"Of the suitors nerving themselves for a Valentine's proposal tomorrow, many will have a diamond ring ready. But this year, an increasing number are expected to choose emeralds… But behind the boom is the game-changing business model of Gemfields, the British-based mining company."
World Land Trust in the News
The World Land Trust (WLT) and its network of partners carries out innovative conservation work that is regularly featured in the news. This page displays just a small selection of news articles featuring the WLT, ranging from our work to conserve threatened habitats and species to our high profile events.
Click on the article links to read the full stories online. Articles without links are in print only or require a subscription to be viewed online.
Wildlife Conservation | WLT Events | External Fundraising Events |
Communities | WLT Achievements
Diamonds are forever, but modern lovers give emeralds a green light
The Times
13 February, 2012
The secret code that is written in the snow
The Times
11 February, 2012
"Last year I was in Zambia with the World Land Trust. We visited a partner-donor organisation, the emerald-mining company Gemfields. One reason for the trip was to see how green, ho ho, their operation was, and it stood up to our scrutiny very well."
What happens when an uncontacted tribe meets 'civilisation'?
The Independent
4 February, 2012
"Margarita Mbywangy's tribe was nearly wiped out when the modern world came calling. Now she has come to Europe to talk about their stolen land and struggle for survival."
Part of Brazilian Rainforest to Be Named After Seo Tai-ji
The Chosunilbo
31 January, 2012
"..around five hectares of rainforest in Guapi Assu will be officially be named 'Seo Tai-ji Forest' on March 21 after the Korean singer of the same name."
Putting their Trust in Art
EADT Suffolk magazine (pages 134-35)
31 January, 2012
"An exciting new art gallery in Halesworth is aiming to put the Suffolk town on the map and help save important wildlife habitats at the same time."
Local charity that’s saving the world’s wild places
Eastern Daily Press
28 January, 2012
"The World Land Trust has been working to save biologically important and threatened habitats acre by acre since 1989."
Freya Active Launch Swimwear that Helps to Save the Rainforest
San Francisco Chronicle
27 January, 2012
"Sportswear brand Freya Active has launched a range of swimwear made from Sensitive® Life Soft - a material which contributes to rainforest conservation."
David Attenborough urges business to protect nature from population boom
The Guardian
18 January, 2012
"To save many of these areas from development that would destroy the natural ecosystem and wipe out many species of animals and plants, he called on businesses to help buy the land."
Conservation Gemstones: Beyond Fair Trade?
National Geographic
12 January, 2012
"Examples that the industry can raise funds for social and environmental causes exist. Recent ‘Emeralds for Elephants’ auctions organized by Gemfields and the World Land Trust raised £80,000 and $150,000 for elephant conservation projects in Asia."
Green Watch
East Anglian Daily Times
3 December, 2011
"A major problem facing the WLT is that worldwide land prices are escalating at an alarming rate. Just a few years ago the trust could fund the purchase of threatened tropical forest in Brazil for just £50 an acre. Today such land costs around £400 an acre."
What to do
Vanity Fair
2 December, 2011
"The charity, whose aim is to protect some of the world's most precious habitats, is throwing down the gauntlet to each and everyone one of us, during The Big Give Christmas challenge."
Walks of Life
Vanity Fair
1 October, 2011
"Fashion and conservation untie on the fundraising project Emeralds for Elephants India 2011, working together for environmental and social change."
Into the Wild: Please save this deadly frog
The Times
3 September, 2011
"ProAves is now in the process of identifying the right areas to create the first protected habitats for the golden poison frog. It is doing this with the support of the World Land Trust..."
Rise in attacks – bad news for victims, good news for tigers
The Independent
1 August, 2011
"For villagers and their families it is a tragedy, but for tiger conservationists a sudden rise in the number of attacks offers welcome, if gruesome, evidence the predator is staging a comeback."
Battle of the Chaco: Who will win the wilderness?
New Scientist
9 July, 2011
"In the Chaco in Paraguay, biodiversity rivals that of the neighbouring Amazon. So why is it being destroyed at an accelerating pace?"
The transformation of the Chaco is an ecological and human tragedy
The Guardian
8 July, 2011
"As the Natural History Museum's expedition is abandoned, the area is being converted to ranchland faster than ever."
Super Scarves raise funds to save land
PR Week
8 July, 2011
"The World Land Trust, a conservation charity, teamed up with Liberty of London and Winchester School of Art to raise funds for five land protection projects."
'Emeralds for Elephants' auction raises $1 million
National Jeweler
1 July, 2011
"An auction that included an array of emerald jewelry by well-known designers and an emerald-studded "elephant" has raised $1 million for the World Land Trust and the Wildlife Trust of India, organizations that work to create a network of wildlife corridors for the endangered Asian elephant."
Why my heart belongs to Zambia
The Times
11 June, 2011
"Simon Barnes fell in love with Zambia 20 years ago. He has returned again and again, not just to engage with the wildlife, but to fight for an Eden under threat."
Trunk Calling
EADT Suffolk magazine (pages 122-23)
1 May, 2011
"Adventures in India over 22 years have led Halesworth couple to explore the heart of the country. On their latest trip they met the people saving the Asian elephant."
