The news on the global environment is alarming: the planet is warming, species are going extinct, wildlife populations are crashing, and wild areas are shrinking. Given projections for 25 million kilometers of new roads by 2050 (enough to circle the planet 600 times!), it will likely get worse before it gets better.

But we can still opt for a healthier, saner planet by protecting our remaining wilderness areas, including primary ("old growth") forests, and by restoring degraded lands. Both are essential to solve the climate change and species extinction crises - and for human well-being everywhere.  

And both are feasible, if we act now. It will require "flipping" incentives. Rather than subsidizing destruction with hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel and agriculture subsidies annually (burning forests as bioenergy or logging primary forests makes no sense!) we need to fund protected areas, support community and indigenous conservation, recognize community and indigenous rights, and provide incentives for private conservation. Wild Heritage is working to enable this change.

 - Cyril Kormos, Founder/Executive Director Wild Heritage