World Wildlife Fund and an Operating Company Partnership: Lessons Learned from Six Years of Collaboration in Biodiversity Protection

摘要

In 1994, the Kutubu Petroleum Development Projectrn(established by a consortium of oil companies and operated byrnChevron Niugini Limited) and the World Wildlife Fundrn(WWF) embarked on a unique partnership to conserve thernglobally-significant forest ecosystem of the Kikori Riverrncatchment in Papua New Guinea. The Kutubu Project is PapuarnNew Guinea’s first petroleum development project and isrnsurrounded by the vast 2.3 million hectare Kikori Riverrncatchment. The partnership established between ChevronrnNiugini and WWF initiated the Kikori Integrated Conservationrnand Development Project (KICDP) to assist the people of thernKikori River catchment to conserve their natural resources,rnwhich are under threat primarily from large-scale logging.rnWhile few partnerships of this magnitude exist betweenrninternational oil companies and conservation organizations,rnthe KICDP has proven that such a partnership can be arnsuccessful way to promote and achieve environmentalrnconservation. This partnership is predicated on ChevronrnNiugini’s efforts to safeguard the environment throughrnenvironmental controls and WWF’s goal of conserving thernearth’s outstanding biological diversity. The KICDPrncompleted its first three-year phase of operation in 1997 andrninitiated a second three-year phase in January of 1998 withrnfunding from the Gobe and Kutubu Petroleum DevelopmentrnProjects. Both Chevron and WWF have recently completedrninternal reviews of the partnership. This paper describes thernresults from these reviews. The conclusion from six years ofrnpartnership experience between Chevron and WWF is that thisrnpartnership--and potentially others like it--offers considerablernpromise as an innovative strategy for environmentalrnprotection.