We all depend on rainforests.

The rainforests of Indonesia, the Amazon, and the Congo Basin are essential to all life on Earth: they provide us with the air we breathe and the water we drink. Rainforests are also home to the majority of land-based biodiversity — plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. For millions of local and Indigenous people, forests are their homes and livelihoods.

In managing their forests, they ensure the survival of their communities and their cultures. To keep forests standing, we must support the most effective forest defenders in the world: strong, organized local and Indigenous communities. Rainforests are our last, best line of defense against climate chaos, and these communities are our collective global defenders too.

Rainforests are one of our best lines of defense against climate chaos: they help regulate global temperatures and weather patterns, and they absorb massive amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and keep it safely stored. Rainforests help provide the entire world with clean air, clean water, and a stable climate, all for free.

That’s why it’s so crucial that we Keep Forests Standing.

Rainforests, communities and climate are under attack.

Massive corporate greed is driving deforestation around the world — for cheap palm oil, soy, beef, pulp and paper, timber, and cocoa — to make the products that line our store shelves. That’s right, massive global corporations are turning a quick profit from deforestation and leaving behind lasting devastation.

Keep Forests Standing: Exposing Brands and Banks Driving Deforestation

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As forests fall,rainforests are being stolen from Indigenous communities, who have cared for them for millennia, in massive land grabs and then destroyed for commodity production. Communities face intimidation tactics and outright violence — all too often deadly — as they resist the corporate take-over. 

Some of the most biodiverse forests in the world are being cleared away and turned into monocropped, agribusiness plantations where there are high rates of child labor, human trafficking, and modern day slavery. Workers are exploited, exposed to toxic pesticides, and paid poverty wages. Annual burning — the cheapest way to clear more forests and peatlands for large-scale production — creates horrible pollution that blankets whole countries in toxic haze and releases massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. 

If tropical deforestation were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world, only behind China and the United States. And emissions from deforestation are only getting worse, having more than doubled in the last few years. If tropical deforestation continues at the current rate, a climate-stable future will be all but impossible.

Who drives the destruction? Profits vs. Rainforests

Our threatened climate, forests, and communities face a common culprit: the short-term profit of massive corporations. That’s right, lasting damage at a global level is being driven by short-term gains.

So who is benefitting from rainforest destruction? Ten of the most influential corporations — everyday brands you recognize — are fueling deforestation and the violation of human rights.

Massive global brands like Mars, Mondelēz, Nestlé, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Nissin Foods, Kao, Ferrero, Colgate-Palmolive, and PepsiCo are driving the demand for cheap, rainforest-destroying commodities like palm oil, pulp and paper, beef, soy, and cocoa.

These corporations are vulnerable to pressure from YOU.

This is where we — you and the rest of our network — come in. These corporations are vulnerable to market pressure and are fiercely protective of their brands’ reputations. As consumers, we have the ability to change industry practices.

P&G: Protect Indigenous communities

It’s time for Procter & Gamble to wash away their dirty connections with the notorious producer Royal Golden Eagle. Let P&G's execs know that you demand an end to rainforest and community destruction in your shampoo and facial moisturizers!

Take Action

By harnessing our collective power, RAN and our allies have run successful campaigns against corporations for over 35 years.

We’ve shown, time and again, that people power is stronger than corporate power.

It’s critical that we hold corporations accountable to end the terrible cycle of rainforest destruction and human rights abuses. Our survival — yours and mine — depends on keeping forests standing. Join us in the fight of our lives!