World Land Trust
Something of great international importance is going on in a modest but historic fifteenth century house in Bridge Street, Halesworth, for this is the headquarters of World Land Trust.
Founded in 1989, WLT was based on a simple (but at the time novel) idea that £25 would buy and protect an acre of rainforest. Since its pioneering campaign in Belize WLT has raised funds to save more than half a million acres of land in some 20 countries (real acres, in real countries), ensuring the survival of many threatened species including jaguar and Spectacled Bear, and many rare primates and birds.
Tropical forests play an essential role in life on Earth: they stabilise and purify water supplies, regulate weather systems and provide shelter for pollinating insects. And they help counteract global warming. Why is this such important work? Because we are at last coming to realise that everything in nature is interdependent-including humans. By preserving the natural environment, whether in our own back gardens or on the other side of the world, we are preserving ourselves.
WLT provides work in Halesworth for twenty-five people, a carbon-offsetting programme, and a wonderful gallery which puts on changing exhibitions of wildlife and landscape art that reflects the Trust's commitment to nature conservation and the preservation of rare and endangered species.