World Land Trust


The World Land Trust is a UK registered charity that has raised more than £25 million to purchase and protect more than 774,000 acres of threatened habitat in Africa, Asia, Central and South America.

History

World Land Trust was founded in 1989 as the Programme for Belize to raise money to privately buy land in Belize to protect tropical rain forests in collaboration with Massachusetts Audubon Society. Later the organization changed its name to the World Wide Land Conservation Trust before becoming World Land Trust. John Burton was chief executive for thirty years until 2019, when Jonathan Barnard took over.
A U.S. partner organization, World Land Trust - US was rebranded as Rainforest Trust in 2013. The Trust has since developed to help purchase and conserve land in over 20 countries worldwide and has an annual income of £4.9 million in 2019.
The Trust's patrons are Sir David Attenborough, Steve Backshall, Chris Packham, and David Gower. Other high-profile supporters of the Trust are Bill Oddie, Tony Hawks, Mark Carwardine, and Nick Baker.
In 2014, World Land Trust held a "Controversial Conservation Debate: 'Killing Other Peoples’ Birds’" with Chris Packham in London. It discussed the impact of sport hunting on wildlife and conservation.

Projects

Projects include: