World Land Trust (WLT) and its network of partners carries out innovative conservation work that is regularly featured in local and national media. This page displays a selection of news articles featuring WLT, ranging from our work to conserve threatened habitats and species to our high profile events.
Click on the article links to read the full stories online. Articles without links are in print only or require a subscription to be viewed online.
You raised money for World Land Trust what does it do?
It's an organisation that buys chunks of rainforest around the world so that they can be protected- the trees can't be cut down and the animals can't be poached. It seemed like a good way of making a tangible difference. We're trying to protect a section of rainforest in Colombia.
Is there a lot of illegal logging in Colombia?
Yes, and it's a massive problem. The patch of forest we're looking at is one of the most exciting and biodiverse in the world. It has an amazing amount of wildlife that is only found there. It has the most poisonous animal on Earth, the golden dart frog, which is the size of your thumb and has enough poison in its skin to kill ten people, and it's only found there.
How bleak is this situation?
It's very serious. There are initiatives to make sure that the timber that comes into the UK is certified and comes from sustainable sources-that isn't the case for other countries around the world. Eighty per cent of Borneo's forest has gone in my lifetime. Colombia has a lot of legal and illegal logging and poaching. Lots of forest is laid waste and used for growing crops, and getting rid of the trees leads to soil erosion.
Is there any reason to be optimistic about environmental issues?
People are much more aware, are taking more responsibility for their actions and are thinking how we treat the planet. In the late 1990s things were very bleak- things were happening at an incredibly fast rate and people were unaware of it. Now people are willing to make changes. I work with young people and they are very aware we're overfishing our seas, the world's losing its sharks, we're destroying rainforests. They know about plastics in the sea and they're working on an enormous array of projects- things like banning plastic bags that end up floating around the sea killing turtles and certifying where timber comes from.
For further details on World Land Trust and to donate to the project in Colombia visit worldlandtrust.org
The World Land Trust gallery in Halesworth hosts several exhibitions throughout the year and their next one promises to be something special. Watching Spring, which opens on Thursday, May 7 and ends on Saturday June 20, will be run in conjunction with BBC2's Springwatch and features photographs and artwork of everything that makes the season beautiful. This includes birds, flowers, landscapes and much more.
The exhibition will also feature photographs from Springwatch presenter Chris Packham. Although best known as a TV presenter; Chris began his career behind the camera. He trained as a wildlife film cameraman and is now one of the UK's leading wildlife photographers. “Observing wildlife is an art in itself, and my photography is inspired by the many intimate details of wildlife that I have been privileged to witness,” he said.
With this exhibition he can combine his two passions of wildlife and photography, while also supporting World Land Trust, which he is a patron of. “I'm delighted that this exhibition is happening at Worldl Land Trust Art gallery during the next series of Springwatch, when public attention will be focused on RSPB Minsmere and wildlife local to the reserve.”
Steve Backshall discusses the DW kayak race and his passion for the natural world, as well as his upcoming book.
Steve Backshall is a wildlife presenter and adventurer. During his career he has been charged by elephants, endured the stings of hundreds of bullet ants and encountered a hostile hippopotamus in South Africa. He also led the first ascent of Mount Upuigma in Venezuela, the first ascent of the North Face of Mount Kuli in Borneo, and explored new cave passages in New Britain and Sarawak. He is on tour to promote his novels, the Falcon Chronicles. The Falcon Chronicles are published by Orion Children's Books.
RECORDS were broken this weekend as canoeists Lizzie Broughton and Keith Moule were the first ever mixed senior team to win the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race, smashing the mixed team course record by almost an hour....
...TV presenter Steve Backshall and George Barnicoat completed the race in 23.17 – beating his previous attempt of 24 hours.
Backshall has raised more than £22,000 for the World Land Trust to save rainforest in Colombia. His fundraising page is at www.justgiving.com/steve-backshall/
Steve Backshall talks to Lesley Dolphin about the Devizes Westminster kayak race, the work of World Land Trust and his experiences in the rainforest. Listen from 00:51 to 00.60.
Steve Backshall and World Land Trust join forces to complete the longest non-stop canoe race in the world on 4th April 2015.
TV Presenter and BAFTA-winning naturalist Steve Backshall has switched his Strictly Come Dancing shoes for a pair of paddles after joining forces with international conservation charity World Land Trust to attempt the longest non-stop canoe race in the world.
