Land Rights and Monitoring Revitalize Indigenous Peoples’ Connections to Ancestral Lands
While securing land tenure and rainforest monitoring is pivotal to reducing deforestation and protecting biodiversity—it can also enable Indigenous peoples to deepen their cultural connections to and understanding of their ancestral lands.
Indigenous Women Rising: Breaking Barriers and Leading the Fight to Protect the Amazon
Indigenous women are increasingly taking the lead in monitoring their rainforest lands and stepping into key leadership roles within their communities. By breaking barriers and asserting their place on the frontlines, Indigenous women are driving the fight to safeguard the rainforest, preserve their cultures, and shape the future of our planet.
The True Cost of Gold: Mining, Malaria, and the Fight for Indigenous Peoples’ Lands in GuyanaÂ
A growing dual crisis of public health and environmental devastation is unfolding in the Amazon rainforest. Over the past decade, a surge in illegal and unregulated gold mining has had the unexpected side effect of leading to a sharp rise in malaria cases, disproportionately affecting Indigenous communities across the Guiana Shield.
From the Amazon to LA: Destruction From Climate Change and Greed Know No Boundaries
Fires ravage the São Marcos Indigenous Territory in Brazil, February 2024.
A Year of Resilience, Progress, and Hope for Rainforests and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights
As 2024 comes to a close, there’s much to reflect on. It was a year of immense challenges. Yet despite these challenges, we made significant achievements in protecting rainforests and supporting our Indigenous partners across the Amazon and Central America in their efforts to defend their ancestral territories—making 2024 a year defined by resilience, hope, […]
2024 A Year In Review
A Message From Our Executive Director Dear Friends and Supporters, As we look back on this year, we are both humbled and inspired by the progress made alongside Indigenous communities across the Amazon and Central America. Together, we have witnessed historic wins: from securing legal titles for 20 Indigenous communities in Peru’s Amazon to training […]
A Rainforest Without Rain: Communities in the Amazon Grapple with the Impacts of Extreme Drought and FiresÂ
This drought is the worst in four decades and is contributing to an alarming number of fires this year raging across multiple regions throughout the Amazon and posing a threat to Indigenous and local communities and some of the world’s most vital ecosystems.
The Ancestral Forest: How Indigenous Peoples Transformed the Amazon into a Vast Garden
For centuries, many people in the Western world believed the Amazon to be an unpopulated and untouched forest. This has never been entirely true. The Amazon has been managed by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. On this International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, explore how—through the creation of fertile soils and selecting and cultivating various plant and tree species over millennia—Indigenous peoples have transformed the Amazon rainforest into the most biodiverse ecosystem on Earth.
Amazon On Fire: 2024 Sees Highest Number of Fires in 20 Years
In a troubling trend, the Amazon registered a 43.2% increase in fire hotspots during the same seven month period (January – July) from 2023 to 2024. According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The Amazon registered 20,221 fire hotspots through July 2024, the highest number for this period since 2005.
Cinema on the River: A Floating Film Festival in the Heart of the Peruvian Amazon
The Muyuna Floating Film Festival showcased a unique floating screen, bringing films directly to riverside communities in the Peruvian Amazon. During the festival, Rainforest Foundation US supported an Indigenous Cinema Workshop, emphasizing the urgent need to understand these issues from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
