One Planet

As well as working on seven continents, here at WildLife Foundation we also work to look after our planet. We all know that our planet is being hugely impacted by climate change (also known as global warming). This is causing our planet to warm up, meaning weather is getting more and more extreme and unpredictable, causing crazy events like the droughts and wild fires you might have read about on some of our other pages. Climate change is caused by humans: from burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and even farming. Because we caused it, we can fix it. This means all of us, governments, businesses, communities, and me and you!
As temperatures get hotter and hotter, lots of animals (and humans too!) are finding it hard to adapt to the environments they’ve lived in forever. A really extreme example of this is polar bears, whose Arctic sea ice habitat is completely disappearing as the planet warms.

We want to make sure that action is taken to protect animals who are affected by climate change, before it is too late.

Where we work

We work on every continent except Antarctica – but watch this space!

Our projects

Improving conservation actions for species threatened by climate change

Back in 2016, we partnered with the Climate Change Specialist Group (CCSG) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)‘s Species Survival Comission (SSC). Whew! Will you remember all those acronyms? Basically, this is a group of twenty leading scientists from all around the world who are working super hard to find ways to protect species that are impacted by climate change.

We helped to fund the production of the “Guidelines For Assessing Species’ Vulnerability To Climate Change”. This report for conservation professionals outlined the methodology for monitoring species so that we can get consistent data to give us the whole picture of just how badly wildlife is being affected by changing weather patterns. The example studies in the report are pretty hard-hitting. It shows that biodiversity all over the world is at risk as habitats are lost, and many animals could become extinct if things do not change.

Our Partners:

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

is the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard.

“We are extremely glad to be partnering with the Yorkshire Wildlife Park. We recognise the incredibly valuable role the park plays in helping people to understand climate change and how to combat it, and we greatly appreciate working together to ensure that the guidelines reach those who need them.” – Dr Wendy Foden, Chair of the IUCN SSC Climate Change Specialist Group.