News

February 7, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Indigenous peoples in Panama protest for their lands and resources

February 1, 2012
Wounaan community in a standoff with loggers in Panama

January 10, 2012
SAVE THE DATE!
The Rainforest Fund 2012 Benefit Concert
Featuring: Sting & Friends
Produced by Trudie Styler
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Carnegie Hall 7:00 PM
For further information, please email rainforest@eventassociatesinc.com or call Event Associates, Inc 212-245-6570.

December 9, 2011
RF-US in the Field: Helping build strong local organizations
Program Director Christine Halvorson is currently in Panama, leading grant writing, planning and reporting workshops for the Wounaan Congress.

December 6, 2011
RF US at Global Climate Change Meeting
More than 20,000 people have been gathered in Durban, South Africa for the last week at a meeting known as the COP17, in the hopes of negotiating a new and improved international climate change mitigation framework. Rainforest Foundation US’ Director of Programs, Marina Campos, is attending the meetings as a representative of the indigenous peoples we work with, to make sure that their voices are heard and their rights respected in the structuring of any programs to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation.

December 1, 2011
Mega-Dam in Peru’s Amazonian rainforest halted by indigenous peoples’ opposition

November 22, 2011
Good news for indigenous peoples of Panama
Last week the Wounaan along with the Emberá of Panama blocked the Pan-American Highway in eastern Panama. The two groups were protesting against the unfulfilled government’s promise to issue titles to seven of their collective lands in the Darien region of Eastern Panama.

Kandozi and Shapra win key ruling on their right to health
On September 15, 2011, a judge in the small town of San Lorenzo in the Peruvian Amazon ruled in favor of the Kandozi and Shapra, who had brought forward a case regarding their right to health.

November 15, 2011
Indigenous Peoples Occupy the Pan-American Highway in Panama
On Monday, November 14, indigenous peoples occupied the Pan-American Highway in the Darién, Eastern Panama. Frustrated by broken promises from the government, they decided to shut down the highway at Arimae, an Emberá and Wounaan village. Read more

October 18, 2011
The Unconquered
Scott Wallace, a journalist who has long covered the Amazon and indigenous rights, has just published a book, The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes.The book weaves the story of an expedition Scott accompanied into the Javari Valley, in Brazil’s Western Amazon, with the tragic history of contact of indigenous peoples in the Amazon. It’s a good read, and speaks to issues close to our hearts here at the Rainforest Foundation. Read more

September 30, 2011
The tide may be turning on Belo Monte
A bit of good news reached us from Brazil yesterday, regarding the Belo Monte Dam. A federal judge suspended any work that would affect the Xingu River, in response to a suit filed by an association of fishermen.
Read more

September 26, 2011
The Unpaid Price of Gold
The search for gold has felled many who traveled to the Amazon in search of it, from Colonel Fawcett in the 1920’s to Elton Thompson just last month. But it has also claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples over time. Gold mining has impacted the ways of life of indigenous communities, polluting rivers, and bringing with it violence, prostitution, and disease. The price of gold has recently reached record levels, due to the turbulence in the financial markets which caused so many to invest in gold. And the new gold rush is again causing problems in the Amazon.
Read more

September 19, 2011
Data shows that our rights-based approach to forest conservation is successful