Working with WWF on Forests

WWF-International recently (September 2010) asked The Message Hub to help them work up a proposal for a global forests campaign to coincide with the 2011 International Year for Forests. Stuart and Helen from The Message Hub worked with WWF’s global forest team to define and develop a proposal to campaign for solutions to the massive deforestation and degradation of the world’s forests. Our forests are home to more than half of the species found on earth and the current rates of deforestation contribute to putting many of those species at risk of extinction and are responsible for almost 20 per cent of the globe’s annual CO₂ emissions.

The reasons for this loss of forest are many and complex. Stuart and Helen worked with the team at WWF to help navigate through this complexity and produce a proposal for a compelling campaign aimed at ensuring that solutions to this huge environmental problem are given the right priorities in 2011. If successful 2011 will be the year when the destruction of our forests began to slow and then stopped. Forests must be valued for the full range of services they provide to the planet and to us as humans. Those services underpin our global economy and as well as provide many social and environmental benefits.

Through a process of analysis, interviews, discussion and by applying our own knowledge, skills and experience The Message Hub was able to produce a clear, achievable and budgeted campaign proposal in less than three weeks.

Sarah Bladen, Director of Conservation Communications at WWF International said, “Working with Stuart and Helen from The Message Hub brought real clarity to the task we had before us. Our forest work is complex and covers a huge range of issues, interests and stakeholders. The Message Hub took us through a clear process that both challenged us and brought a new perspetive to our thoughts on a campaign for 2011.”