Our Mission
To protect primary forests, restore degraded forests and safeguard biocultural diversity around the world.Our Focus
Primary forest protection, protected areas and ecological restoration.“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead
Our Staff
CYRIL KORMOS, Founder / Executive Director
Cyril is Founder and Executive Director of Wild Heritage, a project of Earth Island Institute. He also serves as IUCN-WCPA Vice-Chair for World Heritage, is a member of IUCN’s World Heritage Panel and chairs the IUCN-WCPA World Heritage Network.
Cyril is also a co-founder and coordinator of the Primary Forest Alliance. He also serves as a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Primary Forest Task Team and of the Griffith University Primary Forests and Climate Change Research Projects and is a trustee of Wild Europe. He was a Lui-Walton Innovator’s Fellow at Conservation International from 2016-2018 and became a National Geographic Explorer in 2018.
Cyril has edited several books, including A Handbook on International Wilderness Law and Policy (Fulcrum Publishing) and three books in the CEMEX Nature Series: Earth’s Legacy: Natural World Heritage, A Geography of Hope: Saving Primary Forests and Nature’s Solutions to Climate Change. He has also published extensively in scientific and policy journals.
Prior to Wild Heritage, Cyril was Vice President for Policy at the WILD Foundation, and before WILD, was Senior Director for Program Management in the President’s Office at Conservation International.
Cyril holds a B.A. in English from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.Sc. in Politics of the World Economy from the London School of Economics and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. Cyril was a Visiting Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management in 2015-2016.
DR. KAIA AFRICANIS, Conservation Science & Development Director
Dr. Kaia Africanis is the Conservation Science & Development Director at Wild Heritage, where she provides strategic, scientific, and fundraising leadership within the North America program. She leads the coordination and execution of ecoregional conservation assessments (ECAs), manages key partnerships, and drives grant development to support program sustainability. Kaia also contributes to scientific publishing, outreach, and communications aimed at advancing the protection of mature and old-growth forests across the Western United States.
Her experience includes leading wildlife trafficking research in sub-Saharan Africa, directing interdisciplinary ecological and wildfire assessments in the U.S., and conducting climate change research on Alaska’s arctic tundra. She holds a Ph.D. from Oregon State University’s College of Forestry and brings additional expertise in human dimensions of natural resources, including risk perception, governance, and values-based decision-making.
“Conservationists leave no mark save the scars upon the Earth that could have been prevented had they stood their ground.” David Brower
Our Partners
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