RainTrust to Base Many of Its New Sustainable Development Efforts on the UN's Prize-Winning Projects.

Every two years, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) awards the Equator Prize to the most successful conservation and development projects. RainTrust believes that Equator Prize winners, as well as many of the other finalists, provide important lessons every rainforest conservation initiative should follow.

Lesson #1: Help the Poor to Save the Rainforest
People living in the Amazon must provide for their families, even if it means ignoring conservation laws. For rainforest conservation to succeed, conservation interventions must offer workable solutions for poor rainforest inhabitants to earn a living without compromising rainforest biodiversity. RainTrust is developing projects that will enable the people of the rainforest to earn a living while safeguarding the Amazon.

Lesson #2: Use Local Knowledge to Devise the Best Possible Solutions
RainTrust is working with rainforest inhabitants, organizations, scientists, and politicians to develop the best possible conservation and development solutions in the Amazon. By incorporating Brazilian knowledge and experiences into project development, the Foundation is developing initiatives that Brazilians will support and help succeed.

Lesson #3: Learning from Neighbors
Once the best possible solutions have been devised, conservation solutions are best spread by helping rainforest inhabitants learn from their neighbors. Learning from a neighbor is easier than learning from outsiders, since a common language and culture is used and a more realistic approach is taught. Furthermore, learning from neighbors helps people accept new ideas since they can see their neighbors succeeding.

Lesson #4: Development and Conservation Takes Time
Working out development and conservation solutions takes time. It is not realistic to assume that poor, rainforest inhabitants with very limited education and experience can be easily trained to engage in business activities. Consistent, long-term support from like-minded organizations is needed to help develop local, eco-friendly businesses.

Lesson #5: Conservation Success Relies on Partnerships
To help save the rainforest, assistance from diverse organizations and people is required to satisfy local demands, address the complex rainforest ecosystem, and adapt to change. Partnerships will also be needed to connect local people to global networks of support.

Lesson #6: Conservation and Development Requires Strong Leadership
Strong local leaders are needed to keep projects focused and achieve initiatives. Leadership, which can routinely provide guidance and make the right connections to diverse groups, plays a fundamental role in conservation and development, especially in adapting more generalized solutions to the specific needs of the community.

Lesson #7: Fairness = Sustainable Business and Conservation
A key challenge facing numerous development and conservation projects is the distribution of benefits. Sometimes individuals end up earning more than their fair share at the expense of others, which can weaken worker relations and trust, ultimately leading to the failure of the business. Organizations need to strive for a fair distribution of profits by being open, honest, and accountable with its employees and beneficiaries.

Lesson #8: Diverse Options Are Required To Deal with Change
Conservation and development projects cannot be narrowly focused on just one initiative, since nature and humans are unpredictable. Ecological changes (i.e. prolonged drought) and/or social changes (i.e. market fluctuations) might compromise the success of one particular activity, so it may be best to rely on a mix of diverse activities. However, there are risks in developing too many diverse activities, and these need to be weighed against the benefits of specializing in a few, well-integrated activities.

Lesson #9: Conservation Success Should be Measured
Measuring the actual impact conservation and development projects have on biodiversity is very difficult given the teeming rainforest biodiversity. Many species have yet to be named and recorded by science! However, without assessing species abundance and diversity, it is difficult to measure the success of interventions and consequently provide strong arguments for continued support.