About

Founded in 1989, Rainforest Foundation supports indigenous and traditional people of the world's rainforests to protect their environment and fulfill their rights. We work at the intersection of environmental conservation and human rights and in full partnership with indigenous and traditional forest communities who are effective guardians of the rainforests they call home.

The Rainforest Foundation is composed of three national organizations, based in Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the Rainforest Fund, which provides program support to the national organizations as well as selected projects on the ground.  All four share the same mission statement, vision, and values.  

Since its founding, the Rainforest Foundation US has implemented innovative projects in partnership with indigenous groups and grassroots organizations in Latin America. Our staff works with partner organizations in the rainforest to help indigenous communities gain fundamental human rights, map their territories and file claims for land title, lobby for enforcement of laws and policy reforms, develop local sustainable development initiatives and monitor and manage natural resources.

Our indigenous partners in Central and South America have made tremendous gains – winning legal title to their land, advocating for policy reforms to strengthen their rights and protect the environment, implementing local sustainable development initiatives and monitoring and managing their natural resources. Many of our legal victories have set important precedents for indigenous rights around the world. Today, we continue to partner with communities to secure and protect their lands while also responding to critical new challenges such as climate change.

The mission of the Rainforest Foundation is to support indigenous and traditional people of the world's rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfill their rights by assisting them in:

*  Securing and controlling the natural resources necessary for their long term well being and managing these resources in ways which do not harm their environment, violate their culture or compromise their future; and

*  Developing the means to protect their individual and collective rights and to obtain, shape and control basic services from the state.