Communities

We Can Do Better Together

What's at Stake

Communities around the world depend on strong forests for clean air, safe water, and climate stability. People have already destroyed 80 percent of the world's forests. Those that remain are threatened by the destructive cycle of global inequity, rural poverty, and landscape degradation.

Rural Poverty Drives Deforestation

Around the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than US $1.25 a day. Economic desperation drives many communities to clear forests for subsistence agriculture, cut down trees for firewood, and sell illegally harvested timber at prices far below the wood’s real value. Yet the paltry income this generates is not enough to break the cycle of poverty.

The Importance of Indigenous Land Rights

An astonishing 45 million+ acres of forest—the equivalent of 50 soccer fields per minute—are destroyed every year. Although experts have offered compelling evidence that securing land rights for indigenous forest communities leads to stronger, healthier forests, the majority of these communities still lack the legal rights to their ancestral lands.

Our Work

Our Work in Communities

The economic security and well-being of farming and forest communities are central to our long-term vision of a rebalanced Earth. That's why we've embedded concrete strategies to support the environmental, economic, and social health of rural communities around the world into our training and certification programs.

When Coffee Meets Water

In rural Rwanda, a Rainforest Alliance Certified™ smallholder coffee cooperative protects the health of downstream communities by safeguarding local rivers and waterways.

Nature guide Josué Avila, a member of the Sani Kichwa community, leads jungle wildlife tours for guests of Sani Lodge.

A Vision for the Amazon

In the heart of the Andean Amazon, indigenous forest communities are using ecotourism as a powerful conservation tool and an important means of income.

Forestry worker Hector Echavarría planting pine seedlings.

Forestry that Nurtures Community

More than 1.6 billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods. Meet Hector Elias Chavarría, a worker for a sustainable pine forest farm certified by the Rainforest Alliance.

Educating Tomorrow's Conservationists

The children of El Porvenir, a community of 200 families just outside Guatemala’s Tikal National Park, are learning about the importance of conserving forests from their dedicated teacher, one of many who have participated in the Rainforest Alliance's education training program, which supports teachers in implementing our conservation and climate-related school curricula.

Learn More

Learn more about how we are working to achieve our mission.

View our approach

Our Impact

Supporting the economic and social health of rural communities is central to our mission. Our field results, backed by independent studies, demonstrate that sustainable livelihood opportunities can stop the destructive cycle of poverty and deforestation—and foster a culture of conservation.

amount earned by indigenous and forest communities

US $1.5 million

earned by our Madre de Dios partner communities

Building a Sustainable Forest Economy

Nearly 15,000 people are directly employed by the Brazil nut industry in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon. We've trained indigenous communities throughout the region in sustainable harvesting and processing methods that enabled them to dramatically increase revenues.

See Impact Dashboard

Increase in net income for certified farms in Côte d'Ivoire

291% increase in net income

on certified farms in Côte d'Ivoire

Boosting Income in Rural Communities

In a study of Rainforest Alliance Certified™ and noncertified control farms, scientists found the average net income for certified farms in Côte d'Ivoire to be US $403, as compared to $113 per hectare on noncertified farms.

Read the Study

Learn more ways we are achieving real results.

View our impact dashboard

Get Involved

Join us to help rebalance the earth.