Prof. Hersh Chadha and WWF - the conservation organization

Established 40 years ago, in 1961, WWF has grown to become one of the world's largest and most experienced independent conservation organizations. Today WWF operates in more than 90 countries, supported by nearly 5 million people worldwide. Its ultimate goal is to stop and eventually reverse the degradation of our planet's natural environment and to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature.

In 1996, Hersh Chadha published a series of photo-essays entitled Elements and dedicated the proceeds from sales to WWF. "The series is very attractive, and every little bit counts in seeking to maintain and hopefully improve the state of our natural world," said a WWF spokesperson at the time.

Hersh Chadha has been a fervent supporter of WWF and its conservation work ever since. He is one of WWF's major contributors, having made a donation to the trust fund established by HRH Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands to help fund WWF's global conservation programme to protect nature.

WWF works in partnership with governments, local communities, international agencies, and business and industry, identifying realistic solutions to environmental problems. Worldwide the organization runs an active network of offices in more than 50 countries, on five continents, and is currently carrying out around 1,200 projects a year employing more than 3,700 people.

In 2001, Hersh became a founding member of WWF's Corporate Club in the United Arab Emirates. The Corporate Club is a unique opportunity for local businesses to demonstrate their environmental responsibility and to join forces with WWF to conserve the environment in the region and globally. WWF is working more and more with progressive elements in the business world - like Hersh - who recognize that "what's good for the Earth can also be good for business".

When WWF International took the important step of opening an office in the Middle East, Hersh once again showed his support by donating his collection of photographs to a Silent Auction to raise funds for the project. "Photography has a critical role to play in our world where diversity often leads people into pursuit of narrow interests and divisiveness." says Hersh. "By diverting proceeds from my books for conservation activities over the years and now conceiving and underwriting this silent auction to benefit WWF - UAE, I hope I am able to make more and more people convinced about our common interests in this beautiful, yet fragile planet, and the need to protect it".

Hersh's sensitivity towards the environment is reflected in his photography. By pledging his entire photographic collection of more than 25,000 images to WWF he shows that his concern for the environment is, for him, a much larger issue than the commercial benefits