The World Land Trust


The World Land Trust is an international conservation charity (Reg. No. 1001291), based in Halesworth, a rural town in Suffolk, UK. Since its foundation in 1989 as the World Wide Land Conservation Trust, the World Land Trust has been working to preserve the world's most biologically important and threatened lands, and has helped purchase and protect over 350,000 acres of habitats rich in wildlife, in Belize, Costa Rica, the Philippines, South America and the UK.

The WLT's patron and most well known supporter is Sir David Attenborough. As a patron of the World Land Trust, David Attenborough is a firm believer in WLT's use of land acquisition as a tool for conservation, describing it as "the most direct and certain road to conservation." Speaking in a BBC interview Sir David highlights his support of preserving ecosystems rather than focusing purely on species, "The only way to save a rhinoceros is to save the environment in which it lives because there's a mutual dependency between it and millions of other species of both animals and plants. And it is that range of biodiversity that we must care for - the whole thing - rather than just one or two stars."

Current WLT conservation projects:

Rainforest Conservation, Brazil
The Atlantic rainforest is considered one of the most endangered and ecologically important eco-regions in the world. Due primarily to clearing of forests for coffee plantations and logging for hardwoods there is now only 7% of the original area remaining, most of which consists of isolated fragmented patches. The massive destruction of this "Global Hotspot for Biodiversity" has been described as "one of the biological tragedies of this century" and makes preventing more loss of the Atlantic rainforest a priority for international conservation efforts.

Elephant Corridor, India
India is home to 60% of the remaining Asian elephant populations making their survival in India critical to the survival of the species as a whole. Habitat loss, leading to fragmentation, is a serious threat to the Indian elephants. Habitat fragmentation results in small isolated populations of elephants which are vulnerable to extinctions. In addition to this, large animals like elephants require substantial areas to support them and so will leave protected areas to get food and other resources that they need. This often results in conflicts with humans, due to elephants raiding or destroying crops, and increases the threat to the elephants’ survival.

Rainforest Conservation, Ecuador
With a relatively high human population density, the Andean and western coastal provinces (where endemic species are concentrated) have very little intact habitat remaining, perhaps as little as 10%, and consequently many species here are classified as globally threatened. This is the region where the Jocotoco Foundation is establishing its medium sized reserves, often by patching together smaller disconnected areas of remnant forest. The excellent National Park system of Ecuador, which covers about 12% of the country, is not surprisingly mainly located in the more remote unpopulated regions, particularly the eastern lowlands.

If you would like to do more you can sponsor an acre of rainforest through the World Land Trust for just £50 by following this link.

You can also Donate by SMS: Text WLT DONATE to 87050 (UK only)
Texts costs £1.50 plus standard SMS charges.*

See World Land Trust website for terms & conditions