Every year on 22 June, people around the world come together for World Rainforest Day — a global moment to celebrate and protect the forests that sustain all life on Earth. Created by the Rainforest Partnership in 2017, the day unites organisations, activists, and everyday people in collective action for rainforest protection.
This year, Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots has joined the Rainforest Partnership as an official campaign partner for their online campaign. The theme for 2026, The Forest Within You, is a reminder that protecting rainforests is not about saving something far away. Rainforests live in our breath, our bodies, our cultures, and our choices. Around 25% of all medicines used in modern western medicine are derived from rainforest plants. They regulate the hydrological systems that shape our climate and carry within them thousands of years of Indigenous knowledge about how to live in balance with the natural world.
No one is ever too far from a rainforest to be connected to it — and no one is ever too far to do something for it. These three Roots & Shoots groups across three continents showed exactly what that can look like and are continuing putting #HopeIntoAction.
In Butembo, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Roots & Shoots DRC organised an educational visit to the ITAV Reserve, bringing together around twenty young participants to challenge the negative perception of chimpanzees and inspire a new generation of protectors of the forest.
The youth explored the reserve, learned to identify chimpanzee tracks, and left with a deeper understanding of why protecting chimpanzees means preserving their habitat — and why that matters for all of us. Inspired by the experience, some participants began monitoring illegal logging in their communities, teachers integrated wildlife education into club activities, and a mini-campaign, “Guardians of the Chimpanzee,” was launched to spread awareness among peers.
In Germany, a Roots & Shoots group known as the CareCrew — made up of medical students — has been raising funds by selling cakes and organising events, with all proceeds directed towards a school in the Amazon region. The school’s nursing station serves the entire village and is due to be expanded, with longer-term plans to create a Roots & Shoots garden combining mental health support with forest experiences.
Germany has no rainforests of its own, yet these young people have found a practical way to support people living in one of the most critical ecosystems on the planet — a reminder that our choices ripple outward, connecting us to forests we may never visit in person.
In Argentina’s Misiones jungle, part of the Atlantic Forest, one of the world’s most threatened tropical rainforest ecoregions — a remarkable story of connection has been quietly unfolding for years.
Inspired by Jane Goodall’s words, “If you can’t convince them, tell them a story,” Andrea from Roots & Shoots Argentina wrote a book narrated by a majestic Palo Rosa tree (Aspidosperma polyneuron), the tallest of its kind in the Misiones jungle. During a visit to Roberto’s native plant nursery, she collected seeds from this very tree — now endangered — and gifted them to him, knowing germination would be a challenge.
Years later, Jane visited Roberto’s nursery in Jasy Porã, where he presented her with two saplings: a Lapacho and a Palo Rosa — grown from Andrea’s seeds. Today, Roberto and his family continue gathering native seeds, nurturing seedlings, and reforesting Mbya Guaraní villages. A full circle of connection: seeds, stories, and stewardship.
World Rainforest Day is both a celebration and a call to action. From an outdoor classroom in the DRC to a cake sale in Germany, from an endangered tree in Argentina to the communities being reforested in its name, Roots & Shoots groups are showing that young people across the world are already living this connection — and acting on it.
Can you feel The Forest Within You?
To find out more about World Rainforest Day and the Rainforest Partnership, visit worldrainforestday.org.
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