WWF Summer 2021 Digest

COMMON GROUND How like-minded ranchers and conservationists are teaming up to protect and restore the Great Plains ecosystem.

02 / PREVENTING PANDEMICS 22 / FROM TRASH TO TREASURE

SUMMER 2022

P R E S I D E N T’S L E T T E R

“The technologies to create a lowcarbon economy exist. We just need to deploy them at a speed and scale that far exceed what we’ve done in the past.”

Many scientists agree we’re living in the Anthropocene— an era when humans have become a dominant influence on the planet, causing significant changes to our climate, including increased average temperatures and natural disasters, all with huge implications for life on Earth. They also say we can only stave off the most catastrophic effects of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Each country is different.

When people think of US climate change solutions, they think of transportation and energy—two sectors that, respectively, comprise 29% and 25% of our country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

For some nations, such as Brazil or India, land use generates the majority of emissions—so much that deforestation and agriculture make up around 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

For decades, WWF has

That means we have eight years to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, reimagine our food- and land-use systems, and protect and enhance nature. It’s a reinvention that must take place on an epic scale.

The good news: The technologies to create a low-carbon economy exist.

We just need to deploy them at a speed and scale that far exceed what we’ve done in the past.

built programs to keep forests intact and to put agriculture on a sustainable path. It’s equally important to strengthen those solutions and find ways to launch, finance, and sustain them into the future.

I left the UN climate change conference in Glasgow last year having had several meetings with business and government leaders interested in creating programs to deliver on their climate commitments—

© TOM VIERUS/WWF-UK

The Nature of Climate Change

SUMMER 2022

including commitments to nature conservation and sustainable agriculture.

As many corporations work to reduce their emissions, it’s clear that it will take time to reach those goals throughout their supply chains. To meet net-zero commitments, companies are looking for solutions outside of their own operations. For example, investing in nature-based solutions and agricultural innovations brings emissions down in other sectors and other countries and can also help reduce overall emissions.

We’ve been working to create partnerships to build integrity—on both the demand and supply sides—so that companies can be held accountable for reductions in their own operations, while at the same time supporting and facilitating real emissions reductions through avoiding deforestation and financing sustainable agriculture and renewable energy.

The pages of this issue provide examples of some of those high-integrity solutions.

All the while, we must continue building bridges—scientific, technological, financial, and policy—to help other countries deliver on commitments of their own.

EDITORIAL senior editor Alice Taylor editors, digital edition Alison Henry, Liz Watt web producers Victoria Grimme, Isabelle Willson, Ellie Yanagisawa contributing editors Teresa Duran, Karl Egloff, Molly M. Ginty, Terry Macko, Maura McCarthy, Brie Wilson contributing writers Alex Fox, Jennifer Hanna, Stephanie Vermillion, Daniel Vernick, Sara Curnow Wilson ART art direction and design Page 33 Studio consulting art director Sharon Roberts contributing photo editor Jennifer Anna PRODUCTION production manager Mick Jones volume 10, number 2 (ISSN 2330-3077) World Wildlife is published quarterly by World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037. Annual membership dues begin at $15. Nonprofit postage paid at Washington, DC, and additional mailing offices. learn more Visit worldwildlife.org to learn more about World Wildlife Fund and what you can do to help. contact us editor@wwfus.org © 2022 wwf. all rights reserved by world wildlife fund, inc. wwf® and ©1986 panda symbol are owned by wwf. all rights reserved.

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CARTER ROBERTS PRESIDENT & CEO

WWF’s mission is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth.

WWF’s vision is to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature. president & ceo Carter Roberts editorial director Alex MacLennan publications director Sarah Forrest publications editor Ananya Bhattacharyya editor Erin Waite editorial intern Madeleine Janz

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U P D A T E

ASIA

THE WILDLIFE-HUMAN CONNECTION COVID-19 awareness influences some consumers In live wildlife markets, animals are often crammed together in cramped cages. The situation is rife with the risk of animal-borne diseases spilling over from species to species—and to the humans who buy and consume them. In fact, though the exact origin of COVID-19 remains elusive, it’s been determined that the virus originated in animals before jumping to humans, perhaps in a wildlife market in China.

