Environment

We Could Lose All Our Wilderness Regions Within Our Lifetime

Meet the Organisation that is Helping to Preserve our Wilderness Regions by Connecting People to Nature

13.07.2018 | contributed by Dominic Meredith Hardy – Global Change Collective
Photo by The European Nature Trust
Photo by The European Nature Trust

A study by the University of Queensland revealed that we have lost 10% of our wilderness since 1992 and could lose it all within the next 50 years.

As urbanisation progresses across the planet, and digital media consumes more of our time, a growing population is becoming disconnected from the natural world. As well as being an asset on which we depend for survival, providing clean air, soil, and water, overwhelming evidence has shown that exposure to wilderness is integral to humans’ mental health and physical well-being.

One man who is working hard to engage people and the environment is British philanthropist and founder of The European Nature Trust (TENT), Paul Lister. Paul and his team are enabling people to engage in a different kind of eco-holiday. Unique experiences that connect people to nature and raise funds for leading conservation organisations across Europe. Its long-term support provides conservation areas with not just funding injections, but also by fostering ongoing sustainable revenue to support the protection of the Earth’s remaining wild places.

TENT supports projects by connecting people to nature. The company creates amazing tailor-made trips for individuals, families and corporate teams to visit stunning conservation areas across Europe. TENT further supports engagement by producing high-end beautiful films about the spectacular wildlife in these areas and the human stories surrounding them, which are then screened at highly curated events.

Some of TENT’s notable impacts already include supporting Foundation Conservation Carpathia (FCC), which is creating Europe’s largest protected forest area in the Carpathian Mountains. Through ecotourism and local education they are working hard to turn the 200,000-hectare area into the “Yellowstone of Europe”.

Through trip packages, the team aims to inspire a long-term involvement. More than an opportunity to visit beautiful, wild locations, TENT provides a new perspective that comes with understanding the environmental significance of unfamiliar lands. The team believes that the more that people know about a place, the more their admiration grows, and the more they are inspired to protect it.

What makes TENT unique is its network of projects across Europe and their connections to the people on the ground behind their protection. This enables them to create bespoke, ethical and noteworthy experiences with people that are embedded in local conservation projects.

This new age of conservation travel can make an extremely important contribution to conserving our planet’s remaining wildlife and wildlands and can bring great economic benefits to the local community, as demonstrated in Romania, where FCC’s national park project is creating jobs, driving tourism and generating sustainable income.

People are now looking beyond the standard holiday and are seeking real, worthwhile experiences. In order to succeed, ecotourism needs to unite conservation, communities and sustainable travel in a way that excites us. TENT is putting European conservation on the map and creating an option for adventurous eco-travel closer to home. 

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Photo by The European Nature Trust
“The best way to get excited by the environment is to get into it." Paul Lister

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