Cool Earth

Climate impact research over the last decade shows that people who live in the rainforest have historically been the best at shaping and stewarding these ecosystems.

As part of our work, we give cash to communities directly. This is essential in the fight against deforestation in a time where indigenous peoples are excluded from climate and conservation funding altogether.

The positive impact on rainforest health when people live there is clear to see in indigenous territories. By working with indigenous peoples and local communities living in rainforest and with your support, we help to keep rainforest standing.

We measure our impact on rainforest and climate by learning from our outcomes, the small wins, and the challenges.

By doing this, we become a better organisation. Monitoring activities and evaluating our programmes helps us to understand where we are right now. How close we are to where we want to be, and how best to get there.

We would love to give detailed data on each specific tree, in each forest, in each area, and how it has been protected through our work. But in reality, the world is not that simple.

We work in remote places with diverse people, dynamic economies, and complex ecosystems. These are all constantly changing in response to the rest of the world.

Giving credit for stopping deforestation in the places we work solely to Cool Earth doesn’t do justice to the people we support.

Indigenous people and local communities have lived in rainforests for millennia.

Their very existence is the reason rainforest still remains intact. Our role is to make their lives easier so they can continue doing just that.

Cool Earth was created in response to the climate emergency. Founded in 2007
to support Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) in their fight against deforestation, it has become global network of community-led conservation partnerships that demand and deliver rainforest protection. Its founding principle is that people who live in rainforests must determine its future. Without that, rainforest destruction will remain a key driver of the climate crisis.

Our team of over 90 people is based over three continents. We have two operational hubs in Peru (our largest team) and Papua New Guinea (our smallest team) that operate as locally registered organisations. They are regional partnerships that manage and deliver our programmes to ensure local people’s rights over the rainforest are exercised. We have six regional partnerships across two indigenous nations in Peru, and four partnerships in Papua New Guinea. We also have a team in the UK focused on fundraising, communications and operations.

We are a smart and collaborative team who work flexibly each day to ensure there is enough cross over time globally for those who need it. This flexible working also helps to ensure a happy, healthy and productive team who have a good work-life balance.