A severe drought in the Amazon is disrupting transportation, isolating communities, and putting wildlife at risk for survival. Indigenous peoples in the region are urging their governments to declare a climate emergency.
The III Indigenous Women’s March, held from September 11-14 in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, brought together over 6,000 female leaders from various Indigenous communities worldwide. A delegation of women from Roraima highlighted how far women in Brazil were willing to travel to have their voices heard in the rallying cry in defense of their lands and cultures. Read our full account of the events.
Brazil’s Supreme Court reached a majority decision to reject Marco Temporal, a pernicious legal argument that translates as a “Time Limit” on Indigenous peoples’ land rights. As the results were announced, Indigenous communities around Brazil erupted into celebration, filling the central plazas of state capitals with music and dancing.
The final declaration of the Amazon Summit, referred to as the Belém Declaration, has fallen short of expectations for collectively implementing crucial measures to protect the Amazon rainforest, its peoples, and the global climate. It notably lacks a commitment towards zero deforestation by 2030 and fails to address halting oil exploration in the region. Read our full statement.
Land titles are the most effective way to reduce deforestation rates in Indigenous peoples’ territory, resulting in a 66% reduction in forest cover loss. 17 land titles were secured for Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon in record time—more titles were established in ten months than were possible in the previous three years.
Five Yanomami Indigenous people, including two children, were injured in a shooting in Yanomami territory, in Roraima, Brazil, on Monday, July 3rd. It is not new that illegal mining has ravaged Indigenous lands, with more than 20,000 invaders in the Yanomami territory alone, destroying forests, bringing disease, sexual exploitation, and death.
The Marco Temporal thesis is the greatest threat to the rights and lives of Indigenous peoples in Brazil today. But the potential impacts are not limited to these communities—they are universal. Our shared future depends on the health of the Amazon, the world’s largest tropical forest and one of the major contributors to the climate’s maintenance. As the primary and best guardians of the Amazon rainforest, Indigenous peoples and their lands play a crucial role in mitigating climate change.
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.
As the year comes to a close, RFUS takes stock of the progress, victories, and lessons we learned in 2021.
For three years in a row, Vox has featured Rainforest Foundation US in an article that lists high-impact organizations addressing the climate crisis.
New research shows indigenous peoples and local communities live on at least 3.75 million square miles of land spanning most of the world’s endangered tropical forests—yet have legal rights to less than half of these lands.
Earlier this month, the United Nations’ climate change panel released a report stating that global warming will inevitably intensify in the coming decades. The only question is: By how much? Here, we lay out the role RFUS will play in mitigating the damage.
There is no planet B. Your support is crucial to help scale up Indigenous-led solutions to the climate crisis to protect rainforests and our planet’s future.
Every $1 you give will result in $2 to RFUS, thanks to a match offered by a generous donor!
Didier Devers
Chief of Party – USAID Guatemala
gro.y1701648613nffr@1701648613sreve1701648613dd1701648613
Didier has been coordinating the USAID-funded B’atz project since joining Rainforest Foundation US in April 2022. He holds a Master’s in Applied Anthropology and a Bachelor’s in Geography. Before joining the organization, Didier worked for 12 years in Central and South America on issues of transparency, legality, governance, and managing stakeholders’ processes in the environmental sector. Prior to that he worked on similar issues in Central Africa. He speaks French, Spanish, and English, and is based in Guatemala.
