Rainforest Action Network
Current donation: $100,000
Donations to date: $330,000
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) works to preserve forests, protect the climate, and uphold human and Indigenous rights by challenging the multinational corporations that use unethically sourced resources. Our donation will help protect the Leuser Ecosystem of Sumatra, Indonesia, from deforestation caused by the illegal expansion of pulpwood and palm oil plantations.
Why They're Climate Smart
RAN protects the rainforests in Southeast Asia from the negative impacts of industrial commodity expansion while protecting the rights of the Indigenous people.
To do this, RAN works with community partners and local authorities in high-risk ecosystems to document illegal deforestation, the clearing and burning of peatlands, labor abuses, and other violations. Then, RAN uses high-profile local and international media coverage to focus public scrutiny on the multinational corporations that benefit from this behavior and — through their Keep Forests Standing (KFS) and Forests & Finance (F&F) campaigns — escalates pressure on them to change their practices and enforce an ethical supply chain.
Why They Receive Our Continued Support
Some of the world's largest remaining intact rainforests are in Indonesia, Brazil, and the Congo Basin. The illegal deforestation and clearance of the associated peatlands threaten some of the most critical carbon sinks on earth and will have significant climate implications ranging from Asia to the US.
Going forward, our donation will help RAN with action and empowerment. Half our donation will be directed towards funding three of their current projects: publicly campaigning for corporations to implement policies to protect forests and human rights; partnering with local governments to document illegal corporate expansion into intact forests and human rights violations; and attempting to stop plantations from encroaching on the 80,000-hectare Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve and the 1.75 million hectares of lowland rainforests that surround it (which are home to the largest density of Sumatran orangutans on the planet as well as breeding populations of the Sumatran rhinoceros, tiger, and elephant). The other half will be used to directly help rural Indigenous communities build the local capacity to defend their land and their rights through RAN's Community Action Grants Program.