Rainforest Trust is a US-based nonprofit

environmental organization An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environmen ...

focused on the purchase and protection of tropical lands to strategically conserve threatened species. Founded in 1988, Rainforest Trust was formerly known as World Parks Endowment. In 2006, then World Parks Endowment affiliated itself with

World Land Trust The World Land Trust is a UK registered charity. It raises money to buy and then protect environmentally-threatened land in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America. In 2018 it claimed to have raised more than £25 million and to have bought ...

, a UK-based nonprofit

, and became World Land Trust-US, as both organizations were dedicated to minimizing their costs in order to allow donated funds to flow to

habitat conservation Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range. It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in te ...

projects on the ground. On September 16, 2013, because of diverging modus operandi, and as part of celebrating the organization's 25th anniversary, the World Land Trust-US changed its name to Rainforest Trust. Rainforest Trust supports the purchase of large tracts of land by local NGOs working across tropical Asia, Africa, and Latin America for the purposes of protecting it, in a fashion similar to the

Nature Conservancy The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US. Founded in 1951, The Nat ...

by making use of

land trust Land trusts are nonprofit organizations which own and manage land, and sometimes waters. There are three common types of land trust, distinguished from one another by the ways in which they are legally structured and by the purposes for which th ...

s. The organization also seeks to help

in-situ conservation ''In-situ'' conservation is the on-site conservation or the conservation of genetic resources in natural populations of plant or animal species, such as forest genetic resources in natural populations of Teagan species. This process protects th ...

measures by providing training, capital and equipment for environmental stewardship in economically impoverished areas. Most acres are permanently protected for an average of less than $100 per acre. As of 2018, Rainforest Trust has helped protect of habitat. Byron Swift was the CEO of the organization from 1988 until 2012 when Paul Salaman became the CEO. In 2020, James C. Deutsch became the CEO. Robert S. Ridgely, President Emeritus, is an expert on neotropical birds, on which he has published several books, is a longtime conservationist, and is the co-discoverer of the

jocotoco antpitta The jocotoco antpitta (''Grallaria ridgelyi'') is an endangered antpitta, a bird from Ecuador and Peru. It was discovered in 1997, and scientifically described in 1999. Description The jocotoco antpitta is a large (150–200 g) antpitta ...

Project examples

* Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco

critical habitat protection in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

, * Fundación ProAves

critical habitat protection in Colombia, * Asociacion Armonía

critical habitat protection in Bolivia, * Reserva Ecologica de Guapiaçu (REGUA

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Atlantic Rainforest protection, * Madagasikara Voakaj

critical habitat protection in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

References

External links

Official Rainforest Trust website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rainforest Trust Forest conservation organizations Rainforests Land trusts in the United States Nature conservation organizations based in the United States Environmental organizations based in Virginia Environmental organizations established in 1988 1988 establishments in the United States