Here is a recent feature article written by the Director General
of WWF International, presenting their organization's vision of
protected areas. As you may be aware, Forests.org has been
highly critical of WWF for: 1) lack of ambitious protected area
goals – particularly in the World's remaining large, wildlands
and 2) over-emphasis upon commercial certified forestry in
primary forests rather than community based protection and eco-
forestry. The article below is a chance for WWF to present their
views on protected areas.

I will make only a few comments. 12% protected areas are not
adequate to maintain global ecosystems. The best scientific
evidence is that various combinations of preserved and benignly
managed areas need to comprise some 50-70% of the landscape to
maintain sustainability of ecological patterns and processes.
Perhaps there is hope that WWF may be seeing the necessity of
spatially extensive forest protection and restoration, as the
article states "[m]ore work needs to be done for large-scale
conservation strategies."

WWF shows it can talk the talk re: large-scale conservation, now
it is a question of whether they will walk the walk. WWF can
begin by enunciating restrictive principles regarding when first
time commercial logging of large, primary forests is an
appropriate and desirable conservation outcome – and make clear
that protection of large areas with embedded community eco-
forestry management is always the preferred alternative.