Close to 80% of Earth’s remaining biodiversity are in traditional Indigenous cultural areas as well as nearly 40% of the wildlands. More than 1/3 of all remaining intact wild areas are stewarded by Indigenous and local people.

WILD12, the 12th World Wilderness Congress, is an environmental decision-making platform open to all members of civil society to build a global community for the protection of lands, waters and peoples. This community is for people from all sectors – business, the arts and sciences, activism, Indigenous Peoples, students, and more – to sit at the table with government actors and come to shared understandings of both the problems we confront and the coordinated actions we can and must take. The event is seven days long and will be attended by roughly 1,500 participants from 80 countries. Indigenous People’s and their leadership has been present at each Congress since inception in the 1970s, but never centered as it will be at WILD12, with an Indigenous hosting organization.

GCILL is a co-organizer of the event, and will be chairing the Global Indigenous Sessions. We are actively fundraising to bring 15 Indigenous leaders to present and participate. If you feel called to help us in our fundraising efforts, you may visit our donation page, where you can designate funds toward our WILD12 goals specifically.

To learn more about GCILL’s involvement and the focus on Indigenous stewardship at the Congress, visit our WILD12 page.

For more information about the WILD Foundation and event registration, you can visit WILD’s event page.