In March 2020, WWF conducted a survey of 5,000 people across Japan, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam, and Hong Kong SAR to gauge consumer awareness of the connection between disease and risky wildlife trade.

Survey analysis found that people with greater awareness of COVID-19 and its impacts were 11%–24% less likely to buy wildlife products.

Based on this finding, WWF is now designing campaigns aimed at reducing the consumption of wild meat from risky species and raising the public’s awareness of the dangers wildlife markets pose, says Jan Vertefeuille, WWF senior advisor and coauthor of the study. WWF will also continue to team up with policy-makers to support strong enforcement of regulations on risky wildlife markets in countries like China and Viet Nam.

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In Sri Lanka, floods, droughts, and landslides have been occurring more frequently in recent years due to climate change.

Researcher and advocate Kusum Athukorala on engaging communities and building flood resilience

AGE 66 HOME Colombo, Sri Lanka CAUSE Kusum Athukorala works at the intersection of gender and water issues. A former academic, she is the recipient of the International Water Association’s International Women in Water Award. Today, she promotes women and youth as catalysts for change and supports community engagement for integrated water management.

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As climate change intensifies, flooding is increasingly threatening communities, livelihoods, and economies.

Has this shifted your perspective on floods?

Dramatically. My native home is close to a major river in Sri Lanka. Flooding was an annual event. But now, places that used to get inundated mildly are inundated heavily.

Increased flooding has gone hand in hand with the filling in of wetlands. We are having “100-year floods” sometimes twice a year.

You recently co-led a training on a WWF guide to naturebased flood management.

What role does nature play in flood resilience?

In Sri Lanka, our wetlands are sponges. If wetlands could be preserved, it would help communities and also the economy, because every flood comes with a major cost.

We’ve been told that to stop flooding we have to use hard

You have been recognized as a leader in advocating for women and youth in the water policy field. What led you to this focus?

When I went into the field to study irrigation systems, I found that a lot of [irrigation] work done by women is unrecorded and unregistered. I also found that women irrigated differently than men—they tended to share water more.

The more I studied situations where water security is threatened, the more I realized that it is important to engage both men and women. They have different roles.

Successful and sustainable water management hinges on engaging communities. How do you amplify local voices?

Too much planning is done at a high level. Communities have to understand what is happening and what the impact on them will be. With nature-based solutions, you often do community engagement at a very early stage, and that is important. Community engagement is an interactive, two-way process. I start with an open mind and listen.

© MICHAEL SMITH/DREAMSTIME.COM

WATER M ANAGEMENT E XPERT

engineering. People default to hard structural solutions [such as dams or levees]. But those structures can fail.

D I S C O V E R

G A L Á P A G O S I S L A N D S :: E C U A D O R

WORLDS APART Colorful creatures defy expectations It was my father, a biology teacher, who first told me about the Galápagos Islands. Charles Darwin developed the concept of evolution, my father said, when he observed how species had adapted to the environment there. In my mind, I pictured the islands in black and white, like the sketches in the old volumes in my parents’ library.

And now here I was decades later, on a catamaran in the Pacific Ocean, beholding the place that had inspired Darwin. Our guides took us on snorkeling adventures, where we peered into the busy lives of sea turtles, technicolor fish, and sharks. On excursions in motorized dinghies, we witnessed bluefooted boobies showing off their bright feet to prospective mates. Elsewhere, Galápagos penguins wedged their bodies into rocky crevasses, while sea lions inched close enough to startle us. In the distance, a humpback whale created glistening waterfalls with each breach.

