2020 review, and the largest win for Panama's indigenous communities in decades

Just the gist

Here's an update from our project partner, Rainforest Foundation US. Wren supports Rainforest Foundation US, but does not directly support this work.

• Our project partner, Rainforest Foundation US, protected over 15 million acres of rainforest this year. That's more than the entire area of South Carolina!
• The Naso Tjër Di people of Panama have reclaimed almost 400k acres of ancestral land, after the Panamanian supreme court recognised their rights. Our partner provided their legal advice.
• Because many government officials have been diverted to work on the pandemic, the threat of illegal logging has increased. At this time, your support is more important than ever!

This is an update about other work accomplished by our project partner, The Rainforest Foundation US.  Wren is not directly supporting this work. For more updates like this one, follow Wren on Twitter and Instagram.

2020 was a tumultuous year for us all, but it was particularly tough for the indigenous communities of the Amazon.

Covid-19 introduced several new threats to the indigenous communities of the Amazon rainforest. Vulnerable rural populations are at increased risk to adverse effects of the disease. Under-resourced public health workers are unable to keep up with the rate of infection. Because environmental enforcement agents are being directed to fight the pandemic in urban areas, illegal logging activity has increased by 9.5% in 2020.

On top of all this, rural indigenous communities are losing money due to the lack of tourism.

In this environment, your continued support is helping put food on the tables of indigenous communities in a time of need. And it has also enabled these communities to achieve a couple of big successes protecting rainforest this year.

Over 15 million acres of rainforest protected

Indigenous communities used drones and satellite imagery to protect over 15 million acres of Amazon rainforest from illegal logging this year.

That's a mind boggling amount of rainforest. It's a bigger total area than the state of South Carolina. If you were stuck in the middle of the rainforest and had to walk to its edge, it would take you at least five days of non-stop walking to do so.

The Naso Tjër Di people reclaim their forest home

In November 2020, Panama’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Naso Tjër Di people, recognizing their rights to their ancestral lands.

They were given titles to 396,890 acres of land! This was the largest land titling win for Panama’s indigenous peoples in the last several decades. Our partner, the Rainforest Foundation, provided legal advice during the process.

The future of the Amazon

Indigenous Amazon communities rely heavily on tourism for their livelihoods. The global pandemic has starved this market, making it harder for indigenous people to earn enough to feed themselves.

The income these communities receive from rainforest protection initiatives like yours has become more important than ever.

That's it for this update! If you have questions or feedback, please reply directly to this email. I'll reply as soon as I can.

– Thomas Hollands