WorkingAbroad supports volunteer placements that protect and restore rainforests around the globe. Our team has brought together a selection of high-impact projects that enable you to help save rainforests while also equipping you with the skills and education to become a leading conservationist, activist and scientist.
Covering just 3.6% of the planet’s surface, rainforests hold around half of all species on Earth. Protecting rainforests is crucial to preserving the planet’s biological diversity (biodiversity). Rainforests also sequester globally significant carbon stocks. However, in 2019, the world lost 3.8 million hectares of primary mature rainforest. That is equivalent to losing a football pitch of primary forest every 6 seconds. 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are from deforestation.
Rainforests are destroyed for many reasons, including clearing for livestock farming of cattle for beef and crops such as palm oil and soy, logging for timber and fuel, and mining for gold, oil or other valuable elements. The negative impacts of deforestation are felt by the millions of people who rely on forests for their livelihoods, but also the global community who are experiencing the effects of climate change occurring as a result of deforestation.
Rainforest conservation activities are taking place worldwide to counteract the harmful effects of deforestation and build more sustainable relationships between humans and our forests for the future. Our volunteer projects focus on a range of rainforest conservation activities, including replanting and reseeding, mapping of forest areas, protection and rehabilitation of wildlife, monitoring habitat change and contributing to educational programmes. These opportunities take place from the Amazon in Peru and the cloud forests in Ecuador to the tropical rainforests of Indonesia, Laos and Costa Rica.
