The FOREVER WILD RHINO PROTECTION INITIATIVE was developed in response to the rhino poaching crisis and primarily provides counter-poaching field assistance and intelligence to save the rhino from poaching crisis.  It also runs various programmes in Asia to stop the demand for wildlife products. The objective of FWR is to protect rhino from being poached, secure healthy populations of rhino across Southern Africa, and to end the demand for rhino horn in Asia

The WILDLIFE OPERATIONS GROUP is a multi-agency partnership established in 2013 and has an overarching objective for the reduction in the incidence of and the successful prosecution of no just rhino but general wildlife related crime. This is achieved through a multi-disciplinary approach which includes: research and development; training; support investigation and operational activities in order to meet the objective.

COLLECTIVE IMPACT IS NEEDED TO SAVE WILD NATURE 

Protecting intact wilderness is the most important, cost-effective, and immediate action we can take to directly address the three biggest threats facing us: climate breakdown, pandemics, and mass extinction of species. Saving wilderness saves massive economic losses, strengthens human health, and increases the strength and resilience of nature to protect and support us. Saving wilderness is a major public health priority.

Immediate action undertaken by all sectors of society is needed to halt the biodiversity crisis and preserve the living infrastructure of our planet. But collaboration and coordination on such a large-scale is no small task. While some institutions focus on the broad swath of – or very specific – environmental issues, the World Wilderness Congress is the only international process and forum that recognizes wild nature for what it is: the provider of all life-supporting, ecological services upon which humans utterly depend – and keeps it at the center of the debate and the crafting of solutions. It does this by convening leaders from across sectors – business, academia, government, traditional communities, and the arts – to forge a multi-year conservation agenda, setting and coordinating international action, and making collective gains for a wild Earth and a healthy human society.

The World Wilderness Congress (WWC) blasted off in 1977, and is the world’s longest-running, public, environmental action forum. Fully-collaborative, it is all about inspiring and practical solutions, with a long list of recognized outcomes around the world.

WILD11 was scheduled for India in March 2020, and was indefinitely postponed due to the pandemic. However, global collaboration for the WWC and WILD11 did not stop! While we await plans for the next WWC global convention…digital and in-person!...many of the results that were in planning for WILD11 India were completed and are now posted. Have a look…use them…improve them! The WWC process is for and about you, our planet, and our collective action to make the world a better, wilder place for all life!

The MALI ELEPHANT PROJECT (MEP) empowers poor, local communities in Central Mali (West Africa) to protect the unique herd of 500+ desert-adapted elephants that conduct the longest annual elephant migration ever recorded, through the vast reaches of the Sahel in an area the size of Switzerland. MEP is war-tested, having withstood the 2012-13 Tuareg rebellion and Jihadist invasion. It produces practical outcomes of anti-poaching, community security, and local employment, while significantly reducing human disease and legally enabling local people to control all their own natural resources, including wildlife, water, wood, soil, and grazing.

Vietnamese pop star Thanh Bui has been instrumental in the planning and execution of the Demand Reduction campaign in Vietnam and has subsequently become an official and very passionate Ambassador for the Wilderness Foundation Global's Forever Wild Rhino Protection Initiative. 

Through the success of the Wild Rhino Competition, the Wilderness Foundation Global realised that a more permanent presence in Vietnam is required to implement selected interventions that will form part of the Foundation’s broader Demand Reduction Campaign. In partnership with Thanh Bui, the Wilderness Foundation Global has opened a Forever Wild Rhino Protection Initiative project office in Vietnam, based at Soul Music Academy.

The UMZI WETHU model is a social development and intervention programme for displaced and socially vulnerable youth (those who have lost one or both parents, are child headed households or live in households with no formal income). It draws on opportunities presented by gaps in various sectors including the hospitality and eco-tourism industry in South Africa, training field guides and field rangers. As part of our Vulnerable Youth programme, Umzi Wethu seeks to deliver holistic skills development and education interventions that harness the healing power of nature, equipping vulnerable youth to be economically active and environmentally responsible citizens.

Wilderness Foundation Europe's flagship social programme has produced results for over six years. It focuses on society’s most vulnerable youth: aged 16 – 21 years with little education or job training. TurnAround addresses complex personal/social issues through wilderness therapy, tough love, straight talking, outdoor facilitation, mentoring by committed staff and trained community volunteers, and support towards employment or studies. The 18 month programme – with investment of just £7000 per young person – has an 86% success rate of participants moving forward into further education, training, or employment. Without intervention, most of these young people would likely fall into crime and otherwise be a social burden, costing tax payers up to £100,000 annually.The programme has changed the most vulnerable into strong and independent young adults, citizens and parents.