RAINFOREST FOUNDATION INC
Securing Rights. Protecting Lands.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Today, indigenous peoples make up just 5% of the global population, but live on, and protect, lands that support 80% of the Earth's plant and animal species; this is no accident. Yet indigenous people continue to be pushed off of their ancestral lands by agricultural interests, mining, oil exploration or by loggers eager to exploit the last stands of old-growth forest.
The world's rainforests are at risk; once 16% of the land was covered in forests, today the number stands at less than 3%. Without our rainforests, climate change will be largely unchecked, and we will lose most of planet's remaining biodiversity. By ensuring indigenous peoples' land rights, we do more than uphold human rights we protect our planet.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
General Program Focus
The RF-US has three major regional programs: Panama; Peru; and Guyana. Each of these programs provides a mix of funding, technical support, and advocacy for Indigenous communities and a network of grassroots partner organizations. All projects support land rights, natural resource management, and capacity building, and seek to contribute to stronger organizations and policies on the ground.
Information Into Action
We are protecting the rainforests on Peru's northern border. These are some of the most biodiverse and pristine rainforests in Peru; however, they face increased threats from drug trafficking, illegal logging and mining.
We are forming a corridor of over 30 indigenous communities fighting against deforestation by training indigenous monitors in each community to use GPS systems, smart phones and othe rmapping technologies, as well as strengthening any monitoring programs they already have in place.
Communities will be able to take action to prevent or mitigate ongoing threats to their rainforests. Each community then selects the best way to address each threat they identify--by, for example, forming community-led interventions or notifying national environmental prosecutors.
Protecting 1 Million Acres in Panama
In 2008, Panama passed Law 72, allowing indigenous groups to claim collective lands, which had long been a demand of the indigenous movement. In 2012, two Wounaan communities gained formal recognition of their lands through this new law. Together with the Wounaan and Embera, we’re now pushing for the remaining 20+ collective lands in the Darien to obtain titles, and for these communities to sustainably manage their lands. We see this as a critical opportunity for advancing indigenous rights, as well as environmental protection in the biologically important Darién region.
Over the next few years, RF-US will be working with the Embera and Wounaan to gain recognition of all of the remaining communities that still need titles in the Darién. As they gain titles, we’ll also be working with them to establish participatory land management plans, so they can sustainably manage their lands into the future. All of these efforts are underpinned by community and organizational capacity building. As a result, we hope to secure nearly 1 million acres of tropical forest, to be owned and managed by the Embera and Wounaan, who call the area home. This program is supported by the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, the Rainforest Fund, and the Climate and Land Use Alliance.
Protecting forests through protecting rights in Guyana
Indigenous communities that make up the majority of the population in Guyana’s rainforest. By enhancing their capacity and active engagement, we can influence Guyanese decision makers with authority over issues related to land tenure, forest management and climate change financing.
The program focuses on bringing together an independent alliance of civil society and indigenous peoples’ organizations, in order to collectively advocate for inclusion of stronger safeguards for rights and more effective participation. In addition, we research and publicly disseminate updated information from the field, which can be used by government and international agencies in shaping climate change and rainforest protection programs. We also provide communities with basic tools and know-how to participate in decisions relating to climate change and rainforest protection. Finally, we provide information and training on issues of sustainable livelihood and relevant technology projects.
Where we work
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Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
We protect both the incredibly rich biological diversity of the rainforest and the cultural integrity of the peoples whose lives and livelihoods are inextricably linked to those forests.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
*Protecting Lands: We support indigenous leaders as they assert their rights with local & national policy makers.We provide indigenous peoples & local NGOs with the legal and technical support necessary to analyze programs and policies that affect their communities & define their priorities. We share information about climate change science, indigenous rights & international policy.
*Influencing Policy: We partner with indigenous communities to help them obtain legal rights to their ancestral lands. We train communities to use technology to protect the rainforest for future generations. We provide legal & technical support, including: mapping & documenting land claims. We train leaders to navigate administrative and legal procedures & negotiate effectively with government officials.
*Strengthening Leadership: We develop and implement customized community training strategies, workshops, and tools, ensuring that communities are administratively and financially prepared to manage successful social and economic development projects. We aid communities in formalizing their traditional governance practices to ensure they are respected by the State.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
There was a time when environmental organizations didn't focus on Human Rights. In fact, people were frequently seen as part of the problem. But Sting and Trudie Styler listened to the Kayapo, an Indigenous community living deep in the Brazilian Amazon and decided put their might behind the Indigenous defenders that were fighting to protect their rainforest lands just as they always had.
Today the Rainforest Foundation has almost 30 years of experience partnering with Indigenous communities, giving us a track record of protecting the rainforest and partnering with Indigenous communities that no other NGO can match.
We work as partners with Indigenous communities, building long term partnerships ensuring that: communities' land rights are recognized and our rainforests are protected.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We have helped protect 28 million acres of rainforest by securing long term rights to these lands to indigenous communities in rainforest countries around world.
We are working to protect the rainforest with Indigenous partners in Panama, Peru, Guyana and Brazil. For example, in 2017 we began protecting a vast corridor of rainforest in Northern Peru comprised of over 30 different communities committed to guarding and protect their forests from illegal loggers, drug traffickers and mining on their lands.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
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RAINFOREST FOUNDATION INC
Board of directorsas of 09/21/2022
John Copeland
Wealth Partners Capital Group
Term: 2015 -
S. Todd Crider
Partner, Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
John Copeland
President, AMG Wealth Partners, LLP
Robert Curran
Independent Photographer
Brett Odom
Compliance Officer, Kingdon Capital Management, LLC
Jenny Springer
Director, Equator Group and Chair, IUCN CEESP Theme on Governance, Equity and Rights
Christian Lelong
Senior Commodity Analyst, Goldman Sachs
Becky Yang
Community Director, Summit Series
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
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Sexual orientation
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Disability
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