WCS Annual Report 2012 - Wildlife Conservation Society

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wildlife conservation society Annual Report 2012
/ WCS Digital Programs
WCS digital efforts expanded significantly
in 2012. With growth of more than 26
percent, our constituent base was able
to show its support for WCS, its parks,
and its programs through advocacy, fundraising,
ticket and membership sales,
and even by the purchase of a cocoa
roach – a 100 percent dark chocolate
representation of a Madagascar hissing
cockroach, produced as a Valentine’s
Day promotion.
Overall, our efforts generated more
than 965,000 emails to Congress,
other elected officials, and agencies in
support of legislative initiatives such
as: reauthorization of the Multinational
Species Conservation Funds Semipostal
Stamp Reauthorization Act, which would
continue the Save Our Vanishing Species
stamp created in 2011; the National
Bison Legacy Act, which would make the
American bison our National Mammal
and establish an annual National Bison
Day in November; continued USAID Biodiversity
Funding; and recommendations
to the Bureau of Land Management for
energy development in Alaska’s National
Petroleum Reserve that balances energy
extraction with protection of critical
wildlife and habitat.
Our online campaigns raised awareness
and funding in support of a variety
of threatened species, including orangutans,
elephants, gorillas, and tigers.
Online efforts also played a critical role
in raising both awareness and financial
support for recovery and rebuilding
efforts at the New York Aquarium in the
wake of Hurricane Sandy. Finally, online
ticket and membership sales for the
zoos and aquarium grew by 22 percent
with significant web and email support.
That discussion is in large part due to the
broad environmental vision of Myanmar’s new
president, U Thein Sein. In his September 2011
inaugural address, Thein Sein promised to
“take measure in various sectors to reduce air
and water pollution, control dumping of industrial
waste, and conserve wildlife.” Six months
later, he suspended work on the Myitsone Dam,
a $3.6 billion project financed by China that
threatened to create a reservoir larger than
the area of Singapore. Then, in January 2012,
the government cancelled a 4,000-megawatt,
Thai-financed coal-burning power plant.
These were not one-off decisions. The nation’s
parliament has passed green legislation mandating
environmental and social impact assessments,
and a new Department of Environmental Conservation
will implement the new laws. In July
2012, during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, Myanmar committed to become
a signatory to the Extractive Industry Transparency
Initiative. The group of environmental
experts convened by WCS in January 2012
identified 132 Key Biodiversity Areas throughout
the country. These results are the first steps
in a process of government and civil society
working together for biodiversity conservation.
With millions of people dependent upon
Myanmar’s natural resource base, the environmental
sector is at the heart of the country’s
future. The international community has an
unprecedented opportunity to support and
build a Myanmar-led process for sustainable
development of the country’s vast natural
resources. With assistance, Myanmar has
the chance to succeed — where many of its
Southeast Asian neighbors have failed — and
become a regional model for linking environmental
sustainability and economic growth.
Busting Ivory Poachers and Traders
WCS field staff across Africa and Asia have
followed the growing elephant carcass count
with alarm. They have seen how roads built for
the logging and mining industries are providing
poachers access to wildlife and links to distant
markets. 2011 was the worst year on record for
elephant deaths since ivory trade was banned in
1989. 2012 saw a surge in ivory demand in Asia,
where global criminal networks are pushing wild
elephants ever closer to extinction. Eight out of
10 elephants today die as a result of poaching.
WCS works with partners across the trade
chain, from the wild areas in Africa and Asia
where elephants still roam, to the markets of
Vietnam and China. We are developing and
implementing scientifically-based law enforcement
monitoring systems that are successfully
controlling poaching in the sites where they are
fully implemented. As a result, some of the few
places across Central and East Africa where
elephant numbers have been maintained are
WCS-monitored sites.
We are developing intelligence networks around
our elephant sites in Asia to detect and apprehend
poachers and illegal wildlife traders. We are
partnering with the authorities to ensure that
these individuals are prosecuted in court and
given appropriate sentences. We are working