damnit e.V. is committed to protecting endangered wilderness areas

Wilderness International is a non-profit environmental organisation with a single goal: to protect the Earth’s last remaining unique forests and wilderness areas for ever. To this end, Wilderness International purchases plots of land through registration in the land register, thereby ensuring their legally secure and permanent protection. The land purchases are funded by donations towards so-called ‘wilderness sponsorships’. Wilderness sponsors receive a personalised certificate stating the exact geographical coordinates of the protected forest area.

WI Germany and WI Canada were founded in 2008 by 25 people from six countries, representing 24 different professional fields and aged between 18 and 69. In 2019, the Peruvian organisation dedicated to protecting the tropical rainforest joined the initiative. Today, Wilderness International consists of three sister foundations: 

In addition to the founding donors, Wilderness International Germany is supported by eight members of the Foundation Board, three members of the Executive Board, our operational team, many volunteers and countless donors, partners, sponsors and supporters. You can find out more on the “Wilderness International Germany” page.

At Wilderness International Canada, alongside Tobias Hürten and Kai Andersch, Marco Lou, Tyler Bruce and Stephen Gabrysh also work directly on the ground to manage our partnerships, land acquisitions, expeditions and the protection of our forest areas. Volunteers, donors and supporters are also actively involved here. You can find out more under “Wilderness International Canada”.

At Wilderness International Peru, the seven founders form the board of trustees. On the ground, the organisation’s president, Dr Chris Kirkby, works alongside a team of forest rangers and the rest of the operational team to oversee the protected areas, carry out research and biodiversity monitoring in the forests, the search for and purchase of new plots of land, and projects with local schools, communities and partners. You can find more information on the “Wilderness International Peru” page.

More than half of Peru’s land area is covered by forests. This makes the country home to the world’s fourth-largest area of tropical rainforest – after Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Indonesia. In 2018, 87 per cent of this area was still virgin forest. The forests of the Amazon Basin are the largest contiguous rainforests on Earth. This means they are not only a huge CO₂ sink, but also generate their own weather – a unique water cycle that carries rain from the Atlantic up to 5,000 km into the west of the continent. The only thing that sustains this water cycle is the vast extent of the contiguous rainforests. 

At the same time, the Amazon rainforests play a vital role in cooling the surrounding environment and purifying the air of pollutants. Over the millennia, these rainforests have also produced the oxygen in the atmosphere that is essential for our survival. Furthermore, the rainforests in the Madre de Dios region are considered the most biodiverse place on Earth! Thanks to favourable climatic conditions and geological history, there are 10 times more reptiles and amphibians here than in Germany. Around 10 per cent of all the world’s bird species can be observed there, and on one hectare of forest you can find around 400 tree species – more than in the whole of Europe north of the Alps! 

Unfortunately, however, the forest is under serious threat: according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), between 2015 and 2020 around 10 million hectares of tropical rainforest were lost each year, with the Amazon region suffering the most damage annually. In 2020 alone, an area of primary forest the size of Israel disappeared – that’s more than 22,000km².

There are many ways to protect the rainforest. For example, by making a donation to us, you can help protect a specific area of rainforest for ever. Or you can support our work to protect the rainforest in other ways. You can like and share our posts on social media, tell the people around you about the importance of environmental and rainforest conservation, or even set up your own fundraising campaigns. You could also organise a wilderness run at your school – or at the very least, tell the teaching staff about it and get the ball rolling. 

In your day-to-day life, there are also a few things you can do to avoid harming the rainforest. For example, you can check where the products you buy at the supermarket come from. The main causes of rainforest loss are agriculture and livestock farming, and most of the products produced there are not consumed locally but are often shipped all over the world. This means that if you make a point of eating local and seasonal food and cutting down on your meat consumption, you can help prevent deforestation in the rainforest. If you’re looking for an exotic product, look out for Fairtrade and organic labels. 

When buying timber, it’s also important to check where the trees come from. It’s best to see if you can get a second-hand item from within your family or at a charity shop. If you do need to buy something new, look out for the ‘Blue Angel’ label for recycled products and, where possible, buy locally sourced timber. It’s also important to buy furniture and products that are as durable as possible – ones that will last a lifetime and might even be passed down to future generations. You can find more tips on protecting forests in everyday life here.

