Contents

• Purpose and Scope
• Rainforest Trust Core Guiding Principles
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Our Social Safeguards Standards
• Rainforest Trust Grievance Mechanism
• Continuous Improvement

Purpose and Scope

Rainforest Trust is committed to advancing conservation that respects human and collective rights, strengthens community well-being, and supports the leadership role of peoples who steward some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. This Commitment outlines the principles and standards guiding our grantmaking so that funded activities identify, prevent, and address social risks and avoid harm, while contributing to equitable and durable conservation outcomes.

This Commitment applies exclusively to grant-funded activities and Grantees. Rainforest Trust also applies internal safeguarding and ethical conduct standards to its own staff, board and representatives; these are detailed in our internal policies and reinforce the principles described here. This Commitment guides how Rainforest Trust manages risks in funded projects and what we expect from our Grantees.

We pay particular attention to the rights and leadership roles of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities, who often face disproportionate risks and hold essential knowledge, cultural ties, and governance systems that can sustain lasting conservation.

Our approach draws on our organizational values, the UNEP Core Human Rights Principles for Private Conservation Organizations and Funders, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,  ILO Convention 169, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and other globally recognized norms, applied appropriately to our role as a philanthropic funder.

Rainforest Trust Core Guiding Principles

Our core values guide how we operate, make decisions, and show up as a mission-driven organization. Below, we describe how these values guide our Social Safeguards Commitments.

Respect and Empower People

We uphold the rights, dignity, and self-determination of communities involved in the work we fund. This includes safeguarding children and at-risk populations, and respecting cultural heritage, sacred sites, and Traditional Knowledge. We do not support activities that result in dispossession, discrimination, exploitation, coercion, or abuse, and we expect our Grantees to maintain reasonable safeguards to prevent and respond to such harms. This includes sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, gender-based violence, abuse of power, and all forms of trafficking, forced labor, servitude, and slavery, in accordance with applicable laws and internal policies.

Act with Integrity and Transparency

We represent the work and leadership role of communities and Grantees accurately, respectfully, and with consent. We communicate clearly about project goals, risks, and expected outcomes, and expect Grantees to do the same with communities who shape or lead the work, enabling their meaningful leadership and participation throughout project planning. Acting with integrity includes proactively safeguarding at-risk populations, promoting equitable treatment, and respecting the dignity, rights, and voices of all community members, including through culturally appropriate, patient, and accessible communication that accounts for language differences, varied communication styles, and differing paces of engagement, and does not disadvantage individuals or groups who may require more time or support to participate meaningfully. We value accountability and transparency and maintain a grievance mechanism to ensure communities and Grantees have a safe way to raise concerns.

Partner for Impact

We work through long-term partnerships with local organizations and representatives of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities who steward critical ecosystems. We support Grantees in strengthening local governance and advancing communal priorities, and we invest in conservation approaches that are community-grounded, locally legitimate, and durable.

Lead with Data

We use structured risk screening, community insights, and contextual information to inform decisions. Risk categories guide the depth of review, documentation, and oversight. We continually evaluate risks, learn from Grantee and community feedback, and update our practices in line with evolving evidence and global best practice.

Invest Resources Efficiently

We invest strategically in projects that deliver tangible conservation outcomes and ensure safeguard requirements are proportionate, practical, and avoid unnecessary burdens for Grantees and communities. We use our influence responsibly, including pausing, conditioning, or redirecting funds when warranted, to help ensure that our investments contribute to conservation that is effective, equitable, and rights-affirming for the people who depend on and care for the land.

Roles and Responsibilities

Rainforest Trust

• Screens proposals for social risk and assigns risk levels that guide due diligence, documentation, oversight, and reporting. Risk screening considers land and resource rights, governance, community engagement, benefit-sharing, displacement or access restrictions, gender and social inclusion, cultural heritage and Traditional Knowledge, security and law enforcement, accountability and conflict resolution, and climate-related vulnerabilities.
• Reviews Grantee readiness, systems, and experience to understand how social risks are managed at a scale and complexity appropriate to the project.
• Reviews available documentation describing community engagement and consent processes for projects that may affect Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, or local communities. Where appropriate to context and risk, Rainforest Trust may encourage Grantees to allocate resources for meaningful engagement and may link funding disbursements to engagement-related milestones.
• Distinguishes minimum safeguarding expectations required for all grants from areas where we encourage progressive improvements. Where gaps exist but are clear, Rainforest Trust may provide support to strengthen these systems.
• Maintains an organizational grievance mechanism and takes corrective action when significant risks or harms are identified.
• Provides ongoing staff training to strengthen understanding and application of social safeguards.
• Commits to transparency, openness to feedback, and continuous improvement.

Grantees

• Implement activities consistent with this Commitment and the Social Safeguards Standards below.
• Conduct community engagement and consent processes appropriate to context and designed to align with national frameworks and FPIC principles when activities may affect community rights, lands, or governance systems.
• Identify, manage, and monitor social risks and take reasonable measures to avoid, minimize, and remedy harm.
• Establish, maintain, and communicate effective grievance mechanisms that are accessible, trusted, and non-retaliatory, and inform stakeholders of both Grantee-level and Rainforest Trust grievance channels.
• Report emerging issues, risks, or grievances to Rainforest Trust in a timely manner.
• Ensure that all staff, contractors, and subcontractors are aware of and adhere to these standards.

