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Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework

© Karine Aigner / WWF-US

Our commitment to transparency and accountability of Environmental and Social (E&S) Safeguards

Safeguards are designed to manage risks, uphold human rights, and ensure conservation projects deliver better outcomes for communities and nature. WWF uses safeguards to identify, avoid and mitigate any negative social and environmental impacts within our work. We apply safeguards in the design, implementation, and monitoring of all of our field-based activities in landscapes and seascapes.

  • Undertaking safeguards screening for all landscapes and seascapes we work in to surface risks, including those related to community engagement and consultation, access to natural resources, and indigenous people.
  • Addressing risk through the development of mitigation plans, budgeted implementation programs, and oversight systems.
  • Engaging communities throughout project design, implementation and monitoring.
  • Setting up grievance mechanisms for communities and other stakeholders to voice any project-related concerns and seek their resolution
  • Public disclosure of safeguarding actions. A specific webpage to hosts a ‘landscape portal’ is coming soon, which will provide access to risk categorizations, mitigation frameworks and monitoring plans for landscapes and seascapes
  • Making our 10 supporting E&S Safeguard Standards publicly available as support materials to the Independent Review WWF Response. 

Find out more about our Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework here.  

Complaints Resolution Process

WWF is committed to a “Speak up” culture, which allows people to safely raise concerns of inappropriate conduct by employees of WWF, its partners and people associated with WWF, without fear of reprisals. At WWF people are at the heart of what we do. Upholding respect for, and ensuring the safety and rights of employees, partners and the communities we work in, is core to our organisation. Likewise, stakeholders and local communities or individuals from those communities who believe they are negatively impacted by WWF’s activities are welcome to send their concerns. Any breach of that should be reported without fear of reprisal and every person we work with should feel empowered to safely do so.
Inappropriate conduct, or misconduct, includes a wide range of personal actions or behaviours at the workplace or in performing WWF duties, including but not limited to: discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, bullying, intimidation, verbal or physical assault, child abuse, abuse of power, theft, fraud, corruption including bribery, breach of personal data privacy and confidentiality, or other breaches of internal policy which create legal, financial or reputational risks to WWF, including negligence or lack of action by management which encourages such conduct. 
You should report misconduct of a WWF employee; employees of a WWF partner or implementing organization; or WWF board members, consultants, volunteers, and interns. In some cases, misconduct effected outside of WWF’s work or workplace, but which has a negative impact on WWF’s reputation, may also be reported. 
A reporter can be a WWF employee, contracting party, volunteer, board member, or an external stakeholder or beneficiary of WWF activities. This may include members of a community who works with, or is impacted by, WWF activities. Anyone who is a victim of, or has witnessed WWF or a non-WWF person being victim of, inappropriate conduct by a WWF or contractual party’s employee should report their concerns. The problem may have occurred inside WWF offices or in the context of WWF’s activities (e.g., field site, meeting, etc).
People are encouraged to report here: