The World Land Trust is a UK registered charity. It raises money to buy and then protect environmentally-threatened land in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. In 2018 it claimed to have raised more than £25 million and to have bought more than 3000 km2 (1200 sq mi) of land in about twenty different countries.
The trust was founded in 1989 as the Programme for Belize to raise money to privately buy land in Belize to protect tropical rain forests in collaboration with Massachusetts Audubon Society.[4] The organisation later changed its name to the World Wide Land Conservation Trust, and then to World Land Trust.John Burton was chief executive for thirty years until 2019, when Catherine Barnard took over.
A U.S. partner organisation, World Land Trust - US was renamed Rainforest Trust in 2013. The Trust has since developed to help purchase and conserve land in over 20 countries worldwide and has an annual income of £4.9 million in 2019.
The patrons of the trust are Sir David Attenborough, Steve Backshall, Chris Packham, and David Gower.[7] Supporters include Bill Oddie, Tony Hawks, Mark Carwardine and Nick Baker.
In 2014 the trust held a "Controversial Conservation Debate: 'Killing Other Peoples’ Birds’" with Chris Packham in London.[9] It discussed the impact of sport hunting on wildlife and conservation.
