How do you ensure long-term protection?

Land purchase

We protect exclusively by purchase with land registration and in countries with high legal security. Wilderness International stands as owner of the land in the land register. You can see an example of a land register entry here.

The forest areas that we bought as foundations can no longer be bought from us. We are no longer allowed to sell the forest areas. All those who donate to us do not buy the forest, but the donations refinance the purchase and enable us to protect the forest areas in the long term. We always pay in advance and only collect donations when the area already belongs to us. 

Foundation construct

The organizational form of the foundation prevents the rights over the disposal of property from resting with a single person and ensures its permanent existence. You can read more about this here in our impact report under "Why a foundation?". Our bylaws state that the land will be left untouched and visited only for research and documentation purposes. Additional security is provided by the fact that all three international foundations are entered in the land register as owners.

Legal certainty and control

Canada:

The high level of legal certainty in Canada ensures that damage to land carries strong penalties. The British Columbia Trespass Act clearly prohibits trespassing on private land. Violators are prosecuted on complaint, even if no damage has been done. We also visit and inspect the areas as part of regular research visits and have partnerships with local businesses that support us. In addition, due to their remoteness and the undeveloped area, our protected areas are only accessible at great financial, material and time cost and not without risk. In Canada, we also have the advantage that property has a very high value in terms of cultural history and is respected.

Peru:

In Peru, we have started a forest ranger program in which locals regularly walk the areas and represent our conservation concerns. In this way, the forest rangers earn a sustainable living at the same time. They put up signs, talk to the local population about our forest protection projects and confront illegal activities if necessary. In addition, we work together with the organization "Fauna Forever", which is permanently on site and also walks and monitors our areas as part of its research projects.