We protect the areas we have selected exclusively by purchasing them and registering them in the land register, in countries with a high degree of legal certainty. All three international foundations (Peru, Canada, Germany) are registered as owners in the land register. The forest areas we have purchased as foundations can no longer be bought from us, and we are also no longer permitted to sell them. 

The foundation’s organisational structure prevents the rights to dispose of the property from resting with a single individual and ensures its long-term survival. You can find out more about the longevity of the foundation concept here. Our articles of association stipulate that the plots of land must be left undisturbed and may only be visited for research and documentation purposes. 

In Canada: 

Due to their remoteness and the fact that the area is undeveloped, our protected areas in Canada can only be reached at great financial, material and time-related expense, and not without risk. Furthermore, the high level of legal certainty in Canada ensures that damage to land results in severe penalties. The British Columbia Trespass Act explicitly prohibits trespassing on private land. Violations are prosecuted in court upon complaint, even if no damage has been caused. Furthermore, we visit and monitor the areas as part of regular research trips and have partnerships with local companies that support us. In Canada, we also benefit from the fact that property is held in very high regard for its cultural and historical value and is respected.

In Peru:

In Peru, we have Forest Guardians on the ground whose day-to-day duties include monitoring our protected areas and preventing unauthorised entry. By using drones, the Guardians can survey a larger area, and special sensors trigger an alarm instantly if, for example, a fire breaks out or the sound of chainsaws is detected. In addition, we work there with the organisation ‘Fauna Forever’, which also has a permanent presence on the ground and, as part of its research projects, patrols and monitors our areas.

Furthermore, the Forest Guardians are in direct contact with the local population, promote our conservation objectives within the community, erect information signs and actively work on community projects – such as our current agroforestry project – to show the local population ways to benefit from the rainforest without clearing it. Should a conflict nevertheless arise, we report poachers and other individuals acting illegally to the local law enforcement agencies (such as the police, lawyers and authorities), and work closely with them.

Here’s what happens with a €1 donation (figures are based on actual expenditure since the organisation was founded):

38 cents: Land purchase and the purchasing process

In addition to the cost of purchasing the land, this figure includes costs such as those for the solicitor and the land registry entry, as well as property tax.

19 cents: Preparing for land purchase – identifying, researching and documenting relevant nature reserves

In ‘rapid assessments’, we work with researchers to determine the area’s biodiversity and CO₂ storage capacity. Aerial images taken by drones help us to document the areas.

20 cents: Environmental education and communication

This portion goes directly towards our projects, such as wilderness runs and environmental education projects with schools, workshops and our website.

18 cents: Long-term protection and research

Through regular visits, local partnerships and forest rangers on the ground, the ecological integrity of the areas is monitored and safeguarded. Environmental ambassadors and scientists visit the areas, conduct joint research and experience the forest they are protecting.

5 cents: Administrative costs

Numerous donations in kind also enable us to keep costs for equipment and events to a minimum. For example, companies support our wilderness runs and other activities by providing water, catering, tables, van hire, public transport tickets and promotional support. We also frequently receive in-kind donations of equipment, clothing and food for our expeditions.

We purchase the plots of land we protect mainly from private individuals, but also from forestry companies, businesses or mining speculators. Although these parties have often owned the land, they have not (yet) used it for commercial activities, meaning that the ecosystem remains intact and has been little affected by human activity. 

In most cases, private owners have inherited the land or it has been in the family for a long time. However, most owners live in the city or further away from the wilderness areas themselves, so they have no personal interest in using the land we acquire. They are far more interested in making money from the sale. If Wilderness International were not to purchase the plot of land, it would very likely fall into the hands of individuals, forestry or agricultural corporations seeking to generate revenue through deforestation, the sale of timber, and agricultural or forestry use. 

As part of every rapid assessment carried out prior to a land purchase, we establish direct contact with the owners and protect ecologically valuable areas that are at risk of destruction or that represent important strategic plots of land for us. Often, potential sellers approach us of their own accord because they are aware of the economic implications and the importance of nature conservation, which is why they wish to hand over their land to us to preserve the local flora and fauna. When we are actively seeking new areas, we approach the owners of ecologically valuable and geographically suitable plots of land (e.g. for wildlife migration corridors, or areas adjacent to our conservation areas) and ask whether they are interested in selling their land to us and thus bequeathing it to a trust that can protect the area for much longer than a private individual would be able to.