PROFIT

The climate of the Earth is made up of all the various regional climates put together. It has changed throughout the planet’s 4.5-billion-year history, with conditions becoming warmer or cooler at various times in the past. However scientific observations now show that the Earth’s climate has changed very rapidly in the last 100 years or so – climbing by a little under 1 °C.

The Earth is home to a vast trove of natural resources, including air, water, soil, plants, animals, minerals and land, that together allow human beings to live and thrive. However, in our relatively short time on the planet we have tended to use these resources with very little thought for the future. We’ve cleared forests, destroyed ecosystems, and burned fossil fuels with devastating impacts on the long-term health of the environment and the prospects of future generations.

There are few animals on the planet more closely associated with the threats of habitat loss and extinction than giant pandas. So dire was the plight of the giant panda that in 1966 WWF chose it as the official symbol of its worldwide work to protect biodiversity and preserve wilderness.