Six Climate Change Topics to Watch in 2023

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has emphasized that humanity will face irreversible climate breakdown unless we act immediately to transform global systems and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This article focuses on six key climate topics to keep your eyes on this year.

2022 A Year In Review

As the year comes to a close we’re looking back at all of the amazing things we’ve accomplished in 2022, together! Check out our Year in Review.

A Renewed Focus on Direct Financing at International Climate Summits

Global leaders and climate activists convened in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from November 6-18 for the United Nations’ Conference of Parties (COP27), the world’s preeminent climate summit.

For the World’s Largest Indigenous Peoples’ Coalition, A Change in Leadership

Team members from Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) helped convene a meeting of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC)—the world’s largest indigenous peoples’ coalition— in Geneva, Switzerland.

In Eastern Panama, Indigenous Peoples Fight Deforestation as they’re Scapegoated for it

The Darien Bioregion of Eastern Panama is being deforested at an alarming rate, driven in part by illegal trafficking. Rainforest Foundation US’s partner Geoindígena is actively fighting to stop rainforest destruction in the region, bolstering indigenous peoples’ case for land claims in the eyes of those agencies.

Keeping Forests Standing and Bettering Lives

Rainforest Foundation US has begun an unprecedented program of direct finance forest defense, wherein indigenous communities are financially rewarded for successfully protecting their territories against deforestation. In Puerto Alegre, on the Amazon River in Northern Peru, community members speak about the tremendous vulnerabilities confronting them.

In the Upper Napo of Peru, Kichwa Communities Wall Off the Forest

As our rainforest protection program scales up throughout the region, a chance for exponential gains.

A Push to Enshrine Greater Rights for Guyana’s Indigenous Peoples

Guyana’s indigenous peoples are pushing for revisions to the Amerindian Act, the federal law that outlines their rights. Proposed changes include the right to collective territory, and upholding indigenous groups’ land titling to fight extractive industries.

Panama Government Permits Rainforest Destruction, in Abrupt Reversal

A Panamanian governmental agency annulled the land claim of Aruza, an indigenous Wounaan village sitting on 31 square miles of primary rainforest in the Darien Gap. With the support of Rainforest Foundation US, Aruza is legally challenging the decision.

Climate Change Impacts Hit Hard in the Rainforest: Indigenous Communities are Already Experiencing Climate Scientists’ Warnings of Water Scarcity and Human Vulnerability

The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts increasingly unstable water availability. Trace the stories of our indigenous partners who are already seeing these impacts and what it means for the urgency of rainforest protection.