WorldRainforests.com origined as the rainforest section of mongabay.com (rainforests.mongabay.com). It was split off from Mongabay in January 2024.

The text for this site is based on A Place Out of Time: Tropical Rainforests - Their Wonders and the Perils They Face, a project by Rhett Ayers Butler. Rhett initially developed the work over a four-year period (1996-2000) and continued to update and revise the project until 2021.

A Place Out of Time was crafted for those fascinated by the natural world. Designed to captivate a wide audience, it enabled readers ranging from grade school students to stockbrokers and plumbers to both enjoy and learn about tropical rainforests. Rhett aimed to expand the scope and perspectives of this text by integrating diverse and occasionally disparate information from various sources, which at the time were typically not easily accessible to the average reader. Through this process, the Rehtt sought to demystify the often complex subject matter, offering insights into the contemporary economic, political, and social dynamics surrounding tropical rainforests.

A Place Out of Time went on to become Mongabay.com, which in the mid-2000s emerged as a popular and trusted source of news and inspiration from Nature's frontline. By late 2023, Mongabay had nearly 100 full-time staff and about 1,000 contributing writers across 70 countries.

In early 2024, Rhett decided to separate the rainforest section from the rest of Mongabay because it was no longer the quite right fit with the organization's focus on journalism and capacity-building programs Additionally, Mongabay had expanded way beyond the efforts of a single person.

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