We also toured the Charles Darwin Research Station on the island of Santa Cruz—the site of painstaking efforts to conserve this magnificent ecosystem. I left the islands with a strong conviction that every wild corner of our planet is worth fighting for. — Ananya Bhattacharyya

Want to travel to the Galápagos Islands with WWF? Learn more at worldwildlife.org/ExploreGalapagos2022.

© TUI DE ROY/NATUREPL.COM‑

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OBJECT OF CONSERVATION

TESTING THE WATERS What can we learn about an ecosystem by analyzing its water? More than you might expect. Water—like soil, air, and snow—contains DNA naturally shed by animals through their hair, feces, saliva, and skin.

Studying this environmental DNA, or eDNA, can give us a snapshot of the health of an ecosystem and its species. And while it might sound like a tool from your favorite true crime podcast, eDNA has enabled big strides in wildlife monitoring.

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HOW SCIENTISTS USE eDNA TO MONITOR BIODIVERSITY TAPPING THE SOURCE

When wild animals move through their habitats, they leave behind genetic markers, traces of which are washed into lakes, streams, and rivers. Researchers collect samples of that water, which they pass through a filter to capture organic materials containing eDNA that are then sent to a lab for processing.

2 WHAT’S INSIDE Each sample can hold the genetic codes of dozens or even hundreds of animals, offering vital clues about the overall well-being of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Through eDNA, scientists can track the impacts of climate change or detect endangered species or harmful pathogens in a landscape.

3 UNRAVELING THE CODE In the lab, DNA amplification and sequencing helps researchers pinpoint which species are present in the samples—in some cases, the process can even single out individual animals.

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THE BOTTOM LINE

eDNA can’t determine an animal’s age or a species’ population size. But when combined with other tools, it can improve our ability to assess the status of wildlife populations and habitats, empowering scientists to design more timely and effective conservation strategies.

TRACKING TIGERS WWF scientists will soon use eDNA alongside camera traps to conduct a survey of tigers and their prey in Bhutan’s Royal Manas National Park. If the methods yield similar results, eDNA sampling could complement camera traps in future national tiger surveys, substantially reducing survey costs.

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THEIR FUTURE

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From a sprawling ranch in Montana to a desert grassland in Texas, ranchers across North America are partnering with conservationists to produce protein in a way that conserves and restores grasslands, feeds people, and supports a community-centered way of life

STORY BY DI TIPPING-WOODS

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ERIN WAITE

ILLUSTRATIONS BY BEN GILES

© ALEXIS BONOGOFSKY

brenda brady ’s red hoodie provides a splash of color against Montana’s fall landscape as she bends down to see how the forage is faring in a recently reseeded cattle pasture.

Behind her stands a 4x4 Chevy truck, which has replaced the horses her great-grandparents rode to survey these lands.

The tract on which she stands used to be cropland, but now she’s in the business of growing grass.

On pastures like this, “the goal is to not have bare ground, but to have litter, or what we call the debris,” she explains, plucking a tuft of dry grass. “You want litter—still standing grass—of varying heights. With new seeding, you’re going to have some bare ground that will fill in over time.”

A couple of hours ago, a brief shower passed through—a blessing, given the drought-like conditions that have plagued the area in recent years. When it does fall, the rain replenishes the native plants—the slender wheatgrass, western wheatgrass, bluebunch wheatgrass, green needlegrass, and flax—that keep her cattle fed, provide habitat for native species, protect the health of the soil, and store carbon in the ground.

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Brady’s ranch is in Winnett, in Petroleum County—one of the United States’ 15 most rural counties, where approximately 75% of income is generated by agriculture and communities are like close-knit families. Before European settlement here in the late 1800s, Indigenous peoples lived off the plentiful wildlife the land sustained. Today, the large bison herds have been replaced by cattle, but birds such as mountain plovers, chestnut collared longspurs, and Sprague’s pipits are still found alongside deer, elk, and rarer species like swift fox, in habitat managed by ranchers.

