What Rainforest Partnership Does          How Rainforest Partnership Works          Our Mission          Our Team

WHAT RAINFOREST PARTNERSHIP DOES
Rainforest Partnership creates mechanisms for conservation and sustainable use of rainforests in Central and South America that are threatened with deforestation.

We recognize that the primary threat to rainforests is economic.  The communities living in and around rainforests have limited options to earn a livelihood.  Historically, many have needed to clear-cut the forests and use the land for pasture, cash crops or logging.  This degrades the environment and contributes to global climate change.  More important from the local communities' point of view, it is economically unsustainable:  Rainforest soil is thin and nutrient-poor, so new areas of the forest must be cut every few years to maintain agricultural production.  

The solution is to create and support sustainable economic alternatives to deforestation and give the local communities a stake in preserving their forests.  Depending on the nature of the forest and the local community, this may involve creating a market in the United States for shade grown crops such as acai berries, cacao, or coffee, medicinal plants, palm trees or for crafts made by local artisans.  In some communities, it may be appropriate to develop plans for sustainable logging and for ecotourism.  In a bottom up approach, we match economic development choices to the needs and desires, culture, knowledge, and skills of local communities, and to the opportunities created by each individual rainforest.

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HOW RAINFOREST PARTNERSHIP WORKS
Rainforest Partnership is funded by contributions from people like you, and from grants and contributions from businesses, foundations, and government agencies.  We are also planning the development of voluntary carbon offsets as a means of financing carbon reduction projects in and around the forest communities.  To ensure that our work produces tangible results, Rainforest Partnership will adhere to the strictest international standards for documentation and certification of carbon offsets, biodiversity maintenance, and supply chain monitoring.  To ensure transparency, all documentation will be made available to the public through this website.

Protecting our climate and our rainforests requires close collaboration between people in the US and our partner nations alike.  Local rainforest communities need an economically sustainable alternative to deforestation if they are to preserve the land and the diversity of wildlife found there.  We in the US need to recognize the global implications of the choices we make. Through Rainforest Partnership, we aim to build strong, emotional connections between our partner communities here and in our Latin American partner countries, and to be a catalyst for change that will produce lasting results.

We are currently working with partner communities in Ecuador and Peru and are in the process of identifying the projects that will help us make it more valuable for our partner communities to keep their trees standing than to cut them down.

Keep checking our website for updates on these projects and how you can be part of it.

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OUR MISSION
To develop a global network of partners to protect the Earth’s rainforests by:

• Identifying threats to forest integrity in partnership with local stakeholders;
• Working with local communities, businesses, government, and nonprofit agencies to create sustainable economic development alternatives to deforestation, ensuring the integrity of the forest and all its resources for generations to come;
• Raising awareness in our communities of the issues relevant to protecting the forest and the need for action to connect activities in each partner community to global impacts on climate change;
• Acting as a catalyst—linking people to people—to achieve a sustainable future.

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TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTIONS
Tax-deductible contributions can be made out to Rainforest Partnership and checks can be mailed to Rainforest Partnership at PO Box 49268, Austin TX 78765. To make a secure credit card payment, please click here. Your gift is tax deductible under Rainforest Partnership's Federal ID 26-1618125.

To offer other help, or for additional information, please contact Niyanta Spelman at 512-420-0101.

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