annualbiannual reportsreport 2010-122010-11 PHOTO: Summer Moore & Marissa Macias & Marissa Summer Moore PHOTO: FOREWORD At the end of 2009, we celebrated 20 years of work by the organization jointly known as the RAINFOREST FOUNDATION, consisting of the RAINFOREST FUND, RAINFOREST FOUNDATION NORWAY, RAINFOREST FOUNDATION UK and RAINFOREST FOUNDATION US.

It was a golden opportunity to look back at the work forest communities warning that it will encourage their voices remain drowned out by a mainstream achieved in supporting and further land grabs by large companies. They point discourse rooted in the conception of water as a traditional populations of the world’s rainforests. to evidence that the real drivers of commodity. Equally important, waterbodies that are Over the past 20 years we have made a substantial are the major construction, mining, logging and critical to their cultural and physical wellbeing are effort to assist these communities obtain and plantation developments whose owners stand to being polluted by factors beyond their control. protect their ancestral lands, gain education and be rewarded by REDD funds. Let’s remember the expertise to counteract forest destruction, advocate old Cree prophecy, “Only after the last tree has In Ecuador, the is probably the for basic rights, and build their organizational been cut down.... only then will you find that money most biologically diverse ecosystem on the planet, capacity by training indigenous-rights lawyers and cannot be eaten.” but it is also home to one of the worst cases of oil representatives in international-policy negotiations. pollution ever. In order to prevent this from happening, it is We have contributed to the emergence of a strong essential for indigenous peoples to learn the A visit to the oil fields around the town of Lago indigenous leadership to interface with their own complexities of these programs, and it is our role to Agrio bears witness to the problem of the people governments, and the modern world in general, give them all the necessary of the El Oriente rainforest who have to live with but the road to the real empowerment of local tools to be in a position to understand and shape contaminated soil and groundwaters. These rivers communities and to the universal respect of their and REDD policies in their own are the only source of water for these communities. rights and cutural diversity is still very long. countries. But for REDD initiatives to effectively This horrible situation has brought diseases halt deforestation while supporting the rights of and sickness, including many children born with In 2007, we applauded the adoption by the United indigenous peoples they must be transparent, deformaties, teenagers developing tumors, and Nations General Assembly of the Declaration participatory and based on the free and informed many others dying from stomach cancer and skin of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as an consent of the communities whose lands and cancer, among others. important political, moral and legal imperative for resources are affected. Any top-down model for governments and indigenous peoples to advance forest protection without proper consultation with From the humanitarian point of view, it is one of the towards a common understanding and respect of indigenous peoples will lead to conflicts over forest worst cases of oil pollution on record. their duties and rights. ownership and establish an unfair distribution of incentives. That is why the Rainforest Fund, in cooperation Today, while some progress has been made in with UNICEF Ecuador, is behind a project aimed recognizing at an international The risks are high and efforts to reduce emission at giving clean and safe water to more than 30,000 level and in many countries at a national level, from deforestation and forest degradation will people. The instalment of rainwater tanks has the challenge of the real application of the only succeed with the meaningful engagement of already changed the life of 4,000 families. provisions contained in the Declaration is huge. The indigenous peoples. Free and informed consent is Declaration is not an end in itself but the beginning an ongoing process, and adequate time needs to be Furthermore, it has started a smaller project in of a new stage in the fight for indigenous rights. allowed for the careful management of awareness- the Ayoreos community in Bolivia, where waters CONTENTS Indigenous peoples continue to suffer serious raising and engagement with local peoples. are contaminated by the indiscriminate use of abuses of their human rights on a daily basis, agricutural pesticides. including the pillaging of their natural resources, , climate change, water p.3 foreword the denial of their land rights, and their forced scarcity, loss of plants and animals, stratospheric These two projects offer some relief to communities removal or relocation. Reports of brutality are ozone depletion, population growth and poverty are suffering from the devastating effects of outside p.5 THE WORLD’S TROPICAL RAINFORESTS heard from all corners of the world, most often issues that need to be tackled with urgency. They factors. But much more ought to be done. We hope from governments who make promises at an are integral links in a single chain, a single effort that the parties concerned coordinate activities for p.5 brief program description international level and disregard them at home. to save the Earth. No nation or group of nations the protection and sustainable management of land They shall be called upon to honor their word. can avoid responsibility. The past and the future and water resources of the Amazon River Basin in p.7 programs 2010 are connected through the decisions we take in the the face of ongoing climatic change and destructive Two-thousand-eleven was the Year of the Forests, present. The next UN International Conferences on projects such as the building of dams, mining, and p.10 programs 2011 a 12-month celebration launched by the United Sustainable Development and on Climate Change oil extraction. The goal is to reach a shared vision Nations. “Forests for Peoples” emphasized the will reveal whether the political will to deal with the for the sustainabe development of groundwaters, p.13 programs 2012 benefits that can accrue when forests are managed degradation of the planet truly exists. without ever forgettting the involvement of by local people in a sustainable and innovative way. indigenous peoples and their cultural and spiritual p.14 THE RAINFOREST FUND It was a much-needed celebration at a time when The Rainforest Fund would like to stress the understanding of water. negotiations to see eye-to-eye on a comprehensive, importance of the effective presence and p.15 afterword globally acceptable climate-change agreement participation of indigenous peoples to these The Rainforest Fund will continue to raise its voice are still in process, and forests are the centerpiece conferences. Sustainable development and climate and demand meaningful changes on behalf of p.16 mission statement of these negotiations through the Reduction of change are issues of great concern to them. It is a its partners whose voices are misunderstood or Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation bitter irony that they are suffering the worst impact ignored. (REDD). on climate change, even though they contribute the least to greenhouse emissions because their We thank all those who help us to help them. In the past three years the Fund has committed land has been managed in a sustainable way for Written by Dr. Franca Sciuto, Chairperson, Rainforest Fund resources to support the capacity of indigenous centuries. peoples and tribal populations to engage in Designed by Alldayeveryday national and international REDD processes. Yet the Water is also of great concern to world’s indigenous Printed by Linco Printing idea that deforestation can be stopped by simply peoples. They continue to struggle for the putting a price on forests is essentially flawed, with recognition of their unique vision of water and

