The World Land Trust is an international charity based in Halesworth, Suffolk. It was established in 1989 to work in partnership with local conservation charities and non governmental organisations to purchase and protect biologically diverse and endangered habitats throughout the world. To date, the World Land Trust has helped to purchase over 375,000 acres of habitat with projects located in Belize, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Mexico, Paraguay, the Philippines, India and even the UK.

And with over twenty years in the field you would be hard pressed to find an organisation with as much experience of setting up and establishing successful and sustainable conservation projects than the World Land Trust.

It is important to note that the World Land Trust does not own a single acre of the land that it helps to purchase overseas. Instead they raise the funds to buy areas of land on behalf overseas partners that are local to the project area in question. The ownership of the project areas therefore resides solely with local organisations and communities. This means that the reserves are managed for conservation by organisations that are based in the appropriate country and that local individuals and communities will take on the responsibility of its protection.

Adopting this approach is a vital step that ensures that all the conservation projects that the World Land Trust are involved in are of a high quality and more importantly still that they are sustainable. With a strong policy of involving local communities and encouraging co-operation there is no question of disturbing indigenous people, or that the land will be subject to illegal logging or land grabs.

Another key factor is the fact that the World Land Trust are able to keep low overheads by employing a small number of staff. This means that most of your donations go directly to the World Land Trust’s overseas partners and reaches the people that it was intended for in order to purchase areas of land. At Ibex Earth we can honestly say that we have yet to meet a team that are as committed and passionate about protecting biodiversity, habitats and species as those employed at the World Land Trust and this was a major factor when developing the ‘Our World: Our Choice’ campaign.

To find out more about the World Land Trust visit: www.worldlandtrust.org and www.carbonbalanced.org