Geographies: Guyana

Financing Climate Justice: New Case Studies Share Practical Lessons on How Climate Finance Can Reach Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Examples from Guyana, Peru, Mesoamerica, and a global Indigenous alliance demonstrate practical solutions to overcome systemic funding barriers. New York, 18 September 2025 — Indigenous peoples and local communities protect more than a third of the planet’s most vital forests, yet receive less than one percent of international climate funding. Without adequate […]

Forest Carbon Data Helps Communities Benefit Financially from their Forests

By Isabela Barriga, David Gibbs and Cameron Ellis This article was originally published by Global Forest Watch and is republished here with permission. You can view the original article here. Indigenous Peoples and local communities play a crucial role in protecting forests and the areas they manage tend to experience lower deforestation rates than other […]

How Climate Finance Can Reach Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities: Practical Lessons from Four Regional Case Studies

Indigenous peoples and local communities protect 36% of the world’s intact tropical forests, yet receive less than 1% of international climate funding. If you are familiar with this work, you know this contradiction intimately. But closing the gap requires more than good intentions—it demands practical strategies that navigate entrenched systems while building genuine autonomy. Four […]

Paving the Way Towards COP30: “The answer is us—all of us”

Last month in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, Indigenous peoples and local communities gathered to send a powerful message to the world: the future of Earth’s forests, and the survival of all life they sustain, hinge on Indigenous peoples and local communities.

The True Cost of Gold: Mining, Malaria, and the Fight for Indigenous Peoples’ Lands in Guyana 

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.

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 […]

Challenges and Pathways for Equitable Carbon Markets: Insights from Guyana’s Experience

The certification of carbon credits in Guyana under a program designed without the participation and free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous peoples is a troubling precedent that threatens the rights of Indigenous peoples and the social integrity of carbon markets everywhere. Learn more about the issues in a new case study.

Pushback from rights experts after aid-funded carbon certifier rejects first appeal from Indigenous group

Josh Lichtenstein, Program Manager at Rainforest Foundation US, expresses disappointment at the rejection of the appeal from the Amerindian Peoples Association of Guyana (APA) by carbon certifier ART. “The issues raised by APA’s complaint and appeal are serious and ongoing, and have, if nothing else, clearly demonstrated that the ART validation and verification process is deeply flawed, and the grievance mechanism does not work,” he says.

Amazon Summit Falls Short: Leaders Must Dig Deeper and Assume Deforestation Commitments

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.