Niyanta Spelman

Niyanta Spelman, Founder / CEO of Rainforest Partnership is a power broker of indigenous and local community-centered collaborations to protect rainforests. Her work is critical to creating a balanced, thriving future for the entire planet. Niyanta understands the underlying mechanisms of deforestation. The challenge centers on the needs of those on the front lines of the rainforest—indigenous peoples and local communities. Niyanta and Rainforest Partnership 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.

Outreach and advocacy initiatives include: World Rainforest Day –June 22– a global day that Rainforest Partnership founded in 2017 and Films for the Forest which debuted at SXSW in 2010. Niyanta has received numerous honors and awards, and most recently in November, was a featured Conservationist at the Reykjavik Global Forum 2023. She served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas for the 2021-22 academic year, teaching a graduate class on Climate Change and Development to future thought leaders and policymakers.

Niyanta is proud to have participated as a Grand Jury member in this year's CSO Awards North America during New York City Climate Week hosted by Futur/io Institute. At the award ceremony, Rainforest Partnership will present its inaugural Tropical Rainforest Industry Impact (TRII) Index which was incorporated into the CSO Awards evaluation.