Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) partners with indigenous peoples to protect vital rainforest ecosystems and address the climate crisis. We provide support to indigenous communities and organizations to secure their rights to their traditional lands and livelihoods. As an organization, RFUS prides itself on being nimble and flexible, engaging with our partners over the long term on initiatives based on their priorities and aspirations.
The following are among the key ways RFUS supports its partners:
RFUS provides training, tools and financial support to indigenous organizations to map, monitor, and secure their territories using cost effective technology like smartphones and drones.
RFUS advises communities to build participatory, bottom-up land management plans to protect their forests and to set the stage for sustainable livelihoods that respect their values, beliefs, and ways of life.
RFUS supports partners to advocate for national and international policy change as it relates to indigenous peoples’ rights, forest protection and restoration, natural resource management, climate action, and biodiversity preservation.
RFUS invests directly in indigenous peoples’ organizations and partners with them to strengthen integral governance, communications, administrative, management and financial capacities.
RFUS works with indigenous peoples to obtain legal representation to secure land rights, settle disputes, and seek justice for human rights violations perpetrated against environmental defenders.
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.
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.
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.
Rainforest Foundation US is tackling the major challenges of our day: deforestation, the climate crisis, and human rights violations. Your donation moves us one step closer to creating a more sustainable and just future.
Adam crafts original content and repurposes existing material and information in a way that communicates the organization’s engagement priorities to various audiences. Prior to working at RFUS, he wrote for several outlets, including: The Wall Street Journal, The Budapest Times, and A&E, amongst others. He’s also a published fiction writer and has written and staged several plays in New York City. Adam holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University—Camden, and is a native English speaker who is bilingual in Hungarian and fluent in Spanish.
