Land Trust Organizations

The parties to a DRC agreement are the private landowner and, most often, a Land Trust, or organización garante de conservación, which is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with expertise in land conservation and in drafting and implementing the DRC. Under the terms of the agreement, the land trust is legally responsible for ensuring that the terms of the agreement are upheld. 

The land trust plays a key role in the implementation of a DRC, since it will monitor and ensure that the agreement and the protection of the conservation values ​​are fulfilled in the long term.

From the beginning

Land Trust NGOs were first created in the 1950s and 60s in the United States. These organizations were established in response to a need by private landowners for tools and strategies to ensure the long-term conservation of their properties. Landowners needed an alternative to selling or donating their property to the government, and both the public and private sectors saw the advantage of creating a network of both public and private protected areas across the US.
Today there are NGOs similar to land trusts, and private lands conservation agreements, in several countries around the world, including but not limited to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Now, some of these same private land conservation opportunities and challenges have motivated Chile to create land trusts and the DRC law. The DRC law also states that government agencies and individuals can be holders in the agreement. However it is not advisable for individuals to act in this capacity because they lack the capacity and expertise to monitor and if necessary legally enforce the DRC in the long-term.
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Standards for land trusts organizations

This standard proposes principles, criteria and indicators for organizations that act as holder in Derecho real de Conservación agreements so that they can implement and implement effective and robust agreements.

To find more visit:
www.estandaresparaconservar.cl

A land trusts is a non-profit organization whose mission is the conservation of biodiversity, or its associated cultural and human well-being values, to which it directs all its strategies and actions.

This standard promotes organizations that reinvest their profits each year to strengthen their management capacity and, of course, to publicly account for an entity that acts with an environmental and social sense. On the other hand, that organization genuinely engaged in conservation is recognized and valued, understanding that conserving also means contributing to the well-being of society and territories.

The governing body of a land trust is responsible for fulfilling its mission with a strategic vision, having an appropriate structure, policies and procedures that ensure its continuity and stability in the long term.

A governing body responsible and committed to the land trust is a fundamental part of the foundations proposed in this standard, as genuine, cohesive and well-organized leadership is a crucial quality for sustaining a proper annual operation in the organization.

The land trust plans its activities according to its conservation objectives, and has a paid – or voluntary – team of work with sufficient capacities to implement its projects.

The land trust must also be equipped with a competent task team that has its very clear role within the entity and has the capacity to project its work annually.

The land trust advances in fulfilling its mission, through timely selection of its conservation projects, engaging in responsible agreements or transactions with landowners, or acquiring properties to be conserved, as well as seeking effective actions to ensure the success of projects in the long run.

The land trust should define an evaluation process for its projects in order to establish the measures that best guide their implementation towards concrete and achievable objectives. This is essential for the team’s field deployment, both to ensure that they know the conservation values to be protected, as well as to build a relationship of collaboration and trust with landowners.

The land trust operates in compliance with current national regulations, in accordance with established ethical principles, and makes relevant and up-to-date information about its conservation projects available to the public. A land trust must operate under known ethical parameters, and contribute to the public good from an ecological and social view.

The land trust handles its finances and assets in a responsible manner, as well as ensuring its long-term financing capacity. A land trust that is determined to persist over time will understand that donations or insolvency funds are not the only way to sustain sustainable financing, and that its increased operational efforts should be focused not only on the custody of conservation agreements, but also on self-management and diversity in terms of financial resources.

The land trust must develop an organizational culture with a sense of place, participatory, inclusive and respecting the diversity of the territory. The meaning of this principle is to promote the idea that developing a link with a particular territory will increase the effectiveness of conservation programmes, strengthen their functioning and that of other land trusts in Chile.