2 3 THE WORLD’S TROPICAL RAINFORESTS

Tropical rainforests are located near the equator. provide habitat for more than 50 Only these peoples, after centuries of They are found in 85 countries around the world. percent of its plants and animal species. adaptation, have learned how to deal with Rainforests control climate by influencing their environment without destroying it. Fifty-seven percent of all tropical rainforests wind, rainfall, humidity and temperature. are found in South and Central America, 25 They are also the most threatenend habitats Since 1989, the Rainforest Fund has percent in southeast Asia and the Pacific of indigenous peoples and tribal communities. been supporting indigenous and tribal Islands, and 18 percent in Africa. communities in all these countries, There are over one million forest-dwelling helping them to defend their rights and The largest rainforests are in the Amazon River Indians in , several hundred protect their environment and their land. Basin in South America, the Congo River thousand Pygmies in the Africa Forests, Basin in Western Africa, and in Southeast Asia. and hundreds of different indigenous communities living in the forests of Papua Although tropical rainforests cover just New Guinea, Borneo, The Philippines, seven percent of the Earth’s surface, they Malaysia, Burma and Thailand. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAMS As you will see from the following pages our programs cover a whole range of issues from protection of the civil and political rights of indigenous peoples, to the promotion and defense of their social, economic and cultural rights, such as the right to their land, its recognition and protection from the destructuve use of their territories, community development, natural resources management, institutional strenghtening, legal defense, public awareness, policy and advocacy activities, and last but not least, climate change.

Our partner organizations — including Rainforest beneficiaries. It is our belief that any activities obstacles is to continue to secure funding Foundation Norway, Rainforest Foundation UK, and should strengthen the target group, the measures when immediate results cannot be reported Rainforest Foundation US, Amazon Conservaton taken ought to be planned and implemented and strategies need to be adapted to new Team (), Etnobotanica (Bolivia), Frente de primarily by the beneficiaries themselves and realities. Everything in the field depends not 2011 was Defensa de Amazonia (Ecuador) — are the first based on local knowledge and expertise. only on the powerful forces that indigenous filters of the programs which come to us. Because the very nature of the work takes time and tribal communities confront in their Our assessment is based on stringent criteria and is fraught with obstacles, many projects daily work but also upon each community’s the Year and the final decision is made by the Rainforest that began in previous years are continuing. commitment to internal democracy and Fund board. The most important Fund criteria With the outcomes and benefits of these projects consensus within the community itself. of the are the empowerment and ownership of the often taking years to be realized, one of the main Forests.

