WWF Operating Company history

WWF hires its first scientist, Doctor Thomas E. Lovejoy, as a project administrator, in 1973.

WWF begins awarding the annual $50,000 Getty Prize for outstanding contributions to wildlife conservation in 1974.

WWF and IUCN in 1976 create TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network that works to ensure trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.

WWF in 1985 expands conservation programs in Asia and Africa, showcasing the new Annapurna National Park in Nepal and strengthening projects to protect mountain gorillas in Rwanda.

WWF's wildlife trade arm, TRAFFIC, launches an extensive publicity campaign to combat illegal wildlife trade in 1986.

WWF in 1987 is instrumental in creating the Cockscomb Jaguar Preserve, which protects one of the largest jaguar populations in Central America, as well as the endangered scarlet macaw.

WWF's innovative Lumparda Elephant Project in 1988 leads to a sharp decline in poaching of elephants and black rhinos in Zambia, by establishing an adjacent buffer zone for economic activities and employing local people as scouts to protect wildlife.

WWF arranges a $2.1 million debt-for-nature swap for Madagascar in 1989, with the help of a $1 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development - the first major United States government support for a debt-for-nature swap.

With support from WWF, TRAFFIC opens an office covering eastern and southern Africa—the heart of elephant country—in 1991.

WWF in 1993 completes a $19 million debt-for-nature swap in the Philippines, the largest such swap ever undertaken by a nongovernmental organization.

WWF launches the Russell E. Train Education for Nature (EFN) Program in 1994 to build capacity for conservation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America by supporting academic and mid-career training.

WWF in 1996 works with Malaysia and the Philippines to establish the Turtle Islands Heritage Protected Area, the world's first transborder marine protected area for sea turtles.

WWF in 1997 launches the Living Planet Campaign, a new vision for preserving Earth's biodiversity.

In a pledge developed through the WWF-World Bank Alliance, the president of Brazil in 1998 commits to provide legal protection for 10 percent of the Brazilian rain forest, an area greater than all of the national parks in the contiguous United States combined.

WWF in 1999 helps craft and secure support from the fishing industry for a proposal to establish a 186-square-nautical-mile no-fishing zone in the Dry Tortugas within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

International standards for fisheries management are established in 2000 under the MSC. Certified Australian rock lobster comes to market, and Alaska salmon, which represents more than six percent of the total annual United States fish catch, is certified as well.

In the Terai Arc of the Eastern Himalayan lowlands, WWF in 2001 spurs progress toward the ambitious goal of creating wildlife corridors linking 11 protected areas between Nepal's Royal Chitwan National Park and India's Corbett National Park, an area of 12,160 acres.

WWF secures a $53 million commitment from the United States government in 2003 for the new Congo Basin Forest Partnership.

WWF and the Chinese government in 2004 release the most comprehensive study ever done of pandas in the wild, showing nearly 50 percent more pandas than previously thought.

WWF in 2005 establishes the Mesoamerican Reef Trust Fund, benefiting Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.

WWF and The Coca-Cola Company in 2007 announce a $20 million partnership to focus on seven important river basins, global supply chain and water use efficiency in its bottling plants.

In 2008, Earth Hour goes global, becoming the world’s largest environmental activism event.

A survey shows that populations in the Virunga Massif grew to 604 individuals, up from 480 individuals in 2010.