Dennis Schmelz embarks on a new adventure: together with Wilderness International and a group of content creators, the filmmaker travels to the wilderness of Western Canada to capture the beauty of nature. And to show the world why the Canadian rainforests are so special and worth protecting! As an ambassador for Wilderness International, he wants to help preserve this unique ecosystem forever.
Protect a piece of wilderness together with Dennis - for yourself or as a gift!
Having captured the pristine beauty and immense biodiversity of the Canadian rainforest as a photographer and videographer, I feel a deep responsibility to preserve this unique natural paradise for future generations.
Dennis Schmelz
Filmmaker & wilderness ambassador
We have a great vision: to protect the last real wilderness areas in our world forever before it is too late!
To achieve this, we buy ecologically valuable and acutely endangered forest areas by land register entry in order to protect them in a legally secure, permanent and transparent manner. The purchases are refinanced by your donations and protected in the long term.
Select the size of the forest area you want to protect in the donation form.
Enter your details in the form to ensure that you receive all the information and the donation receipt.
Now you can personalize the certificate with your name. If you want, you can also add an occasion.
You can download the certificate with the geocoordinates of your protected area directly after payment. It will also be sent to you by e-mail, together with a link that shows you your personal protected area down to the square meter.
Immediately after your donation, you will receive a personalized certificate about the piece of wilderness you have protected. It also makes a great gift!
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We are committed to high standards of transparency, accountability and effectiveness for international NGOs.
Dennis launches the drone to get a picture of the landscape from the air.
A giant arborvitae in all its glory
Dennis even got a close-up view of the cranes
Orcas come to the coast of Porcher Island to rub their bellies, an extremely rare and little-studied social behavior
A kingfisher has caught a fish
The temperate rainforest is full of ferns and mosses
A rare coastal wolf on beach patrol
Nestled in soft layers of ancient sphagnum moss grows rare long-leaved sundew, its nectar drops glistening in a rare sunbeam. In the silence of the bog, it lures flies into its trap with its sticky tentacles.
A woodpecker has caught flies
Expedition in Canada. Imagine being completely cut off from civilization for 10 days. No people, just the untouched wilderness. This is exactly what Dennis experienced on a remote island in north-western Canada, just before the Alaskan border. Surrounded by one of Canada's last primeval forests, the temperate rainforest, he has mastered his greatest challenge to date.
Wilderness International purchases legally secure wilderness areas and protects them for all future generations. The purchases are refinanced through donations, which at the same time ensure the long-term protection of the areas and enable environmental education projects and research into CO2 storage and biodiversity. Donors receive a personalized certificate with the exact geo-coordinates of the protected forest area, so that the protection is directly traceable. We are currently active in the temperate rainforest of Western Canada and in the Amazon rainforest of Peru, where we are protecting ancient primary rainforests.
There are no further obligations for you. The donation is one-time, and enables us as a foundation to ensure the long-term protection of the area. The sponsorship is a symbolic one. The forest area remains the property of the Foundation.
We protect the areas we select exclusively through purchase with entry in the land register and in countries with a high level of legal security. All three international foundations are registered as owners in the land register. The forest areas that we have purchased as foundations can no longer be bought from us and we are no longer allowed to sell them.
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. Our statutes stipulate that the land is to be left untouched and only visited for research and documentation purposes.
Due to their remoteness and the undeveloped area, our protected areas in Canada can only be reached at great financial, material and time expense and not without risk. In addition, the high level of legal certainty in Canada ensures that damage to land results in severe sanctions. The British Columbia Trespass Act clearly prohibits trespassing on private land. Violations are prosecuted in court, 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 companies that support us. In Canada, we also have the advantage that property has a very high cultural and historical value and is respected.
The rainforests in Peru and Canada are among the last 2.8% of intact wilderness areas on our planet - and are unfortunately under acute threat(Plumptre et al., 2021). 10-15% of all annual emissions are caused by the destruction of these forests and their peatlands - so we need to act now!
Numerous studies prove the threat to the rainforest in Peru and Canada. Everyone knows about the value of the Amazon forests and the threat to them. But hardly anyone talks about British Columbia's forgotten ecosystem:
If we lose the last intact rainforests, this will have catastrophic consequences for our planet. The concept of planetary boundaries states that there are certain ecological limits which, if exceeded, will jeopardize the stability of the Earth's ecosystem and thus the progress of humanity. Numerous studies show that we are well on the way to exceeding at least five of the nine planetary boundaries, also known as 'tipping points' or 'tipping elements'. One of these elements is the loss of the tropical rainforest. We can already feel the consequences of climate change, but we still have the chance to avert the worst effects, as the summary of the book 'Earth for all' shows.
The foundation, which is based in Peru, Canada and Germany, purchases legally secure wilderness areas and protects them for the future. The purchases are refinanced through donations, which ensure the long-term protection of the areas and enable environmental education projects and research into CO2 storage and biodiversity.
non-profit foundation under civil law
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Germany
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