Rick & Theresa are on an expedition in one of the last true wilderness areas on earth: British Columbia, in western Canada. There they face all kinds of challenges and fears - with one goal: as ambassadors for Wilderness International, they want to protect this important ecosystem with you for all time!
Join in and protect your piece of wilderness with them now - for yourself or as a gift!
It is our responsibility to protect the rainforests - for the future of our world and biodiversity. The rainforests are the green lungs of the planet and protect the climate. If we preserve them, we secure the future for ourselves and future generations.
Rick Azas
Content Creator & Wilderness Ambassador
Let's make a change together to protect the rainforest so that future generations can also experience a sustainable future.
Theresa Kirchner
Content creator & wilderness ambassador
We at Wilderness International have a great vision: to protect the last real wilderness areas in our world forever!
To achieve this, we buy ecologically valuable and acutely threatened 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!
In June 2024, Rick and Theresa joined us and Creators Tomatolix and Jacob from Breaking Lab in our protected areas on Porcher Island to see our work and the nature here on site for themselves - and to face some challenges. During their time here, they filmed various videos.
Theresa and Rick with Felix and Jacob
Rick even jumped into the bog for one of his challenges!
A rare coastal wolf on beach patrol.
Rick does a handstand to show how big some of the deforested jungle trees were.
A view of the impressive treetops in the temperate rainforest. Some of the giant trees here are over 100 meters high!
Starfish live in the intertidal zone
A rare sight: A bald eagle sits in the nest with its young
The rugged coast of Porcher Island offers a number of challenges.
Our camp on Porcher Island
A red-headed woodpecker has caught flies.
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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Stony Plain, AB, T7Z2A9
Germany
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