Our Social Safeguards Standards

These standards apply to all Rainforest Trust-funded grants. Procedures for implementation and oversight are described in the implementation plan, which is in development.

Standard 1. Respect for Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)

Projects that may affect Indigenous Peoples (IPs), for whom FPIC is a specific collective right under international law, must recognize and respect their rights to lands, territories, resources, culture, governance systems, and self-determination. While FPIC is a distinct right of IPs, Rainforest Trust applies an equivalent consent-based standard and FPIC principles to local communities (LCs)¹, including Afro-descendant Peoples (ADPs) and other communities who have specific rights in certain countries. Where project activities may affect the rights or interests of IPs, ADPs, or LCs, projects must obtain FPIC, or documented consent through processes that meet FPIC principles, including informing communities of their rights, iterative good-faith negotiations, freedom from coercion, culturally appropriate decision-making, adequate timeframes, and access to relevant information. Where national laws or practice provide weaker protections than international human rights standards, the higher standard applies.

Standard 2. Inclusive, Equitable, and Meaningful Participation in Decision-Making

Projects must ensure early, ongoing, inclusive, and equitable participation of rights-holders in decisions that may influence project design, implementation, and outcomes. Participation processes must be accessible, culturally appropriate, and informed, including access to relevant information in appropriate languages and formats, and must enable communities to meaningfully influence decisions that affect them, consistent with internationally recognized human rights norms.

Standard 3. Prevention of Harm and Protection of At-Risk Populations

Projects must take appropriate measures to prevent harm and to identify, avoid, and respond to risks of abuse, exploitation, coercion, discrimination, or retaliation. This includes safeguarding women and children and other at-risk populations from neglect, sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, trafficking, forced labor, gender-based violence, and abuse of power.

Standard 4. Avoidance of Displacement and Involuntary Access Restrictions

Projects must not result in physical or economic displacement of rights-holders. Any restrictions to access of lands, territories, or resources must be designed in full collaboration with rights-holders and secure their Free, Prior, and Informed Consent. Projects must include measures to avoid harm, and as required by rights-holders, provide compensation, alternative access, or other benefits.

Standard 5. Fair, Safe, and Lawful Working Conditions

Projects must ensure fair, safe, and lawful working conditions for all personnel involved in grant-funded activities. This includes prohibiting child labor, forced labor, servitude, trafficking, slavery, gender-based violence, harassment, discrimination, and all other forms of exploitation or abuse. Grantees must take reasonable measures to prevent, identify, and respond to such harms, consistent with applicable laws, international human rights standards, and this Commitment.

Standard 6. Protection of Cultural Heritage and Traditional Knowledge

Projects must protect cultural heritage, sacred sites, and Traditional Knowledge, and may only access or use Traditional Knowledge with community consent and appropriate agreements.

Standard 7. Rights-Respecting and Accountable Conservation Enforcement Practices

Rainforest Trust does not fund weapons, ammunition, or militarized enforcement equipment. Any enforcement activities supported through grants must align with international human rights standards, prioritize non-violent and de-escalatory measures wherever feasible, and ensure that personnel follow and are accountable to clear conduct standards prohibiting torture, ill-treatment, coercion, or abuse of power. Grantees must maintain functional avenues for personnel accountability and for rights-holders to raise concerns, including procedures to address credible allegations, independent review where possible, and appropriate remedies or disciplinary action. Grantees are also expected to provide rangers and security personnel with appropriate training on human rights and culturally appropriate and respectful engagement.

Standard 8: Functional Grievance and Accountability Mechanisms

Projects must ensure access to grievance and accountability mechanisms that are effective in practice, not only in design. Grievance mechanisms must be accessible, culturally appropriate, confidential where needed, and free from retaliation. They must include clear procedures, predictable timelines, and processes for fair review, response, and if relevant, remedy. Grantees must actively inform communities of available grievance channels and take reasonable steps to ensure concerns are received, addressed, and resolved in a timely and appropriate manner.

¹A local community is a self-identified group that relates to a life environment in collective ways that participate to define a shared territory and culture. The members of a local community possess some common history, traditions, institutions, language, values and life plans. A local community can be long-standing (‘traditional’) or relatively new, include a single or multiple ethnic identities and be permanently settled or mobile. A local community should have a form of political identity that enables it to exercise its rights and responsibilities with respect to its territory and neighbors. See context here: https://toolbox.iccaconsortium.org/meanings-and-more/local-communities

Rainforest Trust Grievance Mechanism

Individuals or communities may raise concerns directly with Rainforest Trust. Concerns may relate to Grantee staff, contractors, Rainforest Trust representatives, or perceived or actual project impacts. Our organizational grievance mechanism provides a safe, confidential, and non-retaliatory channel for anyone affected by activities we fund to report concerns. Submit a grievance via our online form or email grievances@rainforesttrust.org. Emails may be submitted in any language. Our online grievance forms may be submitted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and we are working to make forms in other languages and formats. Concerns may also be raised directly to Rainforest Trust staff in person, via calls, texts, or emails, which will then be relayed and integrated into RT’s Grievance System. Rainforest Trust will acknowledge receipt, communicate next steps and explain confidentiality parameters. Depending on the severity of the claim, we may need to elevate it to our Board of Directors or external support.

Submit a grievance

Continuous Improvement

Rainforest Trust periodically reviews and updates this Commitment and its implementation plan to reflect evolving best practice and lessons learned. We invest in staff training, Grantee support, and internal systems that strengthen safeguards across our grantmaking cycle.