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’s territorial monitoring program, called Rainforest Alert, 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 their: integral governance; communications; and 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.
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.
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.
Get updates on our recent work and victories, stories from our Indigenous partners, and learn how you can get involved.
Didier Devers
Chief of Party – USAID Guatemala
gro.y1696113453nffr@1696113453sreve1696113453dd1696113453
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.