4 5 2010 PROGRAMS

The aim of the project is to support forest IVORY COAST communities to articulate their needs in the AFRICA management of national parks and surrounding For the second year, the Fund provided a university areas. We are also working to facilitate a dialogue scholarship for an Ivorian Environmental The Rainforests of Central Africa’s Congo Basin, between forest communites and the government Engineering student. A small yearly grant is being the second largest in the world after the Amazon, in order to give the latter a better understanding of offered as part of a three-year scholarship reviewed are under threat. the issues being faced by forest communities and to after the completion of each year’s courses. secure protected-area legislation that safeguards Today the governments of rainforest-countries are the rights of indigenous peoples. torn between the duty to protect their endangered rainforests and the need for money brought in by ASIA foreign logging companies. CENTRAL AFRICAN The tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia are Growing populations, swollen by war refugees, REPUBLIC (CAR) biologically diverse, particularly those in Borneo are destroying the forest and transforming it and Papua New Guinea, where the rate of into farmland; gorillas and chimpanzees are Capacity building for the rights deforestation is alarmingly high. slaughtered and sold to the bushmeat trade. of indigenous peoples: According to the food and Agriculture Organization But African civil society has started raising its This project relates to the situation of forest people of the , deforestation is one of the voice and asking for support. Thanks to the who are marginalized and living in extreme poverty most serious environmental problems facing support of many organizations, they are acquiring with little or no access to the forest resources Southeast Asia, with more than 88 percent of the forests already gone. the skills needed to challenge bad practices on which they depend, and almost no political by their governments and sometimes by voice to fight for their rights. There is a real need Logging is the primary cause of destruction. Other for intensive investment in strengthening the international donors. culprits include clearance for harvesting and capacity of communities to assert their rights and mining, irrigation and hydroelectric projects often The Rainforest Fund has been financing in enabling civil society groups and government coupled with uncontrolled economic growth, poor projects in several African countries. agencies to understand and respond positively governance and frequent natural disasters. Rainforest Foundation UK follows and to the communities. monitors the following projects in: The Fund has been sponsoring projects in Asia for Fifteen forest groups, both Bantu and Pygmy, years through its partner organization Rainforest are the beneficiaries of this support. Foundation Norway, which works with others in the field and monitors the implementation and success THE DEMOCRATIC Climate-change campaign in the Democratic of projects. REPUBLIC OF Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, CONGO (DRC) Cameroon and Gabon Safeguarding the rights and interests of forest INDONESIA The capitalization of participatory mapping peoples in the fight against climate change: work in the DRC to influence local and Reforming the legal framework for forest national forest policy development: The role of this climate-change and forest program management: is to ensure the deployment of measures to avoid The past and The goal of the project is to ensure the recognition and reduce emissions from deforestation and The project’s overall goal is to develop a law reform of customary lands in forest planning processes as degradation of tropical forests (REDD) as a means movement and to establish a national legal system the future a means of alleviating poverty and mitigating the of preventing climate change; to respect the based on community, ecosystem, sustainability, impacts of climate change. This project is extremely rights of forest communities; to prioritize forest humanitarian values and cultural diversity. relevant in the adoption of community forestry governance; and address the underlying causes are connected legislation, and in ongoing national processes to of forest destruction. Furthermore, it works with HUMA, a beneficiary of funding in previous years, redefine how national parks and protected areas its partners to influence negotiations at the United has been active in providing legal advice to a number of land-conflict cases and has created are designed and managed, to the benefit of four Nations Framework Convention on Climate through the a data base on conflicts over natural resources. forest communities, including three indigenous Change talks. It has also played an important role as watchdog “Pygmy” groups. and partner for governments and organizations at decisions we In its work in Africa, RFUK has worked closely with partner NGOs from the Congo Basin such various levels, helping to draft legal regulations. take in the as Maison de l’Enfant et de la Femme Pygmée GABON in Central Africa, Réseau Resources Naturelles The activities in 2010 built upon activities in Democratic Republic of Congo, Centre for conducted in 2008 and 2009. present. Enabling forest communities in the Environment and Development in Cameroon, management of national parks: Observatoire Congolais des Droits de l’Homme in Republic of Congo, Brainforest in Gabon.