But across the Great Plains, the large-scale conversion of native grasslands to cultivated crops, resource extraction, and other development have driven widescale destruction and fragmentation of this carbon-rich landscape, pushing species such as pronghorn and the greater sage-grouse into shrinking and degraded swaths of habitat. And the area is on the cusp of more dramatic change.

WWF’s 2021 Plowprint Report revealed that grassland plow-up across the Great Plains has continued to accelerate for the second year in a row. The data shows that from 2018 to 2019 about 2.6 million acres of grassland—an area larger than Yellowstone National Park—were plowed up, primarily to make way for row crops.

Almost 70% of new conversion across the Great Plains was for three crops that are grown primarily for food and fuel: corn (25%), soy (22%), and wheat (21%).

In addition to impacting wildlife habitat, these changes release enormous amounts of carbon, exacerbate droughts and wildfires, and cause harmful soil degradation and erosion, threatening the interconnected livelihoods of rural ranching communities and the ecosystem they rely on.

R A N C H I N G F O R C O N S E R VAT I O N Quick to laugh, and with no Stetson in sight, Brenda Brady might not fit the stereotype of a rancher, but she knows her land’s pastures 10 WORLD WILDLIFE MAGAZINE

and coulees like the back of her hand. She and her sister Laura Nowlin, who ranches next door with her husband and two children, both left the family ranch (which began operation in 1914) to study and work elsewhere but returned to raise cattle in their rural hometown. They now lease the property, split into two ranches, from their parents and uncle.

Since taking over, Brady and Nowlin have continued their parents’ legacy of progressive land management and habitat restoration, in part through their involvement in WWF’s Sustainable Ranching Initiative, which began in 2011. WWF plant ecologist and conservation biologist Aaron Clausen describes the initiative’s goal as “supporting ranchers in making lasting land-use decisions that maintain healthy grasslands while keeping their operations flexible and financially stable and their land managed in a way that encourages it to be productive year after year.”

Work under the Sustainable Ranching Initiative includes monitoring soil carbon, reseeding native grasses, surveying bird biodiversity, and monitoring water and plants.

WWF’s latest project, the Ranch Systems and Viability Planning network (or RSVP for short), helps ranchers develop sustainable grazing management plans with assistance from on-the-ground technical specialists and access to continuing education and finance. Funded by the Walmart Foundation, Cargill, McDonald’s, and others, RSVP has generated a lot of interest from ranchers in a short time because it helps them build sustainability into their beef buyers’ supply chains. Since 2021, 40 ranches have enrolled in the program, covering close to 380,000 acres in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

“Collaborative efforts like this can accelerate innovative, sustainable solutions and support ranchers in the beef supply chain, where they need it,” says Kathleen McLaughlin, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer for Walmart and president of the Walmart Foundation. “Sustainable grazing practices that improve soil health, absorb carbon, and reduce water consumption help protect the land and the people who depend on it.”

AGRICULTURE HAS ALWAYS BEEN ADAPTABLE, EVEN THOUGH THE STEREOTYPE IS THAT IT’S UNCHANGING.

© WWF-US/ALEXIS BONOGOFSKY

LAURA NOWLIN, Rancher

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THERE CAN BE A PERCEPTION THAT CATTLE ARE BAD FOR THE LAND—AND THEY ABSOLUTELY CAN BE—BUT OUR RANCHES SHOW CATTLE CAN ALSO IMPROVE HABITAT AND RESTORE LAND AND WATER SYSTEMS. CASEY WADE, Vice President of Ranching Operations, Dixon Water Foundation 12 WORLD WILDLIFE MAGAZINE

© ROWDY DUGAN

While the grasses seen here are invasive, ranchers are working to restore native grasses to the landscape.

For the sisters, a primary approach to sustainable ranching is rotational grazing—a method that involves frequently moving their cattle to different pastures, often using temporary electric fences that divide the land into smaller pastures (this is known as cross fencing). This type of grazing allows the soil and grasses to rest and recover more often and between seasons—and improves overall grassland health.