Meat Free Week, which launched this week in the UK, aims to encourage people to think about the consequences of eating too much meat, while supporting charities associated with tackling those problems.
World Land Trust, which is based in Halesworth, aims to protect biologically important and threatened habitats across the globe and has been selected as one of the beneficiaries because of the links between deforestation and meat production.
The Wooburn Green-based TV presenter, who starred on Strictly Come Dancing, is training for the gruelling event to fundraise with the World Land Trust.
The race is 125 miles of the Kennet and Avon Canal and the River Thames finishing downstream of Westminster in Central London.
The first time I saw the importance of forests interacting with the atmosphere was in the 1960s when I visited Portugal. As I approached the ancient town of Sintra, which is on a tree-clad hillside surrounded by farmlands, there was a foggy cloud hanging over it. Twenty-five years later, soon after I founded World Land Trust (www.worldlandtrust.org) in 1989, I visited Belize and its tropical forests. Here it was abundantly clear that the forests were essential in maintaining water supplies.
One thing that is apparent to me, having run charities for nearly 40 years, is that bureaucracy is now at such a level that many charities are going to eat up a disproportionate amount of income on compliance. The levels of compliance required will depend on what sort of charity you are, but to be fully compliant with all the legislation requires significant staffing levels.
A letter to Third Sector from John Burton, Chief Executive of World Land Trust
Bruno Loubet, Jose Pizarro and Francesco Mazzei will cook up a feast you'd never expect to see in a high-end London restaurant – one that is completely meat-free. Guests will be treated to a Chase Distillery cocktail, canapés, three specially concocted vegetarian courses and a Grain Store dessert in celebration of Meat Free Week. All profits from the evening will be donated to Beating Bowel Cancer, Compassion in World Farming and World Land Trust. Book in advance on the event page or by emailing eat@grainstore.com.
By taking the Meat Free Week challenge, you promise to go without meat, (yep that includes seafood you pesky pescetarians), for seven days, raising money to support the Meat Free Week movement as well as for one of three leading charities – Beating Bowel Cancer, Compassion in World Farming, and World Land Trust.
Meat Free Week keeps 30 per cent of the funds raised, but the rest goes to the fund-raiser’s choice of one of three charities: World Land Trust, Compassion in World Farming and Beating Bowel Cancer. Each addresses one of the downsides of excessive meat consumption: damage to the environment, poor animal welfare and human health problems.
Sevenoaks School have raised £1000 for the World Land Trust (WLT), as every 100 distinctions earned by sixth form pupils earns the trust £100 to purchase and protect an acre of threatened habitat.
The students have saved 10 acres, which is the equivalent to 4 hectares, since the initiative was launched by the school in January 2013.
Meat Free Week 2015: "I'm a passionate meat lover but I fully support Meat Free Week- it's a wonderful excuse to focus on the incredible bounty, flavours and colours of veggies. I'm average 2-3 meat free days a week and I'm loving it." Jamie Oliver
Full story in Jamie Magazine March-April edition.
Meat Free Week, whcih launches in the UK 23-29 March, is one for your diary...
...You can also raise money during the week for the three charities involved: Beating Bowel Cancer, Compassion in World Farming and World Land Trust.
It’s been a great adventure. The World Land Trust is a charity that works close to where I live in the east of England. They finance land purchases but don’t actually own any land. They buy land on behalf of highly motivated, cash-strapped NGOs, mostly in the developing world. I’ve been able to visit and write about fantastic projects in Belize, Paraguay, Brazil, and India. I'm recently back from Armenia, where I’ve been working on a project that's attempting to save the leopard that still hangs on at the rim of Europe. Before that I was in Borneo attempting to save the orangutans.
Simon Barnes is a World Land Trust Council member, and has visited many conservation areas funded by WLT
Fresh from the Strictly ballroom, TV naturalist, real-life action man and mums’ favourite Steve Backshall is preparing to take part in an endurance race in aid of a Suffolk-based charity. He told Sheena Grant why.
A British NGO, World Land Trust has collaborated with Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to relocate villagers of Sunderkhal area situated in the Chilkiya-Kota corridor of Corbett Tiger Reserve. The NGO is going to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the wildlife department in this regard.
Sunderkhal is a village where several people have fallen victim to tiger attacks in the past one year. Corbett Tiger Reserve has highest population of tigers in any protected forest in the world.
