It all started with the enthusiasm for forests with huge trees...
Back then, 26 people from six countries, 24 different professions and aged between 18 and 69 were united by their love for impressive, wild nature and the desire to preserve it for future generations. So they founded the environmental protection organization Wilderness International in Germany and Canada in 2008. In 2019, we added the Peruvian organization.
Today, Wilderness International consists of three sister foundations with one great goal: to protect the last unique wilderness areas forever.
But above all, the three organizations work together on an international level for wilderness protection, environmental education and reserach. In addition, we always register all three foundations on every land title - to strengthen the security of protection.
The Wilderness International team dedicates its daily work to the legally secure purchase of ecologically valuable and acutely threatened wilderness areas around the world in order to protect them in perpetuity.
Protect wilderness areas from vanishing forever and preserve them for future generations.
Bill Murray
GHOSTBUSTER
We still have the opportunity to save the last wilderness areas on earth. This knowledge and the enthusiasm for fantastic nature drive us to make our mission a reality, step by step.
By 2050, protect the last 2.8% of our planet's remaining intact habitats through legally secure purchase.
Bill Murray
GHOSTBUSTER
We are a non-profit partner of One Percent for the Planet. This means that companies from all over the world can donate one percent of their turnover to old-growth forest protection with us.
We are a member of the Social Entrepreneurship Network Germany. This enables social enterprises to gain more visibility and the interests of social enterprises and non-profit organizations to be better represented in politics.
The team of our three foundations always consists of a foundation board (controlling function), a board of directors (responsible for projects) and an operative team as well as many volunteers.
CEO WI Germany, Director WI Canada, Land Management
Wild nature is a source of inspiration for me and I feel at home there. Next to a huge tree in the old-growth forest, on the foggy riverbank or sitting on a mountain - nature helps to recharge my batteries and to experience small and big wonders. In the last 20 years I have seen whole forest landscapes disappear, cities and roads have covered lakes and valleys. Pristine nature is becoming rarer by the year - at a frightening rate that compels action. I love nature and, as part of Wilderness International, I want to fight to ensure that our Earth will continue to be one thing: Wild and beautiful.
Chief Financial Officer
I was born in the Andes, in Urcos, near Cusco, a wonderful place full of nature at that time. As a child, I moved with my family to Madre de Dios, where I have now lived for more than 45 years. I love the trees, rivers, streams and waterfalls, the heat and the sounds of nature with its thousands of species of animals here. Although I have to admit that I don't like mosquitoes very much. I have worked for numerous entities in Puerto Maldonado, from tourist accommodations to government organizations to family businesses. But working with Wilderness International is the most fulfilling for me because I see us preserving the things I love so much. And most importantly, because I feel that in this way I can also raise awareness in others about how to care for, protect, and preserve our beautiful natural world.
Management WI Canada
I grew up in rural western Canada and know that I was very fortunate to enjoy the freedom of the outdoors, hiking, camping and horseback riding. This is how my identity has evolved over my lifetime, deeply connected to nature and wild spaces. I feel joy and freedom whenever I experience something new or unexpected in the beauty of nature and the world around me....
Communication, Member of the Board of Directors WI Peru
I never thought I would end up in conservation. Actually, I've always been interested in other, more social issues. But no one can convince you to protect the environment as much as nature itself. Standing under a giant tree and feeling its age, seeing whales and hearing wolves howl. I cannot and will not imagine a world without that. And so, since the first time I went to the wilderness as a high school student with WI, I've stuck with it. I organized an exchange with the Gwich'in in the West Arctic and lived north of the Arctic Circle for five months to do it. After that, I studied intercultural communication. In Team Communication I can combine both passions and share the beauty of wilderness with others.
Some of the giant trees in our protected areas are already 1,000 years old. They could live for another 1,000 years. But how can we guarantee that they won't be destroyed before then?
Old as a tree, I would like to be.
During our fleeting human lives, we can only protect a tree in the short term. Therefore, we want to create structures that guarantee the protection of these ancient beings for generations to come - regardless of political changes.
A foundation is the most long-term organizational concept currently known. Not even states, companies or national parks are designed for such a long term. Numerous foundations are very old, in some cases over a thousand years old. This makes the foundation the only one that is oriented toward the lifespan of the ecosystems we protect.
Like no other, the legal form of the foundation allows for a (charitable) purpose to be realized permanently and independently of outside interests, thus achieving the desired effects in the long term.
Consumer Center North Rhine-Westphalia
