About Coalition for Rainforest Nations
The Coalition for Rainforest Nations is a U.S.-based organization that seeks responsible stewardship of the World’s rainforests through innovative strategies.
The Coalition for Rainforest Nations is a U.S.-based organization that seeks responsible stewardship of the World’s last great rainforests through innovative strategies which integrate social, economic, and scientific rationales to achieve environmental and social sustainability. The Coalition was founded in 2004 by two MBA graduate students at Columbia University, Kevin Conrad and Federica Bietta.
Conrad now serves as the Executive Director and has had experience working as Ambassador and Special Envoy for Environment and Climate Change in the Department of the Prime Minister and National Executive Council of Papua New Guinea from 2005-2014. Co-Founder Federica Bietta is now the acting Managing Director and is an internationally recognized expert in the development of international agreements related to climate change and specific mechanisms that include emissions resulting from tropical deforestation.
When it first started, the Coalition for Rainforest Nations originated the global conservation mechanism – Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) to stop deforestation. REDD+ was successfully mandated in the Paris Climate Agreement (2015), and covers 90% of the world’s tropical rainforests forests.
Presently, the Coalition for Rainforest Nations seeks to create sound and long-lasting opportunities for environmental sustainability, social and economic advancement, strengthened capacity, and international market reform in a manner that enhances tropical forest stewardship, biodiversity conservation, and global climate stability by reversing the destruction of tropical rainforests. They do so by developing policy and tools that endeavor to achieve sustainability for forested and adjacent agricultural lands. Their work is also to manage tropical rainforest areas in support of climate stability, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, and poverty alleviation. They have also created innovative financial tools in partnership with governments, communities, business, and relevant stakeholders. By enabling sustainable livelihoods that improve living standards for forest-dependent communities, the Coalition of Rainforest Nations will continue towards setting a precedent and enabling similar outcomes for other tropically forested countries.