This butterfly is excited to be speaking with Niyanta Spelman. Niyanta is the founder and CEO of Rainforest Partnership, an impact-driven international nonprofit that uses the power of community-centered collaboration to protect rainforests—critical components in the global climate crisis—in some of the most critical places on Earth for biodiversity and climate. Founded in 2007, Rainforest Partnership works to solve the challenge of deforestation by centering the needs of those on the front lines of the rainforest—Indigenous peoples and local communities. The organization builds collaborative relationships with rainforest communities as a trusted partner, developing comprehensive, ground-up solutions and economic responses that create effective and long-lasting conservation outcomes. In 2021 alone, RP’s efforts led to the durable protection and restoration of 1.16 million acres of rainforest in Peru, Ecuador, and along the Peru-Brazil border. Powered by a powerful and passionate global team that seamlessly blends a compensated team, volunteers, and partners, the organization achieves high-value outcomes for forests through its own work, but also by its thought leadership that enables others to advance their impact more effectively. A native of Tanzania, Niyanta attended boarding school in India. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from The University of Texas at Dallas and a Master of Public Affairs in Environmental Policy from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to founding Rainforest Partnership in 2007, her career path included work at the first lobbying firm in London, leading a management consultancy, and working with Texas environmental agencies as part of a legislative agency. She chaired a chamber of commerce, served on the Austin Planning Commission, and served on the board of a US national health advocacy organization. Niyanta serves as the Speaker of the newly formed Rainforest Collective, and she recently taught a class on Climate Change and Development at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. She has received numerous honors and awards and has been featured in international press outlets. In this episode, you will hear about the tropical rainforest and its values, the indigenous people, biodiversity, and more. Some notes... More about 1treellion & Niyanta Spelman. To support planting all over the world, please check out this link. The great music is credited to Pixabay.