From one of the Earth’s oldest rainforests to one of the most biologically significant areas on the planet, in 2017 Rainforest Trust continued to expand its global efforts to save species, care for communities and protect our planet.

This year, Rainforest Trust directed over $20 million to conservation initiatives. We protected over 1.2 million acres of land, a combined total larger than Yosemite National Park, while a further 19 million acres are in the process of being purchased and protected in the coming months.

We partnered with 62 local and community organizations in 45 countries across the tropics to prevent deforestation that would have caused a wave of extinctions and the release of massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

As the Rainforest Trust team soars into 2018, we want to highlight some of our key accomplishments that would not have been possible without the generosity and optimism of our supporters.

2017 Successes  

Latin America

 

• In Peru, through the efforts of Rainforest Trust and a local partner, indigenous communities gained titles to their lands to form a firewall of protection around Sierra Del Divisor National Park.
• In Brazil, Rainforest Trust helped establish the first protection for the rediscovered Kaempfer’s Woodpecker and the rediscovered Blue-eyed Ground-dove.
• In Panama, Rainforest Trust helped protect a “Sky Island” of cloud forest for threatened amphibians and is supporting its partner’s continued expansion of the reserve.
• In Ecuador, Rainforest Trust supported strategic land purchases to expand habitat protection in the Chocó, to save pristine cloud forest and to expand the Narupa Reserve.
• In Colombia, Rainforest Trust worked to protect rare magnolias in the Andes and to expand the El Dorado Bird Reserve. 
• In Guatemala, Rainforest Trust is supporting the strategic purchase of properties to create a conservation corridor and establish the Cerro Amay-Chimel Cloud Forest Preserve.

Africa

 

• In Kenya, Rainforest Trust supported the protection of over one million acres to safeguard the world’s most endangered antelope, the Hirola.

Asia and the Pacific

 

• In the Philippines, Rainforest Trust helped establish a refuge for the Critically Endangered Palawan Forest Turtle, and supported the creation of the first of four new protected areas to secure forest and coastal habitat to protect the Endangered rats and bats of Dinagat Island.
  
• In Malaysia, Rainforest Trust helped permanently protect a 34,414-acre former logging concession in the last great forests of Northern Borneo and create a critical wildlife corridor to secure safe passage for Pygmy Elephants.
  
• In Indonesia, Rainforest Trust and a local partner conserved vital nesting grounds for the Endangered Maleo and forests in northern Sulawesi.
  
• In Palau, Rainforest Trust supported a crucial land purchase to save Endangered Megapodes and land snails.
• In Myanmar, Rainforest Trust helped create the 66,965-acre Kaydoh Mae Nyaw Wildlife Sanctuary which provides a safe haven for species such as the Asian Elephant, Tiger and two species of Critically Endangered Pangolin.
• In Australia, Rainforest Trust worked with local partners to protect the Endangered Northern Quoll through its largest land purchase of over 44,000 acres, expand the Daintree National Park and create the Misty Mountain Wildlife Corridor which connects nearly 3 million acres of rainforest.
  

Thank you to the generous support of our friends around the world and the SAVES Challenge, for making these projects a success. 

For more information on how you can support Rainforest Trust, visit our Conservation Action Fund.