The Chubb Charitable Foundation announced today that it has granted $346,000 to Rainforest Trust in support of our work to expand protection for one of the largest intact rainforest ecosystems in Southeast Asia. The grant is part of a previously announced $500,000 commitment to Rainforest Trust.

The Foundation’s new grant will help safeguard an additional 2,472 acres of land in the Leuser Ecosystem on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The project will extend a protected wildlife corridor vital to threatened species, including Sumatran elephants, rhinos, tigers and orangutans. This ecosystem is a globally important carbon sink, and the protected land stores nearly 350,000 metric tons of carbon, equal to about 3 billion miles driven by the average passenger vehicle.

The Chubb Charitable Foundation’s support has been directed to the Conservation Action Fund, which focuses on urgent conservation initiatives to protect critical habitats that would otherwise be used for development, agriculture or natural resource extraction. The Foundation’s first grant of $154,000, announced in June, supported Rainforest Trust’s expansion of the Papagaios de Altitude Reserve in the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil, one of the world’s most threatened biodiversity hotspots.

“Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem is the only place on earth where orangutans, tigers, rhinos and elephants coexist in the wild and is home to many species found nowhere else on earth,” said Lori Dunstan, Vice President, Global Corporate Giving at Chubb. “New infrastructure developments, such as hydropower and road construction, threaten to further devastate the ecosystem and endanger sensitive wildlife habitats, making it an urgent conservation priority. Rainforest Trust’s protection of threatened rainforest ecosystems not only slows species extinctions but also prevents carbon emissions, an effort closely aligned with Chubb’s commitment to do its part as a steward of the Earth.”

Chubb, its employees and its charitable foundation continue to demonstrate their support for a wide range of environmental philanthropies and volunteer activities in local communities around the world. Chubb Charitable Foundation grants have helped preserve sensitive lands and habitats, finance green business entrepreneurs, and support educational programs that promote a healthy and sustainable environment, both domestically and globally.