News
Real-Time Monitoring hits the ground running in the Republic of Congo
RTM Congo Team THE REAL-TIME MONITORING (RTM) CONGO TEAM, TRAINED BY RFUK IN 2019, HAVE CAPITALISED ON THEIR TECHNICAL TRAINING BY RFUK TO DEPLOY THE SYSTEM IN TWO PILOT SITES Comptoir Juridique Junior (CJJ) is deploying “Real Time Monitoring” (RTM) and the ForestLink technology in the Republic of Congo following their technical training by RFUK … Read more
New cases of human rights abuses emerge as Buzzfeed exposé shows how WWF tried to cover up earlier reports of atrocities
Recent investigations by the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) and Congolese group APEM have documented new violent crimes at the hands of park rangers supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Salonga National Park in Democratic of Congo (DRC). In 2017, a local school director was allegedly shot dead by Salonga’s eco-guards and … Read more
Voice of the communities: Why we need community forests in the Central African Republic
In a historic development, three communities in the Central African Republic (CAR) were recently given the legal right to protect almost 15,000 hectares of their local rainforest, in the country’s very first community forests [1]. The customary territories of the villages of Moalé, Lokombé and Moloukou had been allocated by the government some years ago … Read more
The Green Climate Fund in the Congo Basin Rainforests – Good Money After Bad?
A new report published today by the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) on the Green Climate Fund finds that one of the world’s largest climate adaptation and mitigation funds for developing countries may actually do more harm to tropical forests and people on the frontline of climate change unless it is reformed. The Green Climate Fund … Read more
Donors called on to address breakdown in forest governance in DR Congo as Chinese company accused of widespread illegal logging
London-based charity the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) and Congolese civil society groups are calling on donors of forestry programmes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to address the breakdown in forest governance in DRC after a Chinese company, accused of illegally logging, was suddenly acquitted by a local court. Following reports by local communities … Read more
From war to sustainable chocolate: Indigenous Amazonian cocoa producers awarded prestigious United Nations ‘Equator Prize’
A cooperative of indigenous cocoa producers based in a remote part of the Peruvian rainforest has won the biennial UN Development Programme’s Equator Prize in recognition of its “outstanding community effort to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.” Kemito Ene (“cocoa from the Ene River”) was formed in 2010, with support from the Rainforest … Read more
Well done to our 2019 London Marathon runners!
It took dedication, passion and months of training, but this month our London Marathon team came out to run for the rainforest, so far raising a staggering £12,700 as they each ran over 26 miles in support of RFUK. The seven runners came from a variety of backgrounds and experience levels, from those running their … Read more
Historic first in the Central African Republic as communities gain rights over their local forests
The first official ‘Community Forest’ has been allocated in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the Congo Basin, giving local people the rights to manage and protect their forest. In what represents an important achievement for forest peoples in CAR, a country where 80 per cent of the rainforest has been handed over to logging … Read more
Central Africa’s rainforests and people suffering from the expansion of palm oil and rubber plantations
Industrial palm oil and rubber plantations in Africa’s Congo Basin continue to disrespect human rights and destroy large swathes of rainforests – the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) reveals in a report published today. As new figures reveal that 2018 was the third worst year for tropical forest loss since records began in 2002, the investigation … Read more
WWF’s ‘review’ of alleged murders, rape, torture and expulsion condemned by human rights organisations as ‘not credible’
Environmental and human rights organisations have written to the Director General of WWF International to say that its intended ‘review’ following widespread reporting of abuse of local people linked to some of its projects is wholly inadequate and needs to be reconsidered [1]. Facing serious criticism that its programmes have been associated with murder, rape, … Read more