Multimedia
Video: Reforestation Alert
Reforestation Alert follows the story of a community in the Peruvian Amazon that, having once successfully eliminated illegal deforestation on their territories, tackles what comes next: reforestation.
News From the Ground
Top Stories
Article
Fires in the Amazon Shift with the Seasons, and Rage On
Rainforest Foundation US analyzes Amazon fire data from 2019 and 2020. Indigenous peoples’ traditional land management practices lower the risk of extreme forest fires.
Article
Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied: Saweto Testifies Before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Diana Ríos testifies before the IACHR today regarding delays in the Peruvian judicial system that are denying her community justice.
News Feed
In The News
Profile in Forbes Gives a Face to the Amazon’s Front Line
An article in Forbes describes the work of Betty Rubio Padilla, president of the Federation of Communities of the Middle Napo and Curaray and Arabela River Basins, to stop deforestation in her territory. RFUS trained Betty’s community to use satellite technology and deforestation alerts in order to quickly detect and respond to illegal incursions.
Article
Mining on Sacred Land in Raposa Serra do Sol
Gold mining brings prospectors, disease, and destruction to indigenous lands in Brazil. But indigenous communities are fighting back.
In The News
How One Man – And A Creative Map – Made A Difference In Panama’s COVID-19 Crisis
RFUS’s Mapping Coordinator, Carlos Doviaza, was featured in an NPR article that describes how his maps are helping indigenous communities in Panama assert their land rights and track COVID-19.
Article
In Guyana, New Documentation of the Land Indigenous People Hold (and the Land They’re Unjustly Denied)
RFUS supported the Amerindian Peoples Association to conduct a nation-wide assessment of indigenous lands in Guyana. The report exposes inconsistencies and injustices in the land recognition process.
Report
Amerindian Peoples Association Launches Land Tenure Assessment and Geo-Database
Tomorrow, APA will release its findings of a nearly decade-long assessment of indigenous land rights in Guyana. The organization will also launch a new geographic database to map Guyana’s indigenous territories.
Article
New COVID-19 Variant Threatens Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon
A new variant of COVID-19 is putting indigenous peoples across the Amazon at heightened risk–yet again. Reports from the ground come from Peru and Brazil.
Article
Rainforest Foundation US 2020 Year In Review
A summary of the highlights of Rainforest Foundation US’s impact to protect the peoples and the rainforests of Central and South America in 2020.
In The News
Bridging Ancient Wisdom Into Modern Society
Forbes.com featured Rainforest Foundation as an example of celebrity-endorsed organizations doing effective work in support of indigenous peoples.
Article
The Naso People of Panama Celebrate Land Rights Win After a 50-Year Struggle
Panama’s Supreme Court awards the Naso people with title to 160,000 hectares of their traditional lands.
Press Release
A Tragedy Foretold: COVID-19 Infections Spike in Yanomami Territory
An unprecedented report details the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory, suggesting that one in three individuals may have already been infected by the new coronavirus.
Multimedia
Video: The Shaman’s Message
The Shaman’s Message is inspired by Yanomami shaman and leader, Davi Kopenawa, whose work “holds up the sky,” protecting the forest, biodiversity and climate stability.
Article
International Statement of Solidarity with Peruvian Indigenous Peoples During the Political Crisis
RFUS and a coalition of nonprofits express their support for indigenous peoples in Peru and rejection of the current Prime Minister.