6 7

PAPUA NEW GUINEA Empowerment of the communities living in BRAZIL the rainforest areas polluted by oil exploitation . Forest law enforcement and governance: for the defense of their rights: Defending Cultural Indigenous Rights in Public Policies in North Eastern Brazil Papua New Guinea is experiencing increasing This initiative is the continuation of a pilot project Executed by Istituto de Pesquisa e Formaçao pressure on the country’s natural resources. This started in 2009. The communities involved in em Educaçao Indigena IEPE and monitored by project continues the funding from the past two the area of Sucumbia y Orellana have learned Rainforest Norway, the aim of the project is to years of two Constitutional challenges seeking to monitor abuses of their human rights make the indigenous Wayapi, Tiriyo and Kaxuyana the immediate prevention of any new logging and through legal training, and use all legal recourse groups central actors in the definition and Water is the declaration that the current forestry laws are to ask for remedies. implementation of public policies, including the unconstitutional and void. creation of alternative development programs that This project will continue with the training of are sensitive to local cultural differences and based As the battle is far from over, we will continue more community leaders. on the sustainable management of their territories. financing the two court cases. This project has been funded for two years and is It is undertaken by the Frente de Defensa de consolidating its success. Amazonia, followed and monitored directly by Rainforest Fund. Building community understanding of the GLOBAL CAMPAIGN impact of in the state of Para. Rainforest Action Network (RAN) Executed by Xingo Alive Forever Movement and ON CLIMATE CHANGE In addition to the project of the project mentioned monitored by Rainforest Foundation US, this project of great above, we supported Rainforest Action Network in provides communities with information about the This global initiative is a joint effort with Rainforest their efforts to back the initiatives of the Frente de impact of dams and the mechanisms available Foundation UK. Last year we began funding this Defensa de Amazonia at an international level. to assert their rights, and promote their active campaign with support for a UN meeting on climate participation in the decisions that affect them. change that took place in Accra, Ghana. This year, we continue the support to ensure that the voices of Supporting Yanomami Advocacy / , African and Asian indigenous groups are heard and Northern Brazil that measures are in place to avoid the degradation This project has been funded for four years and of tropical forests. Ensuring indigenous participation helped to create a strong Yanomami association in climate-change projects. by training the new generation of young Yanomami concern to This project is the continuation of long-standing leaders in all fields needed to run the registered work to support the Amerindian Peoples HUTAKARA organization. This project is monitored LATIN AND Association (APA) and is monitored by Rainforest by Rainforest Foundation US. Foundation US. Strengthening Indigenous Women And Their CENTRAL There is an urgent need in Guyana to help Community / Roraima, Northern Brazil indigenous peoples to understand the This project, now in its third year and monitored complexities of the international discussions by Rainforest Foundation US, provides income- AMERICA on climate change in order to be able to generating opportunities for indigenous women and participate and protect their interests. their communities by undertaking craft training and marketing programs. indigenous The vast Amazon rainforest is the largest in the world. It spreads across much of South America, including Bolivia, Brazil, , Ecuador, French Special grant to Raoni Guyana, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. During a visit to Brazil, met up with Raoni, the At least 30 percent of all plants and animal chief of the Kayapó people whom he had not seen species are found in the Amazon. It is also home for 20 years, and promised him and his community Protecting the rights and interests of a grant to fund the moving of his village. to hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples. indigenous peoples in climate change initiatives. Unfortunately, many of them have been forced This project promotes the informed engagement into extinction. Today there are fewer than 200,000 of the Kuna people with national and international peoples versus the millions, which once existed policy makers and donations to help with potential prior to colonization. peoples. opportunities and challenges that REDD programs will represent to their lives and livelihoods. It is the In recent years forest destruction has been steadily continuation of a 2009 project. It is followed and increasing. The greatest threats to the forests monitored by Rainforest Foundation US. are logging, oil and gas projects, as well as the building of dams, mining, cattle ranching, and the Wounaan Land Titles Project (Fundaciòn resettlement of populations. para el Desarollo del Pueblo Wounaan) The Fund has been backing projects in almost This project has been supported for the past year. all the countries where indigenous peoples The Wounaan are asking for legal recognition of live through its partner organization Rainforest their land and have undertaken a collective land- Foundation US, local organizations on site and the demarcation process in order to gain territorial Amazon Conservation Team. protection and the guarantee of their natural resources, culture, and traditions. Rainforest Foundation US monitors and follows the work in:

PERU

ECUADOR AIDESP Emergency Funding Guaranteeing the territorial rights and In 2009 and 2010 the Peruvian government territorial management of the Shuar disregarded all binding international agreements people of the Kutuku region: and systematically violated the rights of indigenous peoples by criminalizing the indigenous movement. The Rainforest Fund has been supporting the In 2009 we supported the legal defense of arrested Shuar for six years as they go through a process indigenous leaders. of land titling, land management planning, and organizational strengthening. In this last year This emergency funding will continue in of support, project activities focused on the order to give the imprisoned leaders the legal organizational weakness of their concern, and on representation they deserve. concrete economic development projects in light of the construction of a road through the Shuar’s land. This year is the last of funding. We have achieved our goals and the Shuar people are on better footing.

8 9 appropriate measures to free all of them. Also in Peru, the Kandozi and Shapra people are AFRICA LATIN & facing extinction from a rising Hepatitis B epidemic. Our support through Rainforest Foudation US and In Africa we continued our funding of Rainforest the local partner, ORKAMUKADIP, will provide Foundation UK and its partners in the Central CENTRAL indigenous peoples the means to fight for their African Republic – La Maison de l’Enfant et de la right to health services provided by the State. Femme Pygmés – on the participatory mapping Two legal cases filed against the government and advocacy for national parks and community AMERICAS are being pursued by the program’s lawyers. forestry, which started in 2009 and has achieved The Rainforest Fund is continuing its solid results. The following projects are followed and financial support of projects which started implemented directly by Rainforest Fund some years ago through the Rainforest A new important project is being funded this year, through its on-site partners in: Foundation US and its partners in the field. following the ratification by the government of the Central African Republic of the ILO Convention One project in Brazil, in collaboration with the 169, which ensures the systematic consultation Wayapi and Kaxuyana indigenous communities, with indigenous peoples on matters that concern concerns cultural rights in public policies in BRAZIL them. The project ensures respect for the rights of North-Eastern Brazil and is producing very indigenous peoples — through the implementation Working with Equipe de Conservaçao de Amazonia, goood results. Now in its last year of funding, of ILO Convention 169 —and intends to work with the Rainforest Fund supports the protection of the the project is focused on crucial questions indigenous groups, training them on the contents Surui reserve through its REDD Project. The goal of sutainability and long-term planning. of the Convention and helping to bring forward is to help the Surui peoples protect their highly

