an apex predator has on the overall ecosystem. At the end of the lesson they all understood that the wolf, which is often portrayed as the evil character in children’s books and songs is actually a hero, bringing life to hundreds of other animals.”
Global populations of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish have suffered an average two-thirds decline in less than half a century, according to WWF’s Living Planet Report 2020. The report also shows that if the world carries on with “business as usual”, rates of biodiversity loss seen since 1970 will continue between now and 2050. These losses would at best take decades to reverse, and further irreversible biodiversity losses are likely, resulting in a planet that cannot support current and future generations of people.
Wednesday’s campaign was originally the brainchild of One Minute Briefs, created on World Wildlife Day last year. The idea received widespread praise on social media and has now been brought to life with support from the Voice for the Planet coalition which includes WWF, Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the RSPB.
Later this year, governments from around the world will meet to agree a new global agreement for nature, like the one we have for climate. WWF is calling on global leaders to step up to the challenge of delivering an ambitious global plan to tackle biodiversity loss and set nature on the path to recovery this decade. Wolves supporters can show world leaders they care about a more sustainable future for all by adding their voice for the planet.
Felicity Glennie Holmes, executive director, communications and marketing at WWF International, said: “We want to show what a world without nature would look like, because in less than 50 years, human activity has resulted in wildlife populations plummeting by an average of 68 per cent - and with every part of nature that we extinguish, we lose another important link to human and planetary health.
“Today we’re joining forces with some of the world’s best-loved brands to remove nature-related images from our logos to show how empty a #WorldWithoutNature would be. Globally, we need to reverse our direction and start restoring nature. And we need governments around the world to seize the opportunities this year to take action, so that we avert the risk of nature disappearing for good and our natural world thrives.”
