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.

*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.

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.

Helping Indigenous communities protect their lands isn't just the right thing to do-- It works!

The latest satellite images and drone footage prove this wasn't just ethical, it was by far the best strategy. Today, we know that rainforests protected by Indigenous communities have the lower rates of deforestation than any other forests in the world including national parks, nature preserves, government land, and private sanctuaries.

We primarily measure our success by:
•Lands titled or otherwise demarcated as under control by Indigenous communities
• Proposals and policy recommendations for and by our Indigenous partners that are addressed by the government.
• Government statements and commitments on land tenure security and forest protection.
• Recommendations of international human rights bodies provided to governments regarding forest and climate schemes.
• Extent to which forest and climate policies, laws and programs protect Rainforest and respect human rights.

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.