their requests to the government, which is the first biodiverse land in the Central Amazon and advance The other project, in Peru, is followed and 2011 administration in Africa to ratify the Convention. their groundbreaking Carbon Project by funding PROGRAMS monitored by Rainforest Foundation UK and the implementation of a border-vigilance plan. aims at supporting partners in their efforts Furthermore, we continued to fund the 2010 project to halt the construction of the Pakitzapango on Climate Change, which involves the countries In 2011 the Rainforest Fund continued its support of hydroelectric dam in the Rio Ene. of the Congo Basin, and aims to ensure their full the indigenous peoples of Africa, Asia and the Americas, participation and the respect of the rights of forest We will continue the funding of projects BOLIVIA peoples in national REDD processes. monitored by Rainforest Foundation US in: This project is the continuation of a multi- through its partner organizations, Rainforest Foundations development initiative implemented by the Norway, UK, and USA, and through on-site organizations. Ayoreo organization Comunidad Viva, which we have supported in previous years, and ASIA PANAMA was very successful at helping the Ayoreo Community of Puesto PAZ to reclaim its land. In 2009 and 2010 we supported the Wou- Through Rainforest Norway and its It has also been instrumental in developing naan in their collective land demarcation pro- partners in the field we are funding in: a women’s craft project, an agricultural cess. The process continues this year, as project to provide food to the community, a the request for demarcation expands in four plant nursery and a reforestation project. other communities in the Darien province. PAPUA NEW GUINEA In 2011 we worked to guarantee access and sustainable use of clean water in the In the past two years, Rainforest Foundation Land is Reform Ayoreo community by installing water has supported the indigenous Kuna A new project which will last three years and is tanks and training the community on the people on a climate-change project, carried out by The Bismarck Ramu Group, the sustainable use of the water system. which affects all indigenous peoples. organization on site, exposes the unsuitable and unlawful logging that is destroying This year it expands its reach to become a PNG’s forest estate, this project focuses on national strategy. The goal of this project, a constitutional-challenge case seeking an undertken by La Coordinatoria Nacional de ECUADOR immediate injunction stopping any new logging Pueblos Indigenas de Panama, is to structure in operation and a declaration that the current This project is in its third year of funding and a participatory manner an indigenous climate- forestry laws are unconstitutional. It is a long relates to the empowerment of the communities change strategy, and to create an expert and difficult process, which we hope will save of Sucumbia and Orellana provinces affected indigenous network on these issues. the remaining forests in Papua New Guinea. by oil exploitation. This year three more communities were trained to protect their rights This year we added a new country and expose abuses committed on their land. to our portfolio of projects: Linked to this education is our continued funding of GUYANA the RAN project which aims to give an international voice to the peoples affected by the oil pollution. We will continue to fund this climate-change project, which focuses on the need to train Water Project, another important initiative, is MALAYSIA communities in order to promote an informed undertaken to scale up a 2009 project and give engagement of indigenous peoples. This project, aimed at augmenting indigenous more families the use of clean and drinkable rights in Malaysia, will span three years and is water in the provinces of Sucumbia and Orellana. undertaken by the local organization, Joas. The focus of the first year is on strengthening the organization and its programs. It will enhance BELIZE networking and advocacy through broader The Rainforest Fund has supported the Maya PERU engagement with civil society and government, Leaders Alliance for three years in a land-titling in the process strengthening the development of During 2011, we received a request from the Rainforests project with major success. A new project, Ninos de La Amazonia organization to fund the craft and empowerment of women in the Orang/ Land Tenure Security in the Indigenous Maya Asal communities and building the capacity of travel of five indigenous children from the remote control climate Community, is in response to the 2010 appeal by village of San Martin de Tipischea in the Peruvian community leaders to advocate for indigenous the government against the successful ruling, peoples rights in a country where the rights to Amazon who were visiting the USA for the first in 2007, on land titling. This project offers the time. Last year Ninos de la Amazonia gave the by influencing their land and resources are denied. Joas works opportunity to begin the process of demarcating in a difficult context against strong forces. children a camera, taught them how to use it and lands and to challenge the government decision. asked them to take photos of their daily life. Their wind, rainfall, photographs have been on show at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC, and in New York at humidity and the American Museum of Natural History, where PERU Rainforest Fund, in partnership with the Firmenich temperature. We continue to provide emergency funding Foundation, organized a fundraiser for future to the legal defense of indigenous people education programs. The board of Rainforest jailed for advocating their rights. However, Fund is passionate about continuing to support we hope that the new government will take the education of these children through a grant.

10 11 2012 PROGRAMS As in the past, we will continue to support projects which are in their second or third year of funding, and are concerned with land rights and natural resources, border protection, laws and reforms, human rights, climate change, sustainable development. Some new projects will also be added.

In Asia, the activities planned for 2012 by the In the Ivory Coast we are supporting the at educating trainees on the issues at stake, Bismarck Ramu Group in Papua New Guinea third year of an environmental-protection advocacy work and land-assesment study in build upon activities conducted in 2011, with scholarship for an African student. order to identify and document the land-rights an upscaling of The Information problems faced by indigenous communities. Communication Education program. The fight also continues in the Americas. In Panama, the third year of this project aims One of the biggest disappointments in 2011 In Brazil, we are funding a project related to finally obtain land titles for eight collective was the constitutional challenge, which to the Yanomami indigenous people and lands of the Wounaan peoples in the Darien. was rejected on technical grounds. their organization, HUTAKARA, which needs support to guarantee the surveillance of In Peru, we have been suporting AIDESP since The same can be said for the Indigenous the Eastern border of their territory. 2009 on a human-rights project aimed at providing Peoples Network of Malaysia (JOAS), which legal defense to indigenous leaders who were is in its second year of funding and continues The same project will be supported through the jailed after riots erupted in Bagua. Another, to represent the voices of indigenous peoples Equipe de Conservaçao da Amazonia (ECAM) new project in Peru aims at strengthening the in a country that denies their inherent in the Surui Reserve within the context of their environmental monitoring of the Quechua of the rights to land territories and resources. Indigenous Community Teritorial Management Pastaza River, for the defense and vigilance of their and the REDD project on climate change. territories through the FEDIQUEP organization. In Africa, a new project aimed at improving the capacities of local organizations and Elsewhere, a new project carried out by In Ecuador, we are offering one-off assistance forest communities in the Central African the Confederciòn de Pueblos Indigenas to E-Tch International to conduct an assessment Republic and in Gabon, is training Community en Bolivia (CIDOB) relates to their land on water quality and deal with legal issues Legal Fieldworkers to understand, analyze territories and natural resources. related to mining in the Cordillera Del Condor. and use national laws related to forest Also in Ecaudor, from April we are scaling management, land resources, human rights. Also in Bolivia, we will continue to fund the up our pilot water project in the regions of Comunidad Viva organization in scaling up Sucumbia and Orellana to provide safe water Furthermore, in Cameroon, Central African the access to clean water for the Ayoreos to the indigenous communities suffering In recent Republic, and Democratic Republic of Congo, Communities of Puesto Paz and Porvenir. from the oil pollution of their sources. we continue to fund the third year of a climate- change project in the hopes of strengthening In Guyana, we are commited for the third year years forest the capacity of local indigenous communities running to a climate-change project, with destruction through informational workshops. the Amerindian Peoples Association, aimed has been steadily increasing.

