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Accomplishments of The WILD Foundation


WILD is the only international organization dedicated explicitly and entirely to wilderness conservation around the world. Over the last 30+ years, WILD has generated new and better protection for many terrestrial and marine wilderness areas across the planet. WILD has also worked to increase understanding of the social, spiritual, economic, and scientific values of wilderness, and wild nature’s vital and central role in sustaining a healthy, prosperous and peaceful world. Some of our specific achievements are listed below:
  • New Protected Areas: WILD has contributed to the establishment of many new wilderness protected areas, as well as expansion and/or enhanced management for existing wilderness protected areas. Examples include the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Baviaanskloof Nature Reserve in South Africa, the Mavuradonha Wilderness in Zimbabwe, the El Carmen complex in Northern Mexico, and Kissama National Park in Angola, and Gabon’s new national park system through the Congo Basin Initiative.  more  >>>

  • Wilderness Management Training: Working in partnership with the Wilderness Action Group South Africa and with U.S. Government agencies, WILD has helped provide training for hundreds of wilderness protected area managers.

  • Leadership Programs: WILD has worked with the Wilderness Leadership School in South Africa to empower disadvantaged youth through wilderness experiential programs. To date, over 45,000 participants have come through the Wilderness Leadership School’s programs.

  • Law and Policy: WILD has generated numerous wilderness policy breakthroughs, including:

  • Developing the concept of a world conservation bank, which led to proposals for creating the Global Environment Facility;

  • The creation of a U.S. Congressional Advisory Committee, which has now evolved into the International Conservation Caucus in the United States Congress;

  • Successfully lobbied for the establishment of a wilderness protected area category in the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) protected areas classification system (included as Category 1b – Wilderness in 1994);

  • Co-founded and currently co-chairing IUCN’s Wilderness Task Force.

  • Incubation: WILD has incubated numerous wilderness conservation organizations and networks, including the Cheetah Conservation Fund (Namibia), the Wilderness Associazione Italiana (Italian Wilderness Association), the Kissama Foundation (Angola), the International League of Conservation Photographers, the Native Lands and Wilderness Council, and the Government Network of Wilderness Professionals.

  • Technical Resources and Publications: WILD has developed numerous technical resources for wilderness conservationists, including the publication of the International Journal of Wilderness, the Wilderness Management textbook, the Handbook on International Wilderness Law and Policy (in press).
Our Team
Defining Wilderness
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Our flexible but well-focused organization, plus our ability to collaboratively leverage a wide range of resources throughout the international wilderness community, allow us to generate high-impact results in the short term, to do so cost effectively, and to empower partners to help us maintain long term results.