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Realizing the Pledge
Ticuna fishermen early morning on the Amazon River. IMAGE CREDIT: Mauricio Velez-Dominguez Increased funding for forest communities can transform global
News From the Ground
Top Stories
Article
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.
Article
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.
News Feed
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.
Article
Meet Fernando Durán, President of the Reforestation Committee of Buen Jardín de Callaru
This is the story of Fernando Durán, who is leading his community of Buen Jardín de Callaru to restore landscapes destroyed by illegal loggers and coca-growers.