Stay up to date on rainforest news by reading 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.
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 longstanding struggle for justice for the widows and families of the murdered Saweto activists remains unfulfilled. In February, the culprits behind the murder of four Indigenous leaders from the Alto Tamaya-Saweto community had been sentenced to 28 years in prison. Then last month, in an unexpected twist, the Peruvian court reversed this decision and threw out the charges to order a reassessment of the legal process.
Climate Week NYC 2023 is quickly approaching. From September 17 to 24, 2023 thousands of political leaders, policymakers, scientists, experts, and activists will gather in New York City to drive climate action and demand change. Check out the highlights from this year’s schedule of events.
Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court is poised to make a critical decision on the Marco Temporal, a legal argument with profound implications for the land rights of Indigenous peoples. Dinamam Tuxá, the Executive Coordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), and Suzanne Pelletier, the Executive Director of Rainforest Foundation US, condemn this “time limit” on land rights in an op-ed featured on Mongabay.
On August 20, the people of Ecuador made history by voting to protect Yasuní National Park from oil drilling.
When ordinary people have the strength and the courage to make their voices heard, they can enact real change on seemingly intractable issues. Through direct democracy, the people of Ecuador have been able to take on the power of big oil, and secure an astonishing victory for the future of the Amazon.
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.
In Peru, land titling processes typically take years, even decades. However, this time, a collaborative effort involving Indigenous communities, Indigenous people’s organizations like AIDESEP and FECOTYBA, along with Rainforest Foundation US and the Regional Government of Loreto, achieved a remarkable resolution in just ten months.
As summer heats up, we are experiencing the undeniable effects of the climate crisis. The southern US is trapped in a record-breaking heatwave, and our offices in Brooklyn were shrouded for weeks in smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Many of us in North America felt these effects acutely, because they directly impacted us. But this is only a small taste of what our partners in South America have to live with—every year.
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.
In her latest article, Akola Thompson, advocacy coordinator at Guyana’s South Rupununi District Council, delves into the impacts of carbon offsetting on the Indigenous peoples of Guyana. She highlights the government’s persistent refusal to acknowledge Indigenous communities’ claims to their customary lands.
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Didier Devers
Chief of Party – USAID Guatemala
gro.y1696114767nffr@1696114767sreve1696114767dd1696114767
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.
