Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities-Led Financing Mechanisms: Mapping of Existing Funds in Tropical Forest Countries
Across tropical forest countries, Indigenous peoples and local communities have established funds rooted in their own organizations and governance systems. These mechanisms offer pathways for directing resources toward territorial stewardship and self-determined development. Yet limited documentation of how these funds operate and the challenges they face has made it harder for donors and policymakers to […]
10 Years of Community-Based Forest Monitoring
Since 2015, Rainforest Alert has trained 400+ community members to monitor millions of acres of Peruvian Amazon.
Fall 2026 Newsletter
Leaders from AIDESEP and ORPIO, members of the Matsés people, and RFUS team members at the inauguration of a new territorial monitoring hub in Peru, September 2026.
Rainforest Foundation US’s Climate Impact Report: 12M+ Metric Tons of CO₂e Removed in 2025
Forests within RFUS’s program footprint removed the CO2 equivalent to the annual electricity use of over 2.5 million U.S. homes.
The Role of Intermediaries in Enabling Direct Funding for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (Published by the ICCA Consortium)
The Living Infrastructure We Can No Longer Afford to Underfund
Indigenous-led forest protection is ready to scale. Are we ready to invest?
Meet the All-Women Indigenous Firefighting Team Charting a Path for Climate Resiliency in the Brazilian Amazon
In Roraima, Brazil, an all-women Indigenous firefighting brigade is carrying forward generations of ecological knowledge to protect their land — and rewriting who gets to lead the fight.
18 Must-Read Books by Indigenous Authors to Read on International Day of Indigenous Peoples and Beyond (2026 Update)
Every year on August 9 we celebrate International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. On this day in 1982, the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations held its first meeting in Geneva where they drafted the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples, asserting their rights to self determination. Over six decades later, many […]
In 2025, Brazilian Amazon Fires Fell to Their Lowest Level in Four Decades. A “Super” El Niño Could Unravel the Progress.
After the worst fire season on record in 2024, the Brazilian Amazon caught a break in 2025 — but the reprieve may be short lived as scientists predict an approaching El Niño estimated to last through 2027.
Summer 2026 Newsletter
A Message From Our Executive Director Dear Friends and Supporters, Summertime is well underway, and this year, it has brought a sobering reminder of the accelerating climate crisis. In June, Europe saw record high temperatures, with parts of France reaching 112°F, while a massive heat dome and smoke from Canadian wildfires engulfed much of the […]
