Amidst the seaweed and kelp, a playful mink is hunting for its favourite food: sea ears.
Protect the rainforest with Off the Path
For the conservation of the temperate rainforest
Together with Wilderness International, Off the Path is committed to preserving the temperate rainforest in western Canada. The Off the Path Forest in British Columbia not only protects valuable rainforest but also safeguards the habitat of many animal species and helps maintain a healthy climate.
Protect more rainforest now with Off the Path!
Donations
have wilderness sponsors
m2 old-growth forest
protected forever, thereby ensuring that
tonnes of CO2
remain permanently bound in the forest’s biomass
Key information about your donation at a glance
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Specific use: a €1 donation protects 1 m² of rainforest
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Good for the climate: this ensures that 60 kg of CO2 remains permanently sequestered in living biomass
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Transparent: you’ll receive a certificate showing the geographical coordinates and an aerial photograph of the protected woodland
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Lasting impact: your one-off donation guarantees the long-term protection of the area
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tax-deductible donation with a donation receipt
Country: Canada
Region: Porcher Island
Location of the protected area: on Porcher Island, approximately 40 km south of the port city of Prince Rupert and not far from the border with Alaska
Ecosystem: temperate coastal rainforest
Region: Porcher Island
Location of the protected area: on Porcher Island, approximately 40 km south of the port city of Prince Rupert and not far from the border with Alaska
Ecosystem: temperate coastal rainforest
Impressions from the temperate rainforest
The rainforest that you are helping to protect through your donation is situated on Porcher Island in Canada and is a diverse ecosystem comprising a variety of habitats. Its trees, waterways, raised bogs and coastline provide a suitable habitat for a vast array of animals and plants.
A roe deer on the rocky beach
Nestled amongst soft layers of ancient peat moss grows the rare long-leaved sundew, whose droplets of nectar glisten in a rare ray of sunshine. In the silence of the bog, it lures flies into its trap with its sticky tentacles.
A rare coastal wolf on patrol along the beach
The gnarled, ancient trees brave the harsh weather of the north coast. Sheltered by their thick foliage, otters can enjoy their seafood in peace, thereby enriching the forest floor with the minerals from the shellfish.
In the sea, otters hunt for mussels and snails.
Help protect the temperate rainforest with Off the Path
Convert donation amounts, protected forest area and offset CO2 directly into one another.
m2
kg CO2
Your Wilderness Conservation Certificate
Immediately after making your donation, you will receive a personalised certificate detailing the piece of wilderness you have helped to protect.
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About Wilderness International
The foundation, which has offices in Peru, Canada and Germany, acquires wilderness areas in a legally secure manner and protects them for the long term. These acquisitions are funded by donations, which ensure the long-term protection of the areas and enable environmental education projects and research into carbon sequestration and biodiversity.
Find out more
Frequently Asked Questions
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Who is Wilderness International, and what does the organisation do?
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.
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What role does the tropical rainforest play in Peru?
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.