The Rainforest Foundation was founded in 1989 by Sting and his wife Trudie Styler, after they saw first-hand the destruction of the Amazon rainforests, and the devastating impact it had on the lives of the indigenous peoples who lived there.
The Foundation's first major initiative was to campaign for the protection of the lands of the Kayapo Indians in Brazilian Amazonia. This resulted in 1993 in the legal recognition and demarcation of an area of more than 27,359 square kilometers.
Over the last 20 years the Foundation has expanded and diversified. Today there is the New York-based Rainforest Foundation Fund, which is generously backed by Sting. This provides funding, over USD 1.5 million in 2007, for three autonomous organisations - Rainforest Foundation US, Rainforest Foundation Norway, Rainforest Foundation UK. These organisations directly support projects in more than 20 countries that protect tropical rainforests and the people that live in them.