India’s poor pay deadly price for population boom
New Statesman
25 April, 2011
"Hundreds of people are killed every year by wild animals in India as there is less and less land to sustain its development and population increase. The World Land Trust is saving lives and protecting wild spaces through their Indian Elephant appeal."
Animal Art
Good Homes Magazine
1 April, 2011
"Don’t miss the Andrew Squire’s Hinterland exhibition in collaboration with the World Land Trust."
Lily Cole: People and elephants can live in harmony
New Scientist
23 February, 2011
"A visit to India gave the model and actress striking evidence of how humans and elephants can live in peace with each other, with the right planning."
Lily Cole: Observer Ethical Awards judge
The Guardian
26 January, 2011
"This year Lily helped launch the World Land Trust's Emerald for Elephant Exhibition, which has been designed to create awareness and raise important funds for the protection of the critically endangered Asian elephant."
Wildlife corridors are the Asian elephant's last chance for survival
The Ecologist
22 June, 2010
"The Asian elephant is at an all time-low. I predict extinction if we do not do something to secure its shrinking habitat."
Blue Peter's Liz Barker helps new tropical house set sail
Roysten Crow 24
6 June, 2010
"The house is also adorned with magnificent species photographs taken in the Atlantic Rainforest by animal keeper - Chris Knowles, who spent a month at the REGUA reserve, which the wildlife park donated £6,000 towards its protection through the World Land Trust last year."
Chelsea Flower Show 2010: Guns and chainsaws highlight plight of the rainforests
The Telegraph
27 May, 2010
"An award-winning display about the plight of the rainforests includes the first gun to be planted in a garden at Chelsea Flower Show."
Strange rumbles in the Suffolk jungle
The Times
4 July, 2009
"Two or three months ago, as regular readers of the space will remember, I was out in the jungles of India saving the elephants with the Word Land Trust. And at the end, I was having a beer with Vivek Menon, CEO of the Wildlife Trust of India, and a great elephant man... By Simon Barnes"
£568.48: the price on the head of an orang-utan
The Times
2 August, 2008
"An initiative to help to stop orang-utans being driven into extinction has put the price of saving the apes at £568.48 a head."
Shared management of one million hectares of Paraguayan chaco presented
Portal Paraguayo de Noticias (in Spanish)
16 July, 2008
"The official presentation of the co-management of one million hectares of Paraguayan Chaco was made, where the Ministry of Environment, Guyra Paraguay Foundation and the World Land Trust (WLT, British NGO) under a tripartite agreement..."
Inaccessible forest in the Chaco gets £10m protection
The Times
18 June, 2008
"The WLT intends to raise £10 million for a trust fund to pay for the long-term management of the area, including paying for wardens recruited from indigenous populations."
Saved: the wildest place on earth
The Times
18 June, 2008
"Remote and impenetrable, the Chaco forest in Paraguay has been saved with the help of a maverick conservationist from Suffolk."
Foreigners are willing to invest heavily in Paraguayan tourism
ABC Paraguay (in Spanish)
16 June, 2008
"...international tourism generates alot of money. Particularly in England, large numbers of people pay money to see landscapes in their natural state with no man-made changes..."
Broken rainforest crying to be healed
The Times
14 June, 2008
"This part has been bought up by Guyra Paraguay with the support of the World Land Trust in this country. There are holes at the edge of the forest and here, gloriously, the broken forest is being healed."
Symposium looks at growth of private protected areas
Channel 5 Belize
23 May, 2008
"This week approximately twenty-seven conservationists from around the world made their way to La Milpa Field Station in Orange Walk for a symposium on “Financial Sustainability of Private Protected Areas."
Carbon offsetting schemes 'very confusing'
Which?
19 March, 2008
"Climate Care was the most transparent, with Blue Ventures Carbon Offset, Pure and the World Land Trust also highly rated."
Guyra Paraguay opens biological station in Bahía Negra
Programa de las naciones Unidas para el Desarollo (in Spanish)
11 March, 2008
"World Land Trust is one of the donor organizations"
Buying land can save the world's wilderness areas
The Guardian
21 February, 2008
David Attenborough's response to the article The great green land grab:
"John Vidal's article makes some very pertinent observations about people and organisations that buy land for conservation, but let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater."
Rainforest On Your PC
Sky.com News
1 February, 2008
"Next time you complain about your broadband going down or your internet playing up, spare a thought for Jack Astbury and the team at World Land Trust."
Webcam in the forest
The Guardian
18 January, 2008
"Last night the World Land Trust launched its new project, which has placed a webcam in a South American rainforest in a bid to show conservation work in action..."
The jungle out there - now in here
The Times
17 January, 2008
"A webcam giving people the chance to discover unknown species without leaving the comfort of their homes will be set up today."
Reverence in a green cathedral
The Times
6 October, 2007
"I paid a visit to the Reserva Ecológica di Guapi Assu, where purchases, aided by WLT, have already been made and stunning areas of forest have been made safe."
The deep Chaco
Última Hora (in Spanish)
15 September, 2007
"The aquisition of Campo Iris cost some $75,000 and the purchase was made possible through the support of the World Land Trust (WLT)."
Acres of Paraguayan wetland saved
BBC News
12 January, 2007
"A British charity has moved to save thousands of acres of environmentally important wetland in South America from destruction."
