2 Mission World Land Trust–US is dedicated to buying and protecting lands that conserve rare or endangered species and endangered ecosystems rich in biodiversity. We work largely in the rainforests and cloud forests of the Latin American tropics, home to over 50% of the planet’s biodiversity and one of the world’s highest conservation priorities. Methods WLT-US focuses on tangible projects with long-term impacts for conservation, such as land purchase for the creation of new natural protected areas. We work in alliance with World Land Trust in the United Kingdom, and always work in close partnership with carefully selected local conservation groups, who own and manage the reserves that we help to create. Accomplishments Since our founding in 1989, we and our partner WLT in the UK have saved almost 1 million acres of high priority lands! In 2008, WLT-US bought and conserved 15,000 acres protecting some of the most endangered species and critical habitats in the tropics. Our program exceeded $2 million, used to buy and manage nature reserves of exceptional biodiversity value with local partners. Often we pay $100 an acre or less for these critical areas! World Land Trust - US 2806 P Street, NW, Washington, DC 20007 www.worldlandtrust-us.org Tel: 800-456-4930 3 Leadership message Time to Act for rainforests! It’s time to stop talking and start saving our planet. We all know that far too many wonderful natural places are perilously close to being lost forever. We also know their fate is in our hands! 2008 was World Land Trust-US’s most successful year yet, with $2 million raised that has secured 15,000 acres of rare and vanishing tropical forest at 17 critical habitat sites in six countries in the New World tropics, the world's richest biome. We would like to thank our conservation partners, and our many donors, whose generous support made our projects possible. World Land Trust-US has dedicated 20 years to buying and saving critical tropical habitats, focusing on areas that conserve threatened species and their unique ecosystems. Our goal is to secure the funds necessary to purchase and manage critical lands for biodiversity conservation. Our strategic approach includes: 1) WLT-US buys real acres in real places and protects them forever. By targeting the highest priority areas and taking these areas off the market for destruction, we can save countless species and critical habitats that are often protected nowhere else. 2) We aim to be highly efficient, with only a 2% administrative overhead, and generally are able to purchase lands at very inexpensive prices, often a small fraction of US land prices. 3) We work through and help build the capacity of local conservation organizations with good governance and the experience to acquire and manage natural private reserves. 4) We focus actions on key areas under imminent threat that often represent the last surviving habitat for threatened species. We then move swiftly to protect these biodiversity treasures before they are lost. We all can take great pride in what we are doing. Together we're conserving some of the planet’s most important natural places and ensuring that more of our planet's biological riches will endure for future generations. Thank you so much for your support, and let's keep saving critical habitat! Byron Swift Dr. Robert S. Ridgely Executive Director Deputy Director 4 Saving critical rainforest sites across Latin America WLT-US' programs protect critical sites for biodiversity across Latin America. We focus especially on rainforests, the earth’s richest biome that holds a vast amount of the planet’s biodiversity yet 100 acres of rainforests are cleared every minute. Many of the rainforest areas most at risk of destruction in Latin America, like the cloud forests along the Tropical Andes and the Atlantic forests of Brazil, where we focus our programs, lie in private hands. The threats are grave, but by targeting these highest priority areas, working closely with local conservation groups and taking these lands off the market for destructive development, WLT-US can save countless species and critical habitats that are often protected nowhere else. 1 Panama rainforest center 2 Santander dry cloud forest 1 3 Chicamocha dry forest 2 4 Magdalena valley rainforest 3 5 Cauca valley cloud forest 5 4 6 Amazonian slope rainforest 6 7 Colombian Chocó forest 7 8 Cosanga cloud forest 9 Canandé Chocó rainforest 8 10 Buenaventura humid forest 9 11 Tapichalaca cloud forest 10 11 14 12 13 15 16 17 12 Beni wet savanna 13 Palkachupa Cotinga area 14 Fazenda Almas ‐ Caatinga 15 Balbina – Atlantic rainforest 16 REGUA – Atlantic rainforest 17 San Rafael – Atlantic rainforest 5 Conservation achievements in 2008 Without doubt, 2008 was our most successful year with $2 million raised that has secured 15,000 acres of rare and vanishing tropical habitat at 17 high priority sites in six countries of South America. We emphasize our work in partnerships, and our alliance with World