“The grasslands evolved to be grazed, with cattle now mimicking the action of historical grazers like bison,” says Clausen. “If a cow munches the grasses down to where there are 2 to 3 inches left, and then is rotated to another pasture, the grasses can recover all that growth within one growing season while also putting down more roots, which store carbon.”

The resulting mosaic of heterogeneous, patchy habitat also supports a diversity of wildlife.

“Wildlife is part of our daily lives,” says Nowlin, as the sighting of a mule deer on the ranch access road offers a glimpse of the variety of animals for which the land provides crucial habitat. There are white-tailed deer, foxes, coyotes, porcupines, marmots, turtles, bumblebees, and more. Nowlin has a camera trap on her property, and every year she presents her father with a photo book of all the wild animals that have passed through.

The sisters say they don’t think of themselves as conservationists so much as stewards of the land. But they challenge the misperception that ranching and conservation can’t go hand in hand. Both are members of, or partner with, various ranching associations, NGOs, and government agencies focused on promoting good land stewardship and sustainability, including Winnett ACES (Agricultural and Community Enhancement and Sustainability), a community conservation collaborative in which WWF participates.

“There are a lot of ranchers who have been doing conservation practices for a long time without it being recognized as such,” says Nowlin as she drives along a bumpy pasture. “Agriculture has always been adaptable, even though the stereotype is that it’s unchanging.”

THE CROP TRAP Approximately 73% (over 94 million acres) of remaining grasslands in the Northern Great Plains are privately owned. While ranchers operate across a spectrum of sustainability, they all face pressure to convert existing grasslands into cropland, which, depending on market fluctuations, can yield better short-term profits than livestock can. This reality means that, when wheat and barley prices go up, ranchers may feel compelled to plow up and plant crops on large areas of intact grasslands.

But in the long term, plains land is not wellsuited for row crops. In addition to releasing large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, the conversion sets off a cycle of negative feedback loops: Row crop agriculture requires more water and fertilizer, which further degrades the ecosystem, leaving farmers even more vulnerable than ranchers to weather conditions and market forces.

In places like Montana, says Clausen, ranching is “no question, the better option. ... You can’t grow a crop in a place with just 4 inches of rain without irrigation. But even in an extremely dry year, you can still graze [the land] and grow protein and grow grasses.”

For a long time, ranchers thought of their operations in terms of cow numbers—a model that doesn’t account for the variability of grasses from year to year. “Instead, forward-looking operations like Brady’s and Nowlin’s are thinking in terms of the amount of grass they produce on their property and the number of cows that the grass can feed,” he says.

This approach helps ranchers avoid having to purchase supplemental feed or make risky financial decisions, such as converting land for crops or selling off cows. It also often results in more total pounds of beef per acre than non-regenerative ranching practices, as grass and wildlife thrive.

“The health of the grass and the health of the animal equal a healthy business,” Nowlin says.

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About 1,400 miles south, another progressive grasslands management project that takes a working lands approach to conservation has caught the eye of WWF’s experts. Enrique Prunes, who works on groundwater and agricultural water for WWF-US, explains that the Dixon Water Foundation’s ranch in Marfa, Texas, has developed a food production cycle that benefits biodiversity, ecosystem conservation, and the water system while giving ranchers flexible grazing options.

The ranch is in the Chihuahuan desert, which includes parts of the transboundary Rio Grande-Rio Bravo River Basin spanning the US-Mexico border. Here, ranchers, farmers, policy-makers, and communities are struggling to balance their water budget—defined as the amount of water they use within the limits of how much the basin can provide—while maintaining the agricultural heritage of their communities.

This dry basin is one of the most at risk of collapse in the world. Increasingly frequent droughts and warmer temperatures due to climate change have compounded the harmful effects of poorly planned dams, water diversion for irrigation, overgrazing by cattle, and allocating more water to users than is available in the system. The allocations differ between Mexico and the US, but most water here irrigates crops like alfalfa that are used to feed cattle for meat and dairy production; a small percentage goes to other crops, including cotton, pecans, corn, and sorghum.

