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Commonly asked questions about Protect-an-Acre
What is Protect-an-Acre?Protect-an-Acre is a small grants program which contributes directly to forest communities struggling to defend their most basic human rights and to protect their rainforest homelands the natural-resource base on which these communities rely for survival. Protect-an-Acre was created as an alternative to "buy an acre" programs which seek to provide permanent protection of the forest by buying tracts of rainforest land, but which generally have little positive effect. What's wrong with buying a tract of rainforest land to protect it, anyway?
How does the program work?Protect-an-Acre supports projects to secure specific and measurable tracts of rainforests by helping to fund the work of forest peoples and their allies in rainforest countries. Through RAN's working relationship with environmental organizations, indigenous communities, and through the advice and recommendations of forest peoples themselves, we are able to identify those key projects which have the greatest potential to defend the rainforests. The small grants (generally under $5,000) provided to groups in the forest have results far beyond the modest amounts granted, and serve to support acquisition of land rights, conservation, and restoration of rainforest lands. How much rainforest land can I save through my Protect-an-Acre contribution?It's difficult to quantify the number of acres per dollar donation that can be protected. Just to give an idea of how powerful your Protect-an- Acre donation can be, in 1992, $20,000 was provided for food, clothing and shelter for 10,000 Quichua and Shiwiar Indians from the Ecuadorian Amazon who marched to the capital city, Quito. Through this show of determination and strength, they were able to secure 2.5 million acres of land title. "Purchasing" this same quantity of land would have cost many millions of dollars, and would still have not succeeded in achieving the more far-reaching goal of the government's recognition of indigenous land rights. How are decisions made on who receives Protect-an-Acre grants?RAN's Board of Directors approves grants, with intensive consultation with RAN's Executive Director, Program staff, and recommendations from indigenous and environmental organizations abroad. Generally, the grants are one-time grants, intended to provide urgently needed funding for innovative initiatives of forest peoples. RAN's Program staff works to monitor how the grants were used, so that progress reports can be provided to Protect-an-Acre supporters. Does a part of my contribution go toward administrative expenses?At least 82% of your donation goes directly toward rainforest preservation. Rainforest Action Network applies a percentage of Protect-an-Acre moneys toward administration, outreach and evaluation of projects. This ensures that your contribution gets the job done. In total, no more than 18% of funds raised will go toward these costs (9% to administer and evaluate projects and 9% to do outreach to raise more funds), and we are working to raise funds from independent sources so that the percentage applied to administration may be lowered or done away with entirely. Buy an Acre Programs provide a "land title" for my donation. What do I get in return for my donation to Protect-an-Acre?Donors to Protect-an-Acre receive an attractive certificate of recognition acknowledging their contribution, along with a description of specific funded projects. And more importantly, you get the satisfaction of supporting far-reaching projects which have a powerful, measurable effect in saving the world's endangered rainforests and supporting the human rights of its inhabitants. How is Protect-an-Acre related to Rainforest Action Network's overall programs?Protect-an-Acre is the cornerstone of RAN's support for forest peoples. Whether our campaigns address logging, oil extraction, corporate or government policies, each has a component of support for indigenous peoples and other forest communities. RAN campaigns to halt the destruction of the world's rainforests through working here at home to stop detrimental practices, promote alternatives, and support efforts in the South aimed at these same goals. RAN's Protect-an-Acre is a direct way of helping forest communities to arrest the many forces of destruction. We encourage Protect-an-Acre donors to also become members of Rainforest Action Network, so that we can work most effectively here at home and around the world to lend support to the peoples of the forest and conserve the Earth's precious rainforests. 1999-2000 Protect-an-Acre grants
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RAN has found
that, while some "buy an acre" programs are designed to expand protected areas
in Costa Rica, for example, most programs, particularly in the Amazon, cater
to the preconceived notions of North Americans that ownership brings control.
This flies in the face of the complex social and economic realities of other
regions such as South America. Most "buy an acre" programs ignore the fact that
there are people living in the forest. In the Amazon, for example, there are
few areas where communities of Indigenous peoples, rubber-tappers, and other
riverine people are not found. They often have ancestral rights to the area.
By supporting projects designed by rainforest communities, we can empower people
whose way of life and well-being is directly dependent upon defending the forest
in which they live. Most "protected" areas in the Amazon have been invaded by
loggers, oil companies, cattle ranchers, and gold miners. Supporting projects
of forest peoples aids them to gain recognition of their land rights and continue
their traditional ways of life.