Marco Lambertini appointed Director-General of WWF International

The global conservation organisation, WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) on 6 February 2014 appointed Marco Lambertini as Director-General (DG) of the WWF International. His new role as the DG will start from 1 May 2014.

At the time of this appointment, he was serving Bird Life International as its chief executive. He will succeed James P Leape, who was appointed as the DG of WWF International in 2005.

Marco Lambertini
• Lambertini holds an experience of 25 years as a global conservation leader
• Prior to the Bird Life International, he served as the global director of Network and Programme for over a decade
• Lambertini began his association with WWF as a youth volunteer growing up in his native Italy.

Fritz Vollmar from Lenzburg, Switzerland was the first Secretary General of WWF International (the then World Wildlife Fund) from 1962-1978. During his tenure at WWF, he was responsible to establish an international secretariat along with building up the network of fund raising national organisation from its founder members namely UK, Switzerland and USA.

About WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) at the time of establishment was known as World Wildlife Fund. It was established as an international non-governmental organization that works on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment on 29 April 1961. Its first office was opened on 11 September 1961 in Morges, Switzerland. Its mascot, Giant Panda originated from the panda named as Chi Chi, which was transferred from the Beijing Zoo to the London Zoo in 1961.

Currently there are more than 1300 WWF conservation projects underway around the world.

WWF in India
The WWF-India was established on 27 November 1969 as a Charitable Trust. It is one of the largest conservation organisations operational in India with an aim to protect wildlife and nature conservation. WWF-India started its operations in the country as a wildlife conservation organisation and had its focus towards protection of a particular species of wild flora and fauna. Over the years, the perspective broadened to reflect a more holistic understanding of conservation issues facing the country.