Diary style blog by John Burton, CEO of the World Land Trust about what WLT has to do to achieve conservation, as it actually happens.

Green Diary

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Thursday, November 26, 2009:

The Copenhagen climate meetings approach 

Why is the World Land Trust not participating in the Copenhagen meeting?

Quite simply because the WLT believes first and foremost in doing something, not just talking. Several thousand people will gather in Copenhagen, and most of them will not actually achieve anything. Some of them will feel good because they are present, others will feel disappointed, for the same reason. But the huge numbers present mean that small NGOs can have very little impact at all.

A lot of hot air will be generated, and meanwhile every day some 3000 acres of the Paraguayan Chaco will disappear, unless we can do something to stop or even slow the destruction.



The WLT has concentrated its efforts on helping our project partner organisations buy land. Now we also need to raise funds to help them protect those lands.

We also need to raise funds to protect lands our partners simply cannot afford to buy, such as the two and a half million acres of the forests of the Gran Chaco. An area the size of the whole of East Anglia, notionally protected as National Parks, but with only six rangers to protect the whole area.

$5000 a year will keep a ranger in the field. $150,000 a year will ensure the basic protection is maintained, for the National Parks.

With thousands of pounds being spent talking about what we can do, is it not time to actually do something?

If a fraction of the money spent on all the conversation was spent on conservation, we may not do away with the problems, but we would certainly reduce them. Act now. Every little helps... £5, £50, £500, £5000, £50,000 or more. Anything will actually achieve something.

Just click here to donate to the WLT Action Fund - and your donation will be used to fund our most urgent priority projects.

And to give you an idea of how bad the situation is in the Paraguayan Chaco, the image included here is from a presentation our Paraguayan partners showed in the House of Commons last week. Click here to download the whole presentation (PowerPoint document, 16.4MB).

Posted by John Thursday, November 26, 2009
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