World Wide Fund News

Climate Investor Two has approved an investment that could amount to €24.5 million ($29.4 million) to support the lease of Damen’s portable ballast water treatment solution InvaSave to customers in Africa, Asia and Latin America.Climate Investor Two (CI2) is a financing facility mandated to invest in water, sanitation and ocean infrastructure projects in emerging economies. It enjoys cornerstone support from the EU and the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD). The consortium that manages the 160 million DFCD also includes World Wide Fund for Nature Netherlands (WWF-NL)…

The largest energy company in Denmark, Ørsted A/S announced  ‘Offshore wind biodiversity policy’ to set out the principles that underpin our efforts to protect the natural environment in the areas where we develop, construct and operate offshore wind farms.“Renewable energy plays a major role in mitigating climate change and the threat it poses to biodiversity. At the same time, it is important to protect biodiversity at our wind farm projects and sites,” said Hans Lyhne Borg, Head of Environment, Consents & Property at Ørsted.“Our biodiversity policy formalizes and makes it transparent that Ørsted takes responsibility for the natural environment…

The Port of Rotterdam Authority will be constructing 16 tide pools along the north side of Calandkanaal. These pools will be realised by embedding raw concrete basins in the banks of the waterway. The design of these tide pools, manufactured by ECOncrete, ensures that water is retained for a longer time in the pools during low tide. This turns the temporary pools into miniature ecosystems, which often occur naturally in rocky coastal zones but are largely absent in modern ports. “These so-called ecomodules fit in with the Port Authority’s ambition to increase the biodiversity and habitat options of organisms in the port area, which can help to further improve the local fish stocks and water quality,” says Port Authority COO Ronald Paul.

When it comes to fishing vessel safety, the mission is clear, says Sandra Allnutt of the International Maritime Organization (IMO): enhance safety to save lives. “We want to reduce loss of life in one of the most dangerous professions in the world, and we want to enhance safety on board fishing vessels,” said Ms Allnutt, Head of Maritime Technology in IMO’s Maritime Safety Division, following a regional seminar, in Cape Town, South Africa, to promote ratification and implementation of a key fishing vessel safety treaty known as the Cape Town Agreement of 2012. “This Agreement, once fully ratified, in force and implemented, will be an internationally binding agreement which will facilitate better control of fishing vessel safety by flag, port and coastal States.

Certain ships are being ordered to reduce speed because of the deaths of at least 10 North Atlantic right whales in Canada's Gulf of St Lawrence during the past two months, the government said on Friday. The deaths have made 2017 the deadliest year for the endangered marine mammal since scientists began tracking their numbers in the 1980s, researchers said. The ministries of transport and fisheries issued a temporary order for vessels 20 meters or longer to slow to a maximum of 10 knots in the western portion of the Gulf, which stretches from Quebec to north of Prince Edward Island.

The cruise ship MV Crystal Serenity, owned by the US-based Crystal Cruises, is scheduled to set sail from Seward, Alaska to New York on a 32 day, 1,500 km journey through the Northwest Passage via Canada and Greenland on August 16 with with 1,000 passengers on board. The Cruise ship will sail the legendary route 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, first completed successfully by Roald Amundsen more than 100 years ago. The wildlife charity WWF has accused Crystal Cruises of putting at risk “the very thing that tourists would come to see” – a pristine wilderness and home to endangered species such as polar bears and walrus. Crystal Serenity will be accompanied by UK’s ice-strengthened polar logistics and science vessel RRS Ernest Shackleton…

The U.S. government has a made a $1.97 million payment to the Philippines for damages to a protected coral reef caused by a U.S. Navy minesweeper. The USS Guardian ran aground on the Tubbataha Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in January 2013. The park's management, the World Wide Fund for Nature, and marine experts said that 25,240 square feet of corrals were damaged, according to the Navy Times. After the ship ran aground on the reef, it was dismantled piece by piece to prevent further damage. The funds will be used to protect the reef and improve monitoring of the area. The U.S.

The global conservation body WWF called on Sunday for limits to shipping off Ecuador's Galapagos islands where oil pouring from a grounded tanker is threatening some of the world's rarest land and sea animals and birds. A statement from the Swiss-based World Wide Fund for Nature said the spill could have "a deep and lasting impact" on the creatures of Galapagos which were observed by British naturalist Charles Darwin as he developed the theory of evolution 165 years ago. The damaged vessel, the Ecuadorean-registered Jessica, ran aground last Tuesday half a mile (800 m) from the archipelago's main port in its easternmost San Cristobal island while its way to service an Ecuadorean navy operation and a private tour boat operator.

Petron Corp. is negotiating with a Singaporean company to bring in advanced technology that would determine the exact location of the oil tanker that sank off Guimaras island and siphon off the remaining bunker oil still in the vessel. Lori Tan of the World Wide Fund said Petron, which chartered the ill-fated M/T Solar I, will bring in deep-sea contractors who will use a side scan zoner to determine the wreck’s actual location on the seabed, a remotely piloted submersible to find the leak, and hot tap to siphon the oil that is still contained in the tanker’s hold. Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes and Tan believe the cleanup might take two years if all the needed technology and assistance arrive soon.