Press
To Counter Climate Change, We Must Protect Indigenous Peoples: an Op-Ed by RFUS’s Executive Director
To counteract climate change, we must protect indigenous peoples. Rainforest Foundation US’s Executive Director lays out why.
News
Read about our work as it’s appeared in the press, as well as news from our partners on the ground through our stories, newsletters, multimedia, and reports. Members of the press can visit media resources to join our press list.
Stories
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.
Newsletters
August 2022 Newsletter
In this newsletter you can read about the expansion of our Rainforest Alert forest patrolling program, including payments for communities involved that are used for collective benefits. Also meet our Senior Geographer, and learn about the Justice for Saweto campaign.
Stories
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.
Reports
Realizing the Pledge
Challenges have prevented funding from going directly to indigenous peoples who are key to combating the climate crisis. Rainforest Foundations outline key steps to ensuring climate and biodiversity funding gets to the frontlines.
Stories
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.
Stories
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.
Press
In Honor of Earth Day, Donate to These Organizations
Marie Claire highlights RFUS and other environmental groups to support, on Earth Day and every day.
Press
Daughter of Slain Indigenous Activist Speaks Out in The Miami Herald
Read the story of Diana Ríos, daughter of indigenous environmental activist Jorge Ríos Pérez, who has followed in her father’s footsteps.
Stories
Delay in Trial for Murder of Four Indigenous Rainforest Activists
The murder trial of Amazon loggers who allegedly killed four indigenous environmental activists from the village of Saweto was postponed at the last moment on Monday, April 4th.
Stories
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.
Stories
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.