Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) envisions a world where the rights of Indigenous peoples are respected and rainforests flourish. Our 2025–2030 Strategic Plan is a blueprint for achieving that vision, scaling Indigenous-led forest protection across Central and South America so that people, forests, and the climate can thrive together, now and for generations to come.
Our Goals by 2030:
- Advance and defend Indigenous peoples’ land rights across nearly 14 million acres.
- Support community-led monitoring over 91 million acres and effective management of 43 million acres.
- Strengthen 67 Indigenous and local community organizations to scale impact and access long-term funding.
The next five years will decide the future of the world’s tropical rainforests and the stability of our global climate. Rainforests across Latin America are home to more terrestrial biodiversity than anywhere else on Earth and are among our planet’s most powerful carbon sinks. Yet they are nearing a dangerous threshold, one that could see them transform into degraded savannahs, turning forests into carbon sources, triggering mass species extinctions, and disrupting weather patterns across the globe.
In the Amazon, scientists have warned that if deforestation reaches 20 to 25 percent, up to 60 percent of the forest could collapse. Today, nearly 18 percent has already been cleared. The urgency could not be greater. Protecting what remains is essential to our planet’s survival, and that future depends on securing the rights and leadership of the Indigenous peoples who have safeguarded these forests for millennia.
A World Where Rainforests Flourish
Within this urgency lies an extraordinary opportunity. Over the next five years, RFUS and our Indigenous partners in Brazil, Peru, Guyana, Ecuador, Panama, and Mesoamerica will advance Indigenous peoples’ land rights across 14 million acres, because when communities have legal control over their ancestral lands, they can protect forests for generations.
We will also expand effective territorial control and governance across 91 million acres. Securing land rights is not enough, protecting forests requires strong governance, the right tools, and sustained support.
Finally, we will strengthen 67 Indigenous and local organizations and increase their access to funding to deliver measurable, lasting impact. When Indigenous organizations are strong, they can confront new challenges, defend their lands, secure and manage more resources, and shape their own futures on their own terms.
This work is made possible through RFUS’s long-term partnerships with Indigenous organizations that are built on respect, trust, and collaboration. This partner-driven model ensures that resources reach those best equipped to protect rainforests.
“Protecting forests means supporting the people whose knowledge and leadership keep them standing. This plan is our collective roadmap to ensure that Indigenous peoples have the rights, resources, and tools they need to protect the forests we all depend on.”
-Suzanne Pelletier,
Executive Director of Rainforest Foundation US
2030 and Beyond
A global movement is rising to protect the world’s rainforests, and with them, a habitable climate for humanity. But this movement will only succeed if resources reach the Indigenous peoples who are best positioned to defend their territories and steward these forests in perpetuity.
Through our 2025–2030 Strategic Plan, RFUS is channeling this global momentum into concrete, community-led action that delivers results where they matter most. What we do now, for rainforests and for the people who protect them, will shape the fate of our planet forever.
Read the 2025–2030 Strategic Plan to learn how RFUS is protecting Central and South America’s rainforests, and our shared future.
