Our Work

The Rainforest Foundation US currently supports partners in Belize, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Nicaragua, and Panama to defend their rights to their traditional lands and to protect and preserve their natural resources. Within these areas, RF-US provides project-related grants and direct technical assistance to indigenous and local partners. Projects are aimed at fulfilling specific local priorities - such as mapping land for demarcation, lobbying for stronger rights legislation or developing land management plans - while, at the same time, strengthening indigenous institutions' ability to advance their own agendas.

RF-US Projects 2010

Belize: Building local capacity to secure land rights and manage natural resources in Southern Belize

Brazil: Building Community Understanding of the Impacts of the Belo Monte Dam

Brazil: Strengthening Indigenous Women and their Communities

Brazil: Supporting Yanomami Advocacy

Ecuador: Guaranteeing Shuar territorial rights and resources

Guyana: Promoting the Rights of Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples in Climate Change Initiatives

Panama: Promoting the Rights of Panama’s Indigenous Peoples in Climate Change Initiatives

Panama: Wounaan Land Titling Project

Peru: Securing the Kandochi People’s Right to Health

Our Work Now

Our current work focuses on partnerships with indigenous communities to secure legal title to their land and to sustainably manage their natural resources.Additionally, with global climate change increasingly on the agenda, we are helping partners contribute to national and international dialogues on climate change policy that will ultimately impact their communities.Our work is described in general below; more information on specific projects can be found by clicking the links.

Securing land rights and natural resources
In recent years, our work has contributed to several monumental legal victories for indigenous communities in national and regional courts.But many of these communities continue to face resistance on the part of national governments to enforce these decisions.We are working with three communities in Central America – the Awas Tingni community in Nicaragua, the Wounaan of Panama and the Maya in Belize – to press for implementation of recent court decisions, and to demarcate lands.In Brazil, we are supporting a coalition of indigenous and grassroots groups in their efforts to disseminate information about the Belo Monte dam, which would affect thousands of people.

Promoting women’s empowerment
In Roraima in northern Brazil,indigenous women are dedicated to preserving their traditional craft skills both as a tool for generating income and for strengthening the bonds between generations of women.We are supporting this work through craft workshops led by master craftswomen as well as a robust marketing program.We are also helping strengthen their representative organization

Building community leadership
Promoting community leadership is central to all of our projects. We pursue this through targeted skills training as well as assistance to communities’ governance and advocacy activities. In 2010, we are providing support to the Yanomami people of northern Brazil through an innovative leadership training program.We are also working with the Shuar of Ecuador in strengthening their organization and consolidating their land and resource rights.

Ensuring indigenous participation in climate change initiatives
The international community has increasingly come to understand that protection of the rainforest is a key to mitigating climate change.Indigenous lands in the tropics, by and large, retain relatively intact forest ecosystems despite outside pressure, thanks to traditional management of resources.These areas are therefore prime candidates for programs aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD). Consultations with indigenous peoples have been inadequate however, and communities have demanded further information, and that their rights be respected.In response, RF-US is working with indigenous organizations in Guyana and Panama – two countries where REDD initiatives are growing quickly – to provide information on REDD and indigenous peoples rights, and to push for indigenous involvement in decision-making around these projects.