For more than three decades, land purchase has been one of the most effective ways World Land Trust and our partners protect threatened habitats. Buying land for conservation places gives it long-term legal protection and is one of the most effective ways safeguard ecosystems and the species that depend on them.
It’s for this reason that land purchase remains a vital part of our work to this day, but it is far from the only way we protect land. As we have grown as an organisation and as conservation challenges grow more complex, our partners use an array of approaches to secure the land they seek to protect. These approaches range from community agreements with the people who live or work on the land, long-term leases where purchase isn’t possible and designating areas to be managed by Indigenous and community groups. Each project is unique, and the key is to use the model that best fits the landscape, the people who live there, and the pressures the ecosystem faces.
What unites all of these approaches is the central ethos that protecting habitat is essential. When land is secured, forests regenerate, wildlife thrives, and communities have stewardship over the resources they rely on. Land is the foundation on which conservation success is built.
World Land Trust was in fact among the first UK organisations to support overseas partners in protecting land specifically for conservation, and this approach continues to play an important role in our strategy. But we also know that there is no single model that is right for every place, we support projects across the world, protecting ecosystems from snowy mountains to tropical lagoons to arid savannahs. Land protection is one invaluable tool within a wider conservation toolkit and, most importantly, it is to be used where it is the most effective path, where it supported by local people, and where it can deliver lasting protection.
By working closely with our partners, we ensure that every project reflects the needs of the landscape and the people who steward it. Whether through purchase, lease, or community-led agreements, securing and protecting land for nature remains at the heart of what we do.