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 Feed: Rights
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.
Article
To Meet Guyana’s Climate Promises, Empower Indigenous Peoples
To blunt climate change, Guyana has pledged to aggressively expand the amount of rainforests protected within its borders. But as the threat of big oil looms, indigenous peoples’ land rights need to be recognized in order to meet this goal.
Article
The Fate of the Amazon May Rest on One Bill: the Most Anti-Indigenous Peoples Legislation in Decades
Thousands of indigenous protesters from around Brazil have flooded Brasilia, the nation’s capital, to decry a congressional effort to pass the most anti-indigenous legislation in decades.
Article
The UN’s IPCC Report: To Avoid the Worst of the Climate Catastrophe, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Must Be Protected
Earlier this month, the United Nations’ climate change panel released a report stating that global warming will inevitably intensify in the coming decades. The only question is: By how much? Here, we lay out the role RFUS will play in mitigating the damage.
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
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.
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.