Our Mission

Rainforest Trust permanently protects the habitats most critical for species, ecosystems, and the planet’s climate.

Across the tropics, habitat loss is driving species toward extinction and degrading the ecological systems that sustain all life. Species lost to extinction will never return. Without protection, irreplaceable ecosystems will collapse, and the wilderness that stabilizes our climate and sustains communities will be gone forever.

The stakes have never been higher.

Our Approach

The most effective way to save threatened species is to protect their habitats.

Our approach centers on permanently protecting areas of high endemism and threat, including Key Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction Sites, Conservation Imperatives, and Biodiversity Hotspots.

In partnership with donors, local NGOs, Indigenous and local communities, and governments, we help protect tropical and sub-tropical landscapes through land purchase, government designation, or strengthening the land tenure and management rights of Indigenous Peoples and traditional local communities.

Our Ambition

By 2030, we will protect 220 million acres of the most important lands and waters for biodiversity and planetary function, contributing substantially to the global goal of safeguarding 30% of the planet by 2030.

We will also secure 35 billion metric tons of vulnerable carbon stored in vegetation and soil (equal to six years of all U.S. CO₂ emissions).

READ OUR 2026-2030 STRATEGIC PLAN

Protected Area Types

We support the creation of protected and conserved areas through land purchase, legal designation, and support for Indigenous and traditional land tenure rights.

Land purchases support the creation of private reserves that consist of one or more parcels of land secured for conservation and maintained by our partners in perpetuity.

Legal designations are established in cooperation with governments (at federal, state, regional, municipal or local levels) and communities. These protected and conserved areas include national parks, marine protected areas, Indigenous ancestral lands, and other types of reserves or wildlife sanctuaries. Community Forests are legal designations in which local residents are directly involved in sustainably managing and stewarding natural resources. Conservation goals in community forests align with traditional livelihoods, cultures, and wellbeing.

A growing number of our projects support the legal designation of ancestral territories voluntarily conserved by Indigenous Peoples and local communities that are collaboratively managed with or by the communities themselves. Lasting conservation depends on upholding these communities’ land, resource, and self-determination rights.