How Indigenous Women in Guyana’s North Pakaraimas Are Organizing for Change
Indigenous women are charting a path toward stronger leadership and gender representation in their communities—an approach reflected in Rainforest Foundation US’s new Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy.
Yanomami Territory Three Years After the Crisis: What Has Changed and What Leaders Still Demand
In early 2023, shortly after taking office, Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared a public health emergency in Yanomami territory, the largest Indigenous territory in the country. Years of illegal mining, environmental destruction, and institutional neglect under the previous administration of Jair Bolsonaro had culminated in a devastating humanitarian crisis. Images of malnourished […]
Why Stingless Bees Matter—and How Indigenous Communities in the Amazon Are Protecting Them
Along the Napo River in Peru’s Amazon, Indigenous Kichwa communities are reviving traditional knowledge to care for Amazonian stingless native bees as part of a project focused on sustainable livelihoods and forest stewardship. Using hollowed logs and wooden boxes, families manage bee nests that support food security, provide medicinal honey, and contribute to the health […]
How Rainforest Foundation US Ranks Among the Most Effective Climate and Environmental Organizations
Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) is recognized as one of the most effective environmental and climate organizations working today, combining Indigenous leadership, evidence-based strategies, and high transparency to deliver measurable impact. As 2025 comes to an end, RFUS reflects on a year of meaningful progress made possible by Indigenous leadership across the Amazon Basin and Central […]
No Forests = No Future: A Call to Support Indigenous Defenders on the Frontlines
As we near the end of 2025, an urgent truth continues to drive our work: Without tropical forests, we have no future. Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) has long supported Indigenous partners across the Amazon basin and Central America’s rainforests. It has been proven time again that Indigenous peoples are the most impactful defenders of rainforests […]
The Amazon Spoke. Did World Leaders at COP30 Listen?
More than 50,000 people marched in the “Great People’s March” during COP30, calling for an end to violence against land defenders, a halt to environmental destruction, and a global phaseout of fossil-fuels.
Amazon Flotilla: Indigenous Peoples Must be at the Center of COP30 Climate Negotiations
An extraordinary journey along the Amazon River just took place. The Yaku Mama Flotilla traveled over 1,800 miles from the Andes in Ecuador to Belém, Brazil, the host city of the next United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30). This is the first time in history that the COP will take place in the Amazon. Onboard […]
Building a Fairer Forest Finance System: Indigenous Leadership in the Tropical Forests Forever Facility
As world leaders prepare to gather in Belém, Brazil, for COP30 in November, one topic is expected to take center stage: the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF)—an ambitious proposal from the Brazilian government to create a lasting financial mechanism for forest protection. The TFFF aims to provide countries with steady, long-term payments for proven forest […]
In 2024, Amazon fires scorched an area equivalent to the entire state of California—in Brazil alone.
In 2024, fires devastated the Amazon at an unprecedented scale. For the first time on record, fires were the leading cause of forest loss in the Amazon. More than 44.2 million acres of rainforest burned, an area larger than the entire state of California.
Why Guyana’s Wapichan Headwaters Must Be Defended
The ancestral lands of Guyana’s Wapichan, Macushi, and Wai Wai peoples are currently under threat from illegal gold mining and deforestation. A roadmap for protecting the region is underway.
