The 2022 World Land Trust impact report demonstrates just how effective their land-saving projects are around the world, as well as the success of the Carbon Balanced Paper scheme.
World Land Trust (WLT), the environmental charity that protects and restores areas of threatened habitats around the world, has just released its latest impact report. The report details everything the charity has achieved in 2022 – the amount of land saved, the number of trees planted, the range of wildlife protected – to provide a compelling summary of why using carbon balanced paper is so important, as well as evidence that the work of WLT is making a real difference to biodiversity and the lives of local communities that rely on the protected land.
Headline figures
With its core aim of protecting vulnerable habitats and wildlife, the key figures for WLT and its partners are the amount of land saved and biodiversity maintained. In 2022, WLT saved 71,713 hectares (ha) of land, with a total of 351,834 ha of habitats connected by three WLT-funded corridors.
Within WLT’s 85 reserves around the world, 98.91% of the biodiversity was maintained, which includes 81 species that are classified as critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). WLT’s 2022 Plant a Tree project was also a big success, with hundreds of thousands of saplings successfully planted in areas devastated by logging, overgrazing, invasive species or forest fires. In total, over 270,000 trees have been planted across all WLT programmes, with over 2.5 million planted since 1989.
When looking at the total amount of land saved since the charity was formed in 1989, 1,075,803ha have been directly saved across all WLT programmes – that’s equivalent to the size of Jamaica – with 11,452,226ha connected by WLT-funded corridors and extensions – equivalent to the size of Bulgaria.
“When I ask people why they support WLT, I usually get the same answer: because WLT gets things done,” said Myles Archibald, Chair of WLT Trustees. “People’s love of the natural world has never been greater and they want to support conservation that has a direct impact.”
The Carbon Balanced Paper contribution
As key partners for WLT, Carbon Balanced Paper share the same aims and values as WLT, helping companies and brands offset their emissions by carbon balancing their paper and print services through the funding of WLT projects. Alongside the addition of 21 new businesses in 2022, the Carbon Balanced Paper scheme has offset 199,179tCO2e (tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) over the 12 months. This is a 140% increase on 2021.
Not only does this show a significant growth in the Carbon Balanced community, but evidence that climate action is now regarded as an essential part of running a business.
“The crises facing our natural world require a multi-faceted response,” said Dr Catherine Barnard. CEO of WLT, “and that’s why in 2022, WLT funds supported community-led conservation initiatives, habitat restoration, carbon offsetting, wildfire management, wildlife monitoring, and much more – all of this complementing the creation and expansion of reserves and wildlife corridors, the land acquisition that WLT has always championed.”
To download the full World Land Trust Impact Report 2022, go to https://bit.ly/WLT2022_Report