12 13 THE THE RAINFOREST AFTERWORD FUND

The Rainforest Fund (formerly known as We would like to conclude by stating once again Rainforest Foundation International) was created that without the continued support, dedication to guarantee the continuation of programs and and open minds of Sting and Trudie, we could not projects started by its partners in the field and to achieve everything that we have done over these respond to their needs by securing funding and twenty three years. ensuring that projects presented by indigenous communities are tailored to their needs in order But whatever success we have is due in large to bring positive changes to their lives. measure to the achievements of those who are at the forefront of the struggle to protect their land, To avoid dependency, the Rainforest Fund their environment and their lives: the indigenous covers 80 percent of the total budget of a peoples and tribal populations of the world to project, leaving our partners responsible for whom we renew our commitment, because by the remaining 20 percent. fighting for their environment they are fighting for ours as well. Using the same philosophy, projects are funded for three years. However, it is essential to remain We thank all our supporters, donors and partners. flexible and evaluate each project case by case, (A particular word of thanks must go to the therefore this period can be extended depending FIRMENICH Foundation for their ongoing support of on the evolution of the project, its importance as a our work.) Your continued assistance as concerned model for other areas, and the pressing needs of people committed to bringing about change is the indigenous communities involved. crucial at a time when so many critical issues Projects are evaluated on an annual basis with are emerging. mid-term reporting by our partners. We would like to continue giving our small The Rainforest Fund does not have a heavy contribution to change, working for an evolution administrative structure. We focus instead on from dominance of the rich over the poor to providing structure and leadership to the primary partnership, from fragmentation to connection, actors in the field. It is there that we have to from insecurity to interdependence. transfer our funding, competence and technology. These issues are the challenges each one of us That is why the Rainforest Fund has always will have to confront and to solve in the near future. been careful in keeping its running costs at a minimum, working only with a part-time financial Whatever success we achieve in our work is in large director. Project screening, assessment process, measure a tribute to the work of people whose monitoring and evaluation are undertaken by one names do not appear in this report and to all those individual on a voluntary basis. who have been supporting us for so many years.

Final decisions are made by the We rely on you all. Rainforest Fund board.

For more information please visit www.rainforestfund.org

Rainforest Fund 180 Varick Street, Suite 528 New York, New York 10014

we rely on you all. PHOTO: Andreas Hofweber Andreas PHOTO:

14 15 This report is printed on recycled paper. MISSION STATEMENT The Rainforest Fund is a charitable foundation dedicated to the support of indigenous peoples and traditional populations in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfill their rights.

Convinced that accepted environmental and The Fund, bearing in mind the universality, human-rights principles embody the right of indivisibility and interdepence of all human everyone and that environmental degradation rights, carries out its mission by funding leads to human-rights violations such as the programs and projects aimed at supporting right to life, health and culture, the Fund aims indigenous peoples and traditional populations to secure a healthy and ecologically sound of the rainforest to assert and defend their environment. rights; promoting a sustainable development of their communities; and challenging practices which have a damaging effect on their environment and their lives.