Help us to help the environment... with the World Land Trust charity

Thanks to you – by booking your flights and holidays through Travel Republic – we have been able to give our support to an extremely worthwhile environmental charity: the World Land Trust (WLT).
We donated £75,000 during 2008 and will continue to donate throughout 2009.

With the expert assistance from the World Land Trust (WLT), we have put two important programmes in place.

Firstly, when someone books a flight with us we make a small donation that goes direct to the purchase of critical wildlife habitat in a highly remote and undiscovered corner of Paraguay. To date we have helped to conserve almost 3,000 hectares - that's 7,000 acres, the equivalent of 3,888 football pitches ! And we are adding to it every day.

Secondly, as one of our customers you have an opportunity (if you so choose) to 'carbon balance' your travel through our carbon balancing programme.

Why we support the World Land Trust

The World Land Trust has been described as the environmentalist's environmental charity. One of its patrons is Sir David Attenborough and among its trustees, council and supporters are some of the UK's leading conservationists and naturalists. More to the point, it is one of those charities that just gets on and does it.

Although relatively small, the Trust has helped purchase and protect over 375,000 acres of threatened habitats in Asia, Central and South America, Europe and Africa. All this has been achieved by a small staff from offices in the rural town of Halesworth, Suffolk. Indeed, one of the reasons why many people donate to the Trust is the fact that they are able to keep their overheads to a minimum and don't waste a penny of the money they raise.

It was certainly the automatic choice when we were looking for an environmental charity to support.

Look what we've managed to date...

With the help of you, our customers, we've managed to establish the 'Travel Republic Reserve', almost 3,000 hectares (7,000 acres) of highly threatened habitat in the remote Chaco-Pantanal in Paraguay. The reserve is home to animals such as jaguars, pumas, black howler monkeys and three local 'giants': the Giant Armadillo, Giant Anteater and Giant Otter. We are raising money to increase the size of the reserve every day.

We have also managed to conserve land through our carbon balancing programme. So far we have been able to give around £43,000 to WLT to purchase and protect threatened tropical forest habitat in Ecuador. This forest will be protected forever not only as a carbon store, but also providing a home for local wildlife such as Spectacled Bear (like Paddington!) and Mountain Tapir.

Why it's such a good idea to 'carbon balance':

When you book a flight or holiday with Travel Republic you are supporting the purchase of critical wildlife habitat in Paraguay. But we know some of our customers would like to do more. Which is why we have set up a carbon balancing scheme.

It works like this.

As you are making your booking we ask you if you would like to carbon balance your flight.

If you say 'yes' you make an extra payment, which we pass on directly to the World Land Trust.

They use the money to protect and regenerate an area of tropical forest.

Why is this important?

It is widely accepted by the scientific community that the build up of human-produced carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is one of the main causes of climate change.

Tropical forests play a major role in neutralising excess carbon in the atmosphere, and by protecting them we also help to save endangered species and preserve the biodiversity of our planet.

If you would like to know more about carbon balancing visit www.carbonbalanced.org

If you would like to do more...?

We are also hoping that our customers will make direct donations to the World Land Trust. In particular, please consider saving an acre of rainforest – or some other endangered habitat – in perpetuity for £50 (or half an acre for £25). You can do this using a credit card on their website 24 hours a day. Incidentally, saving acres in this way makes a wonderful wedding, anniversary or birthday gift.

If you would like to learn more about the World Land Trust visit www.worldlandtrust.org

Telephone: 01 553 0070  © 2012 Travel Republic Limited.  All Rights Reserved.