Article
Rainforest Foundation US 2021 Year in Review
As the year comes to a close, RFUS takes stock of the progress, victories, and lessons we learned in 2021.
News From the Ground
Top Stories
Article
Equal Rights to Defend the Rainforest: As Rainforest Alert Expands, An Eye Towards Gender Inclusion
Gender inclusion is key to effective and sustainable forest protection, yet many indigenous women have been traditionally excluded from participation. We highlight the work of women who are leaders in our Rainforest Alert program.
Press Release
Significance of Community-Held Territories in 24 Countries to Global Climate
New research shows indigenous peoples and local communities live on at least 3.75 million square miles of land spanning most of the world’s endangered tropical forests—yet have legal rights to less than half of these lands.
News Feed
Article
Violence Returns to a People Scarred by Genocide
The Yanomami, an indigenous people in the northern Amazon rainforest, were attacked by illegal gold miners several times in recent weeks, leaving several people wounded and two young children dead. With tens of thousands of miners still illegally occupying their land, the threat of continued violence remains.
Article
A Challenge in the Peruvian Amazon: To Stop Spreading COVID, Spread COVID Information Instead
On the heels of a recent survey of indigenous communities in Peru revealing widespread unfamiliarity with COVID-19 and hesitancy about the vaccine, RFUS has teamed up with indigenous partner organizations on a multilingual COVID-19 awareness campaign.
In The News
Profile in Forbes Gives a Face to the Amazon’s Front Line
An article in Forbes describes the work of indigenous leader Betty Rubio Padilla, who uses 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.