Context: This year Earth Hour will be celebrated on March 27, 2021.

About Earth Hour

• It is a worldwide movement organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 
• It is an annual light out event is held worldwide toward the end of March to encourage individuals, households, communities and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour as a symbol for their commitment to the planet.
• It was started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia, in 2007. Since then, it has grown to engage more than 7,000 cities and towns across 187 countries and territories to raise awareness for energy consumption and effects on the environment.

Its Theme: “Climate Change to Save Earth”. Climate change is one of the biggest concern of people and it is affecting everyone across the globe

About World Wildlife Fund

• It is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961, working in the field of wilderness preservation, and the reduction of humanity’s footprint on the environment.
• It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States.
• Its Headquarter is located at in Gland, Switzerland.
• Its  mission is “to stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature”.

Its Objectives

• Conserving the world’s biological diversity
• Ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable
• Promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption

Other Reports & programmes

• Living Planet Report: published every two years by WWF since 1998; it is based on a Living Planet Index and ecological footprint calculation
• Debt-for-nature swaps: financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation’s foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures.
• Marine Stewardship Council(MSC): independent non-profit organization which sets a standard for sustainable fishing
• Healthy GrownPotato: eco-brand that provides high-quality, sustainably grown, packaged, and shipped potatoes to consumers by leveraging integrated pest management(IPM) farming practices on large scale farms