Tencent and WWF Forms Partnership for Environmental Conservation

On April 20 in Shenzhen, Tencent and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) signed a letter of intent to enter a strategic partnership. The two parties will collaborate on “digital-driven ecological protection”, a digitally-driven approach to make the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area into a “beautiful Bay Area” as a first step in broader efforts to build a “Beautiful China”.

Leon Guo, Senior Vice President of Tencent Group and Chairman of Tencent Foundation

Leon Guo, Senior Vice President of Tencent Group and Chairman of Tencent Foundation, said,

We have entered a new era where digital technology is unleashing its immense potential in driving international sustainable development. Tencent has long been focusing on and investing in the digitalization of ecological protection. Tencent‘s strengths in digital technology and culture are combined with WWF’s global experience and expertise to overcome ecological conservation challenges.

According to WFF’s Director General Marco Lambertini, the harmonious coexistence of mankind and nature is a major issue facing society, and is at the core of WWF’s establishment. Now in the digital era, WFF is joining hands with Tencent, the world’s leading internet company, to jointly promote application of digital technology to ecological protection.

Marco Lambertini, WFF’s Director General

The partnership between Tencent and WWF can be summed up as three “connections”: Firstly, connect global experiences with local practices to create a model for China’s ecological protection; secondly, connect governments, companies and NGOs to promote multi-dimensional efforts; and lastly, connect digital technology with ecological protection to explore new directions for empowerment.

According to Tencent, the two parties will start working together in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area to carry out a series of ecological protection projects based on digital technology. In the initial stage, efforts will focus on three directives: to spark public awareness of ecological protection, to train personnel in ecological protection and to fight illegal online wildlife trafficking. In short, the three projects are digital landmarks, digital classrooms and digital rescue.

This article originally appeared in ifeng and was translated by Pandaily.