Almost 40 Years of Success for Wilderness, Wildlife and People World-Wide
WILD is a progressive leader in wilderness conservation, world-wide. Our work has created and expanded protected areas, trained wilderness managers, brought together leaders & communities, introduced & supported policy initiatives, assisted start-up organizations, implemented on-the-ground field projects and provided wilderness resources and tools for individuals, organizations and governments world-wide. A few of our most proud moments include:
- Being awarded with the 2011 National Bob Marshall Wilderness Stewardship Award
- Working with communities to implement conservation, including our Zulu Village Project and the Mali Elephant Project.
- Protecting wild-space. WILD has been involved with the protection of 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.
- Addressing social issues with conservation solutions. With our sister organizations in Africa, taking disadvantage youth into the wilderness and training AIDS orphans for careers in conservation with the Umzi Wethu model.
- Successfully lobbying for the establishment of a wilderness protected area category in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) protected areas classification system (included as Category 1b – Wilderness in 1994), and Co-founding and chairing the IUCN’ s Wilderness Specialist Group.
- Bringing together government officials for wilderness conservation. In 2004, WILD held a round-table involving participants from 7 countries, reviewing U.S. and international approaches to wilderness law and policy. In 2009, we initiated the first ever international agreement on wilderness, signed by government agency representatives from the US, Canada and Mexico. WILD now serves as Facilitator of the North American Intergovernmental Committee that is implementing this agreement.
- Developing policy mechanisms for wilderness designations by indigenous groups on tribal lands with the Native Lands and Wilderness Council and by the private sector on corporate lands through the Corporate Commitment to Wilderness. Also, starting at the 6th World Wilderness Congress, building at the 8th and launching at the 9th, the Marine Wilderness Collaborative works to define and further protection for our planet’s oceans.
- Providing leading resources for wilderness protection and management. We publish the only textbook on wilderness management and the first-ever comprehensive overview of wilderness laws and policies world-wide (in English & Spanish). We increasingly use the internet to facilitate information exchange, share resources and raise awareness of conservation issues.
- Inspiring conservation through art and communications. At the 8th World Wilderness Congress, the International League of Conservation Photographers was formed. At WILD9, they convened the largest ever gathering of conservation photographers and their work. We also creatively use online tools to inform and inspire conservation action.
- Bringing together a wide-range of partners and collaborators to achieve results for wilderness. Each World Wilderness Congress integrates art, science, management, government, academia, native leaders, youth, corporate leaders and advocates into a multi-year conservation program, with unique results at each convening.
- Influencing positive change and increasing awareness for wilderness and the environment. Over a three-year time period, WILD9 introduced the concept of ‘wilderness’ to Mexico and Latin America as ‘tierras silvestres.’
