What’s our aim?

Sky and WWF have joined forces to help save one billion trees in the Amazon rainforest and protect around three million hectares from deforestation. That’s an area of rainforest roughly the size of Belgium.

By working with local communities and the government in the Brazilian state of Acre, Sky Rainforest Rescue aims to help make the forest worth more standing than dead.

Working with people to protect the rainforest, this campaign also seeks to improve livelihoods for poor families, protect habitats for threatened species and combat climate change.

Sky Rainforest Rescue will tackle deforestation on a truly ambitious scale. Additionally, we hope this campaign will become a model for conserving other areas of the Amazon and threatened forests around the world.

Why save the rainforest?

Protecting the world’s forests is vital to tackling climate change. Deforestation accounts for up to a fifth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions - that’s about the same as all of the world’s cars, planes, trains and ships put together.

The Amazon is also home to a remarkable diversity of life - up to one tenth of all species on Earth live here, including threatened animals like the jaguar. Forests are also a critical source of food, shelter and livelihoods, which support more than one billion people worldwide.

Read more about why saving the rainforest is so important

The damage so far:

Around 20% of the Amazon rainforest has already been lost to deforestation. An area the size of three football pitches is destroyed every minute.

Conversion of land for agriculture and cattle ranching is a major cause of deforestation. In Acre state, small-scale farmers drive much of this clearance - that’s why we are working with these groups to help tackle deforestation.

Saving the rainforest

WWF and Sky are working together with the Acre state government to help make the rainforest worth more to local people alive than dead. By helping communities to make a sustainable living from the rainforest, we can help prevent deforestation in the Amazon.

Sky Rainforest Rescue will help protect the Amazon rainforest by:

• providing support for local people to preserve their forests and adopt sustainable practices on their land.
• helping local people find new market opportunities for sustainable rainforest products like rubber, and get fair prices for their goods.
• supporting the Acre state government to monitor deforestation.
• supporting some of WWF's policy work to address the major causes of deforestation in the Amazon.

Read more about our work on the ground

What does the future hold?

The money donated to Sky Rainforest Rescue will be used to help protect three million hectares of Amazon rainforest.  But the work doesn’t end there.

We will continue to work with the international community to ensure the Amazon rainforest is protected far into the future.