Dr. Luc Hoffmann and Thymio Papayannis, two distinguished members of the WWF family, were honoured by the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention with the Honorary Ramsar Award. Their life-long contribution to integrated conservation and sustainable use of wetlands received international recognition during the Ramsar COP11 Opening Ceremony, today in Bucharest, Romania.

In the midst of the financial crisis, Greece takes an important step to secure the future of its valuable island ecosystems. A new presidential decree for the protection of 380 wetlands situated on 59 Greek islands was signed and issued in the Government Gazette.

Brussels/Belgium - A report has just been released highlighting the potential for green job creation in the next EU budget, 2014-20. This analysis builds on previous work by the UNEP and shows that funding of sustainable infrastructures and environmental programs can create employment at a lower cost than the current Common Agricultural and Cohesion policies.

Brussels, Belgium – Today the Energy Council took note of a report outlining progress on the Energy Efficiency Directive. The Report clearly shows that Member States plan to weaken the Commission's proposal at the Council first reading in 2012. The Energy Council has also adopted conclusions on strengthening the external dimension of the EU energy policy.

Disturbing "signs of the times" indicate that Greece's natural wealth may be called to pay part of the soaring Greek debt, despite a series of very positive initiatives by the Ministry of Environment, Energy & Climate Change. This conclusion and many environmental alarm signals are presented in WWF Greece's, seventh annual report on the implementation status of environmental legislation in Greece, which was released today.

New York: Greece has this month become the 21st country to ratify a global water treaty designed to reduce conflict and guide joint management over rivers and lakes forming or crossing international boundaries.

The risk of experiencing severe losses in Greece’s already meager environmental acquis, in chase for easy and rapid economic development at any cost, is the alarm signal emitted by WWF Greece, through its sixth annual report on the implementation status of environmental legislation.