The Dixon ranch encompasses the Alamito Creek watershed, a Rio Grande-Rio Bravo tributary. As is typical in the area, many water channels have deepened over time due to increased incision—a natural process whereby a river cuts down into the bedrock—disconnecting the creek from the river’s floodplains, increasing siltation and runoff, and altering the groundwater hydrology. But by mimicking the system nature designed, Dixon’s ranching practices have begun to reverse these effects and to restore the freshwater system.

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© DENIS PEREZ

AG R I C U LT U R E F O R WAT E R

WE’RE TRYING TO RECONNECT THE SYSTEM AND GIVE THE WATER A CHANCE TO SLOW DOWN, INFILTRATE, AND RECHARGE THE GROUNDWATER. PHILIP BOYD, Director of Science and Communications, Dixon Water Foundation

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“We’re trying to reconnect the system and give the water a chance to slow down, infiltrate, and recharge the groundwater,” says Philip Boyd, who directs science and communications for the Dixon Water Foundation. Cattles’ hooves help break up the hard ground and allow grasses to seed. This process further increases water infiltration and carbon sequestration through better and healthier grasses, thereby shifting from “a vicious cycle to a virtuous one,” adds the foundation’s president, Robert Potts.

As the vegetation grows back, it lets rain soak into the ground and raises the water table, and it provides aquatic habitat and seasonal pasture. The grass also holds in place some soil that would otherwise be swept into the creeks and protects the biodiversity that depends on grasslands, particularly migratory birds.

Casey Wade, the vice president of ranching operations, views cattle grazing as a tool that functions in service of the landscape. “There can be a perception that the cattle are bad for the land—and they absolutely can be—but our ranches show cattle can also improve habitat and restore land and water systems,” he says.

The foundation runs four ranches using such regenerative agricultural approaches, creating a space to experiment, collaborate, and learn. It’s also become a resource for ranching colleagues and friends. “It’s not about pitting one practice against another,” says Wade, but instead about meeting ranchers where they are and collaborating on solutions that are good for nature and address the challenges they face.

THE GRASS BUSINESS In both Winnett and Marfa, the shift in mindset is from raising cattle to growing grass. “I generally ask myself, what did it look like before we got here, and how can I mimic that? Because it was working extremely well and supporting an abundance of life,” says Wade, who increasingly sees himself as a custodian of the soil. “That’s 16 WORLD WILDLIFE MAGAZINE

what I need to take care of, and then the grass takes care of itself, and the cattle take care of themselves, because we’re mimicking what was going on here for eons,” he explains.

Back in Winnett, Brady and Nowlin have similar ideas. “We’re not going to be successful as ranchers if we’re not aware of conservation,” says Brady. “For us, as far as ranching goes, it’s a business taking care of the soil and the grass and the wildlife, and trying to do what’s best for the land.”

These growing collaborations between ranchers and conservation groups, which look at ranching through a nature-focused lens, address both the threats of agriculture to land and water and the threats faced by producers and food crops throughout the connected Great Plains landscape.

Still, that work is just one part of a complex supply chain that involves a string of stakeholders, from transporters and feedlot owners to retailers and consumers. The margins in many agricultural enterprises are minimal, and the existing agricultural value chain, which doesn’t distinguish producers like Brady and Nowlin from those who don’t apply conservation practices, makes it very hard for producers to make a living.

In the beef industry, Clausen notes, ranchers who raise the cattle and manage the land often get the smallest piece of the pie.

The lesson here is to think about critical environmental issues like biodiversity and habitat loss in tandem with rural workers’ incomes, says Martha Kauffman, WWF’s vice president for the Northern Great Plains. “You have to recognize that for ranchers and farmers, longterm success is not just about the health of the grasslands, but also about the health of their businesses and families.”

