The South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) was established in 2005 to raise funds to support its two primary purposes:
- To help efforts to conserve and protect those species of indigenous fauna and flora that breed and grow on South Georgia or in the surrounding seas and to raise awareness of South Georgia’s threatened species.
- To assist efforts to preserve the historical heritage of South Georgia, including selected historical sites of importance, and increase international awareness of the human history of the island through the South Georgia Museum.
The creation of the Trust reflected the fact that many heritage projects were (and remain) beyond the limited financial resources of the GSGSSI. With its ability to fundraise, the Trust works closely with GSGSSI to identify and prioritise future heritage projects.
In recent years the bulk of the Trust’s work has focussed on their extensive habitat restoration project to eradicate non-native rodents (rats and mice) from South Georgia. In the coming years GSGSSI will be working in close collaboration with the trust on a range of heritage projects.
As well as funding and managing the habitat restoration project [see Environment/Terrestrial/non-native species/rats] the Trust also manages the running of the South Georgia Museum at Grytviken and has also funded restoration works to the Manager’s Villa at Husvik as well as a number of publications and heritage surveys.