Land Trust and our strategic partnership with American Bird Conservancy have significantly extended our effectiveness. In 2008 WLT-US also continued to support Fundación Jocotoco, our conservation partner for over ten years, to purchase and protect the habitats of many endangered bird species in its ten private reserves in Ecuador, and commenced work with Fundación ProAves to supports its similar reserve network in Colombia. Highlights of the past year’s achievements, including our concentration on the Amazon-Andes Rainforest and Atlantic rainforest hotspots, are described below. Saving the Amazon-Andean forests: Andean Cloud Forests: The world’s single most important biodiversity ecosystem is the tropical Andes. In 2008 WLT-US donors funded critical acquisitions of lands at a number of critical sites: • 116 acres in the Ecuadorian Andes for Fundación Jocotoco to expand the Tapichalaca Reserve at the principal site for the Jocotoco Antpitta (right), Tapichalaca Tree-frog and many other species. • 526 acres of spectacular cloud forests in the Cosanga Valley of Ecuador with the Napo Andean Forest Foundation that helps buffer the Antisana Reserve. • 99 acres, with Fundación ProAves, to expand the Recurve-billed Bushbird Reserve which holds remarkable “dry cloud forest” for the enigmatic and recently rediscovered bushbird. • 124 acres, with Fundación EcoMinga, to expand the Rio Zuñac Reserve in a rich center of plant endemism in central Ecuador, with many endemic species, especially orchids. • 355 acres, with Fundación ProAves, to expand the Yellow-eared Parrot Reserve in the Western Cordillera of Colombia to help save the parrot and endemic Quindío Wax Palm. Magdalena Valley, Colombia: WLT-US supported the acquisition and protection of 2,048 acres of primary rainforest in the Magdalena Valley to protect the endangered Magdalena Spider-Monkey and Blue-billed Curassow, together with ABC. This reserve represents the first protected area in the region and our last opportunity to save the Magdalena Valley's unique rainforest wildlife. We need to protect another 20,000 acres at this site to assure the viable survival of this essential forest habitat. 6 Amazonian foothills: WLT-US purchased a critical area of foothill forest beside Villavicencio, Colombia’s largest city on the Amazonian slope of the Andes, for ProAves to establish the new Orange- breasted Falcon Nature Reserve (right) that protects rare and endangered primates and birds. Tumbesian Dry Forests: In 2008 WLT-US donors provided the funds to expand by 120 acres Fundación Jocotoco's Jorupe Reserve, with many endemic species of the Tumbesian region of Ecuador, and helped build a new ecolodge to provide long-term ecotourism income to assist in covering reserve management costs. Chicamocha Dry forests: WLT-US purchased 3,215 acres of the last pristine dry tropical forest in the Chicamocha Dry Valley ecosystem to create a fabulous new nature reserve. This highly endangered and previously completely unprotected area has 40% of the world’s population of the critically endangered Niceforo’s Wren and Chestnut-bellied Hummingbird as well the magnificent Chicamocha Cavanillesia tree. Chocó rainforests: WLT-US acquired land to significantly expand three of the most important private protected areas in the Chocó region of western Ecuador and Colombia – one of the worlds wettest and most biodiverse ecosystems: • 1,470 acres to expand Fundación Jocotoco’s Canandé Reserve with the endangered and little-known Banded Ground-Cuckoo and an important breeding population of the majestic Great-green Macaw. • 1,003 acres at Fundación ProAves' Pangan Reserve in southern Colombia, one of the wettest rainforests on the planet with a very high concentration of endemic species, as well as the endangered Spectacled Bear (middle right). • 375 acres through a generous land donation to support Mindo Cloud Forest Foundation, protecting lands near Mindo, Ecuador known for its astonishing variety of hummingbirds, tanagers, and other rare fauna and flora. 7 Saving the Atlantic rainforests: Reserva Ecologica de Guapiaçu, Brazil. The Brazilian Atlantic rainforest or Mata Atlantica has been severely destroyed. We are helping protect one of the last large tracts of forest in the region, just 70km north of the city of Rio de Janeiro. REGUA is home to at least 420 species of birds—of which 120 are endemic to the Mata Atlantica biome—as well as mammals such as woolly spider monkey and puma. WLT-US donors contributed towards the purchase of 652 acres and assisted with the reintroduction of the critically endangered Red-billed Curassow. San Rafael, Paraguay. WLT-US contributed to the acquisition of 1,389 acres at San Rafael Reserve with our partner Guyra Paraguay. San Rafael is the most important tract of Atlantic Forest remaining in Paraguay and protects the watershed of a major tributary of the Paraguay- Paraná river system as well as protecting indigenous cultures in the region Mata Balbina Forest, Brazil.