In Brady and Nowlin’s parents’ ranch house, a long wooden banister displays several generations’ worth of leather saddles that once belonged to their forebears. Nowlin says she’s unsure whether her children will follow in the family’s footsteps. In the meantime, she and her sister and an emerging alliance of like-minded ranchers are working hard to ensure that the abundance of the Great Plains—and their way of life—is conserved for the next generation.

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D I S P A T C H

F O R T B E L K N A P R E S E R V A T I O N :: M O N T A N A , U S A

A MASKED MAMMAL RETURNS Black-footed ferret tallies produce positive news One night last October, WWF biologist Kristy Bly scanned the prairie of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation with a spotlight. After hours of rumbling about in a pickup truck, she spotted what she was searching for: the shining green eyes of a black-footed ferret. She found the nocturnal mammal’s burrow and set a mesh cage trap at its entrance.

After capturing the ferret, Bly determined that it hadn’t previously been caught and microchipped, meaning it could be added to the reservation’s official population count. The 2021 surveys returned good news: a record nine litters comprising 19 kits, plus 18 adults—nearly double the total counted on the reservation in 2020.

“With fewer than 400 black-footed ferrets left in the wild, every individual is valuable,” says Bly. The species is mainly threatened by the loss of its prairie dog prey to sylvatic plague—a disease lethal to both animals. Population monitoring efforts are critical for protecting blackfooted ferrets and tracking progress toward species recovery.

Bly hopes that, with continued vigilance, WWF and the Fort Belknap Fish and Wildlife Department can achieve their shared goal of 30 adults in the coming years—part of a broader conservation push to reestablish a viable wild ferret population in the Northern Great Plains.

Pictured: Jessica Alexander of Little Dog Wildlife, a WWF partner, examines a captured ferret.

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© WWF-US/CL AY BOLT

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WOVEN WONDERS Noken bags—used by Indigenous Papuans to carry everything from produce to babies—are a millennia-old craft. But the introduction of factory-made and foreign products, such as backpacks, has reduced local demand, while fewer Papuans are trained in the bag-making process. Now, with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP), WWF-Indonesia, and the Papua provincial government, Indigenous women from the northern village of Sawesuma are making major strides in preserving this ancient art.

1 PAPUAN-LED

Women’s group leader Novilla Aru—peeling bark that will be turned into thread—has inspired 60 Sawesuma women to join her noken-making movement.

1

2 PROSPERITY GENERATOR

Though Papuan women often harvest crops and fish and collect firewood, income isn’t shared equally. Aru says noken-making gives women like Balbarina, pictured here, greater confidence and income stability.

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3 PROCESS ORIENTED

At the Sawesuma field school, created with WWF support and funding from MACP, women teach and learn the craft of making noken as well as ways to generate income from other sustainable forest-based livelihoods.

4 SUSTAINABLE SOURCING

Noken makers rely on forests for natural materials such as tree bark. This year, WWF is helping the women of Sawesuma launch a seed-planting program to restore nearby forests.

20 WORLD WILDLIFE MAGAZINE

3 4 © LUMELI J. BULI/WWF-INDONESIA

FIELD NOTES

P A P U A :: I N D O N E S I A

C A U G H T I N

T H E

A C T

D O V R E F J E L L- S U N N D A L S F J E L L A N AT I O N A L PA R K :: N O R W AY

ICE AGE SURVIVORS Braving arctic conditions with musk oxen

© CHRIS SCHMID

Photographing musk oxen requires patience and strategy. To start, I bundle up in warm layers, strap on my snowshoes, and trek into Norway’s Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park. I use 400 mm telephoto lenses, which help me keep a safe distance from the large, furry animals. And I hold my cameras close to my body’s heat so they don’t lose power.

Unlike me, musk oxen are built for harsh conditions. In the winter, they live for over four months in complete darkness, in temperatures that reach -76°F. But as average temperatures rise, more rain falls and freezes, trapping their food under ice.

