Rainforest Rescue (German: ''Rettet den Regenwald'') is a non-governmental environmental organization with head office in Germany which advocates the preservation of

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfo ...

s at global level. It is a politically independent organization that defends the inhabitants of the tropical rainforests and their living spaces. The work of the organization consists in launching petitions on its website (in German, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese language) and collecting donations for concrete projects in the affected tropical areas. The protest actions mainly deal with ecologic and social problems caused by the trade of tropical

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including Beam (structure), beams and plank (wood), planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as fini ...

gold mining Gold mining is the extraction of gold resources by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. However, with the expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surfac ...

, the expansion of industrial-scale

monoculture In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare/acre cornfield and a 10-ha/acre field of organic kale a ...

s and land conflicts with indigenous populations. The organization does not receive any subsidies from the state or local governments and its activities are exclusively financed through donations. Today around 3,500 sustaining members are supporting the organization's work by annual donations, apart from thousands of sporadic donations every year. Rainforest Rescue was founded in 1986. As it was recognized by the Revenue of Hamburg as an organization of public interest, the donations can be deducted from income tax. In November 2002 the journal ''Öko-Test'' investigated its handling of donations and awarded Rainforest Rescue with the grade “very good“.

History

Rettet den Regenwald (Rainforest Rescue) was founded in 1986 by Reinhard Behrend, who was the head of the organization until shortly before his death on June 5, 2020. The international support is seen as an essential means to defend the local inhabitants of the rainforests who, being deprived of their power, are dependent on this help in order to survive. The organization seeks to break what it considers a circle of lumber dealers, land owners, oil and mining companies and corrupt politicians who benefit, in the short term, from the destruction of rainforests, at the expense of nomads, indigenous groups, rubber tree tappers, riverbank populations and of peasants that are linked to the NGO.

Cooperations

Rettet den Regenwald (Rainforest Rescue) cooperates with German and international environmental, social and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

organizations. Among them are: Rainforest Foundation (UK), Amazonwatch (United States), Rainforest Information Centre (Australia), Rainforest Action Network (USA), Rainforest Relief (USA), Environmental Defense (USA),

Acción Ecológica Acción Ecológica is one of the main environmental organizations in Ecuador. It is based in Quito. It campaigns on a range of issues including oil extraction, exploration and pipeline transport, Amazon rainforest protection, food sovereignty, bi ...

(

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

), DECOIN (Ecuador), Fundación del Río (

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

), Save Our Borneo (

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

), JATAM (Indonesia),

WALHI The Indonesian Forum for Living Environment (''Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia'', WALHI) is an Indonesian environmental non-governmental organization, which is part of the Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) network. WALHI was founded in ...

(Indonesia), Aldaw (

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

) and many more.

Program

The main activities are: * organization of protest actions against the destruction of tropical rainforests by lumber dealers, oil and mining companies and development projects * support of

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

s in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

and the

* publication of a quarterly journal called “Rainforest Report“ (available only in German) * provide information for schools and the media

References

External links

{{Authority control Environmental organisations based in Germany International organisations based in Germany Forest conservation organizations