Spatial planning in WWF priority areas

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics supports WWF’s efforts to protect sensitive marine life and ecosystems from vessel-generated impacts, such as oil spills, sewage discharge, noise and collisions with whales.

In June 2008, efforts by WWF to protect a part of the so-called Alps of the Atlantic Ocean met with great success. Senior officials from 15 countries announced their agreement on a proposal to protect a 300,000-square km area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the vast underwater mountain chain in the northern Atlantic Ocean. This commitment is a first step to establish the first Atlantic high seas marine protected area (MPA). Read more

Despite slow progress on marine protection and climate change adaptation at the Antarctic Treaty meeting in 2008, WWF continues to conduct groundbreaking work in the Southern Ocean. WWF experts work to identify areas with high biodiversity, and then use this scientific data to advocate for spatial planning measures such as high seas MPAs. Read more

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

WWF supports and works with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In May 2008, the CBD took essential steps towards: (1) protecting habitats and biodiversity in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction; (2) adopting scientific criteria for identifying areas in need of protection in open ocean waters and deep sea habitats; and, (3) providing scientific guidance on designing representative networks of high seas MPAs. Read more