The WWF is run at a local level by the following offices...
- WWF Global
- Adria
- Argentina
- Armenia
- AsiaPacific
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Borneo
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Canada
- Caucasus
- Central African Republic
- Central America
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Denmark
- Ecuador
- European Policy Office
- Finland
We are working to embed sustainability and inclusivity as primary objectives for the region’s emerging ocean-based or “blue” economy.
A 2024 WWF-commissioned study on the loans and investments made to the South West Indian Ocean’s blue economy sectors showed that financing to the region is heavily weighted in favour of ocean-related ventures that carry serious risks to the environment and local coastal communities.
This imbalance in financing implies that the region may be headed towards unsustainable blue economic growth, which could undermine the ocean’s ability to deliver its full suite of ecological and social benefits in future.
We need to act now to ensure that investments into the SWIO region’s emerging blue economy focus on projects that both limit (or reverse) environmental damage and are inclusive of marginalised coastal communities.
In partnership with several international, regional and national partners, WWF makes strides towards delivering a sustainable blue economy in the SWIO region on several fronts.
The WWF-commissioned report “Assessing Financial Flows within the South West Indian Ocean Blue Economy” shows that financial institutions fail to sufficiently consider environmental, social and governance risks of their loan and investment decisions. Furthermore, national financial regulators are not doing enough to ensure responsible financing and investments from these institutions.
WWF engages with banks, insurers, investors and national regulators to encourage them to adopt and uphold UNEP Finance Initiative’s Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles, a framework that aims to orient global financial flows towards an inclusive and sustainable blue economy.
The SWIO Venture Builder is a financing vehicle that aggregates, incubates and financially accelerates sustainable and inclusive blue economy initiatives, especially those that benefit women and youth.
The SWIO Venture Builder aims to develop a pipeline of community-led “blue” enterprises and value chains to attract private loans and investments to the region’s sustainable blue economy, redirecting the current unsustainable business-as-usual financial flows in the region.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and sets out an ambitious pathway to reach the global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. It requires countries to transform sectors that are driving nature loss, such as marine infrastructure and deep-seabed mining, and provide communities with the means to generate livelihoods that do not rely on unsustainable natural resource use.
