John Burton, wildlife conservationist, best-selling author, champion of nature and a long-term WTI partner passed away at the age of 78. WTI and the global conservation community lost a dear friend and patron on Sunday (May 22). Burton was a visionary who stayed ahead of his time and established one of the most successful conservation organizations in the world – World Land Trust.

Born in 1944, John left school to join the London Natural History Museum as an assistant information officer. But soon, he shifted to a career in journalism and gradually worked for the top environmental organizations of his time. He helped set up the first TRAFFIC offices globally under the IUCN’s Species Survival Alliance which now is among the apex bodies to counter the global illegal wildlife trade. Over the rest of his career, John has taken on various roles with government, intergovernmental and commercial agencies and has also written/edited more than 40 books on wildlife and conservation.

It was in 1989 that John founded the World Land Trust which has since helped save more than half a million-acre of threatened habitats across Asia, Africa, and Central/South America. Among the long-term partners of WTI, John and World Land Trust have been key to our projects in the Garo Hills and the Western Ghats.

John Burton after spotting tiger pugmark in a corridor in Uttarakhand, Photo by Sandeep Kumar Tiwari.

“John Burton believed in conserving wild habitat globally as he felt that had more lasting impact than smaller species-specific projects. He created a network of partners who believed in that concept too spanning from Belize to India and we at WTI were honored to be one of them. We salute his vision, his candid and pragmatic conservation ethic and his steadfast belief in his partners that has been the basis for long term conservation success.” -Vivek Menon, Founder and ED, Wildlife Trust of India.

Sandeep Kumar Tiwari, Chief of Conservation at WTI recollects his first meeting with John,“I knew him since 1994 when I first met him in ZSI, Kolkata. He strongly believed that acquiring land and natural habitats are the best ways to conserve nature and worked across the globe with local partners to secure lands and share the benefits of conservation with communities. John also had great interest in bats and rare mammals. With his death, we have lost a great friend, wildlife conservationist and visionary and the greatest homage to him would be to continue building on the land asset for wildlife conservation that was so close to his heart.”

Upasana Ganguly, Head of the Right of Passage division at WTI recalls, “His vision for conservation was way ahead of his time. He started World Land Trust with the focus on investing in the land which has now helped save thousands of acres of crucial wildlife habitats through 35 global partners, with John cultivating a friendship and providing mentorship to each one of them.”

We will miss him and his leadership and our deepest condolences to Viv, John’s wife who was literally his rock. We at WTI commit to carrying forward his legacy through the projects he supported and believed in, hopefully, with the same passion, dedication and focus that both John and Viv have displayed all these years.