Tony Juniper takes on lead advocacy role at WWF

The former Friends of the Earth International chief been brought into the role to help WWF’s strategic mission to reverse the decline in biodiversity.

WWF chief executive Tanya Steele said she was “delighted” to have recruited someone with Juniper’s “exceptional experience” and “infectious passion” for the natural environment.

“The crisis we face in terms of the global loss of nature over the past half century is a great untold story of our generation,” Steele said. “Tony will help us tell that story, and advocate for the change we need to see in the world if we’re to build a future where both people and nature thrive.”

‘Positive directions’

Juniper’s prestigious career has seen the campaigner appointed president of both the Wildlife Trusts and Society for the Environment, as well as a harmony professor of practice at the University of Wales Trinity St David.

During his time at Friends of the Earth, Juniper played a key role in calling for a new law in climate change, which eventually led to the 2008 Climate Change Act. He recently co-authored the Ladybird Book guide to Climate Change with The Prince of Wales and Emily Shuckburgh.  

Juniper said it was an “honour” to join WWF and help the organisation in its task to protect global biodiversity.

“What we humans choose to do during the coming years will determine outcomes with profound ramifications, not only for our living planet but people too,” Juniper said. “I very much look forward to working with my new colleagues in making the most of all the opportunities we have for shaping our choices in positive directions. Time is short and the stakes increasingly high.”

In recent months, Juniper has thrown his weight behind the Greener UK coalition of green groups which seeks assurances that the Government will secure the benefits of existing environmental laws post-Brexit.

Speaking at edie Live earlier this year, he warned that businesses that fail to integrate sustainability as a core business principle will struggle to survive by 2050.

George Ogleby