To shoot this photo, I headed out into an intense storm. I wanted to capture the musk oxen’s beauty and resilience despite their extreme and ever-changing environment.

I hope that this image of a magnificent Ice Age creature moves more people to become involved in solving the climate crisis to protect this ancient species. —Chris Schmid

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G A L L E R Y

Sanaa Gateja’s paper bead tapestries When Sanaa Gateja moved from Uganda to Kenya and then to Europe to study jewelry design, he was shocked by the number of newspapers and advertisements that would wind up in his waste bin. Following in the tradition of African arts that use found materials, Gateja brought a collection of these papers back to Uganda and began transforming them into beads. His workshop now employs more than 50 women, who help him construct the recycled paper beads and affix them to barkcloth, a traditional fabric made from the bark of trees in the fig family.

The final tapestries help sustain livelihoods and, as Gateja says, “exhibit value and beauty in the creation of art from waste.”

(above) ONCE UPON A TIME, DETAIL (right) ONCE UPON A TIME 22 WORLD WILDLIFE MAGAZINE

23

T H E T A K E A W A Y

BALANCING THE BLAZE Protect humans, animals, and the climate with responsible fire management

© CHRIS GASH/WWF-US

Today, nearly nine out of 10 wildfires in the US are caused by humans. Just one ember from a campfire, cigarette, or firework display can spark a fire that eventually spans hundreds of thousands of acres, causing severe damage. And due to climate change, the problem is only worsening.

Wildfires don’t just kill or displace animals and people; they also destroy livelihoods and homes. Smoke deteriorates air quality, causing increased respiratory illness and mortality in affected communities. Indigenous peoples and low-income communities are often disproportionately impacted because of poor access to health care facilities, fewer financial resources, and limited representation in decision-making.

If you live in an area with high fire risk, try fireproofing your home by installing mesh on outdoor vents, spacing out bushes and trees, and keeping gutters clear of debris. When you’re enjoying a campfire, keep all flammable objects away from the pit, have firefighting tools nearby, and diligently drown all fires, leaving no embers or smoke.

Even if you don’t live in a fire-prone area, you can play a part. Check out WWF’s Action Center (worldwildlife. org/TakeAction22) to learn about the many ways you can help protect nature from wherever you are.

24 WORLD WILDLIFE MAGAZINE

© ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

DIGITAL

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1.800.960.0993 INSIDE TRACK WWF’s Corey Norton on preventing the exploitation of humans and nature.

LEADERBOARD Admire the power of photography through Brian Skerry’s lens.

INQUIRY What if your mail carrier delivered farmfresh produce?

TREE LEAVES © WWF-MALAYSIA/MAZIDI ABD GHANI; PORTRAIT COURTESY OF COREY NORTON; ILLUSTRATION © ELEANOR SHAKESPEARE/WWF-US; BOX OF PRODUCE © ISTOCK.COM/IMAGE SOURCE; MAIL TOTE © ISTOCK.COM/GRADIVIS

3

THE MASTHEAD

What’s on the cover?

A close look at the shell of a green sea turtle.

WHITE-TAILED JACKRABBIT Lepus townsendii The white-tailed jackrabbit is a champion high jumper. The largest of the hare and rabbit family, it has powerful legs and big hind feet that enable it to hop up to 20 feet—a leap that, paired with incredible speed, allows it to elude foxes, coyotes, and snakes. Its enormous ears help the animal detect threats and regulate body temperature.

Found in grasslands, prairies, and forests across the Great Plains, the white-tailed jackrabbit plays a key role in the ecosystem, providing prey for predators while its grazing helps maintain healthy grasses and shrubs. In this issue, learn how WWF is working with the people who live there to conserve those vast grasslands and the diverse species they support.

WHITE-TAILED JACKRABBIT © ANDREW ZUCKERMAN TURTLE SHELL © DAVID SOKOL