In 2024, Amazon fires scorched an area equivalent to the entire state of California—in Brazil alone.
In 2024, fires devastated the Amazon at an unprecedented scale. For the first time on record, fires were the leading cause of forest loss in the Amazon. More than 44.2 million acres of rainforest burned, an area larger than the entire state of California.
How New Laws in the US, Brazil, and Ecuador Are Driving Forest Loss and Rights Violations
Right now, across the United States, Brazil and Ecuador, hard-won environmental protections are being dismantled at an alarming pace, putting the Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest and ancestral home to over a million Indigenous peoples, at great risk. Yet, in the face of this growing crisis, Rainforest Foundation US’s (RFUS) Indigenous partners continue to lead […]
Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazonian Indigenous lands decreased by 42%, reaching a six-year low
Indigenous peoples’ lands in the Amazon experienced a 42% decrease in deforestation between August 2023 and March 2024, according to a report by the Brazilian organization Amazon Institute of People and the Environment (Imazon). This is the lowest amount of destruction recorded within these territories since 2018.
In Eastern Panama, Indigenous Peoples Fight Deforestation as they’re Scapegoated for it
The Darien Bioregion of Eastern Panama is being deforested at an alarming rate, driven in part by illegal trafficking. Rainforest Foundation US’s partner Geoindígena is actively fighting to stop rainforest destruction in the region, bolstering indigenous peoples’ case for land claims in the eyes of those agencies.
Realizing the Pledge
Challenges have prevented funding from going directly to indigenous peoples who are key to combating the climate crisis. Rainforest Foundations outline key steps to ensuring climate and biodiversity funding gets to the frontlines.
Rainforest Foundation US’ response to COVID-19
RFUS is supporting our indigenous partners with deliveries of food and medical supplies as they battle Covid-19 in their communities.
