Seeding Change with Rainforest Communities

Since 2021, Health In Harmony and coalition partners have been working across Brazil to scale community-designed solutions and support Indigenous self-determination across multiple territories in the Amazon rainforest.

The world’s largest tropical rainforest, The Amazon is one of Earth’s most important terrestrial carbon reserves, estimated to contain about 123 billion tons of carbon above and below ground.

Health in Harmony partner organization Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) supports rainforest communities alongside the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry and Ministry of Health, focusing on high biodiversity areas in Kalimantan and Papua.

Indonesia’s rainforests are incredible stores of carbon, and are home to 10% of the world’s animal species and 11% of its plant species. However, they are also being logged at an alarming rate (40% lost in the last 50 years).

Health in Harmony partners with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and local NGO Ny Tanantsika in Ikongo District, Madagascar, to invest in community-designed solutions in 2024.

Covering only 0.5% of Earth’s land, Madagascar contains 5% of Earth’s species, and 80% of its species live nowhere else – including several species of lemur. Madagascar is the fourth most vulnerable country in the world to climate change.

In Panama, Health In Harmony works with FSC Indigenous Foundation to boost Indigenous nature-based business models in three communities. Impact monitoring technology and community reporting will measure and verify the project’s goals.

Panama is home to over 10,000 species of plants. The Panamanian rainforest’s biodiversity is one of the highest in the world, making it essential in supporting our planet’s ecosystems. Two-thirds of this forest is located in Indigenous Peoples’ territories.