Mexico. The Maderas del Carmen was the first legally designated wilderness area in Latin America. This work led to the establishment of an "Area of Bi-National Environmental Interest" straddling 10 million acres of Texas/Mexico border. This area was supported by presidents Barack Obama and Felipe Calderón and signed into law in November 2011. The World Wilderness Congress The World Wilderness Congress is an environmental forum. It began with a conversation between friends, Player and his Zulu mentor Magqubu Ntombela were sitting on the banks of the Umfolozi River in 1974 when they came up with the idea for the congress. Ntombela turned to Player and said, "We are doing good work, but we need to do more. We should call an indaba-kulu, a great gathering, for all people to come together for wilderness". Three years later, the first World Wilderness Congress convened in South Africa. The event introduced the concept of wilderness as an issue of international importance. The congress has become WILD's flagship program and has convened nine times on five continents, drawing thousands of people from around the world. World leaders, such as Mexico's President Felipe Calderón (2009), Norway's Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland (1987), Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (1980); notable people such as Jane Goodall and Sylvia Earle, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Thor Heyerdahl, Wangari Maathai, Mario Molina; tribal and community leaders such as Tashka Yawanawa, Oren Lyons, Maqgubu Ntombela; the heads of major international corporations; and hundreds of conservationists have participated in the congress. Nature Needs Half At the 9th World Wilderness Congress in Mérida, Mexico, WILD, with the collaboration of a spectrum of international organizations, governments and individuals, introduced Nature Needs Half, which aspires that humans give up use of half of land and water on Earth, in order to support wilderness. Nature Needs Half is an idea put forth by the WILD Foundation. Marine biologist Sylvia Earle and Jane Goodall have endorsed Nature Needs Half, with Earle's only criticism being that she "hoped that half would be enough". Since its inception, WILD has begun collecting and conducting case studies of places around the world that have, or are on track to achieve, at least half protection. Wilderness Foundation Global The WILD Foundation is a founding member of Wilderness Foundation Global, a consortium of independent, like-minded organizations consisting of WILD Foundation (US), The Wilderness Foundation (SA), The Wilderness Foundation (UK) and the Wilderness Leadership School (SA).