News
Securing forests from the bottom up: How participatory maps can support community forests in the Congo Basin
Members of Ilinga community, in DRC’s Equateur Province, celebrate as their community forest is officially granted in September 2018. Ilinga is one of several communities supported by the Rainforest Foundation UK and its local partners to map their forests and obtain a community forest. For years, there has been a growing consensus that securing land … Read more
RFUK’s Real-time Monitoring project expands to new communities in Africa
RFUK’s ForestLink system is active in three countries in Africa and will soon expand to four. From left to right: Ghana, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo. Upwards of 100 communities across Africa will benefit from the Rainforest Foundation UK’s Real-time Monitoring (RTM) project, thanks to new support from the UK Department for … Read more
People, parks and social justice: How community maps can help make conservation better
By Maud Salber, Policy Advisor, RFUK The Tumba Lediima Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was established in 2006, mainly to protect the local population of bonobos. Remarkably, when Tumba Lediima’s borders were drawn, nobody had thought it worthwhile to properly documenting who was already living there, and how these people would be … Read more
ForestLink app helps catch illegal miners red-handed in Peru
Environmental police seized an estimated £1 million of illegal mining equipment during a raid near Barranco Chico, in Madre de Dios | Photo credit: FENAMAD Over the last two months, dozens of suspected illegal gold miners causing terrible environmental damage in the Peruvian Amazon were caught with the help of the ForestLink smartphone app developed by the Rainforest … Read more
Cameroon communities speak out about impacts of large rubber plantation
Representatives of 21 villages affected by industrial rubber project Sud-Cameroun Hevea (“Sudcam”), which is responsible for the largest single destruction of rainforests anywhere in Central Africa, have denounced the impacts of the rubber plantations on their rights and livelihoods. In a statement issued last week, they ask the Cameroonian government and the company that their rights are … Read more
La cartographie communautaire peut permettre de contrer une des plus grandes menaces pesant sur le bassin du Congo
La planification participative de l’utilisation des terres, illustrée ici, peut aider les gouvernements à prendre des décisions éclairées concernant le régime foncier et la gestion des ressources naturelles. Les forêts tropicales de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) sont parmi les plus intactes de la planète, avec des taux de déforestation beaucoup moins élevés qu’en … Read more
Community maps can help prevent an existential threat to the world’s second largest rainforest
Participatory land-use planning, shown here, can combine sophisticated satellite imagery with extensive local knowledge to help governments make informed decisions on land tenure and natural resource management. The tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are amongst the most intact on the planet, with deforestation rates far lower than those in the Amazon … Read more
How community mapping can inform better policy decisions in the Congo Basin
Map showing overlap between customary rights and formal land allocations in Mai Ndombe province, DRC | Source: MappingForRights, WRI How do you decide the location and boundaries for a new nature reserve? How will new palm oil plantations impact nearby forest dwellers? How can local forest communities best secure their land and improve their livelihoods … Read more
Historic first as communities in Democratic Republic of Congo gain legal rights over their local forests
Community members of Bosende, in Equateur Province, celebrate the news this week that their community forest application has been approved. | Photo credit: GASHE The Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) is celebrating, as a group of local communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is being granted legal rights to protect their local rainforests. In what … Read more
Real-time technology helps stop illegal mining operation in the Peruvian Amazon
A map of the affected area in Madre de Dios region. An indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon helped to catch illegal gold miners red-handed this month using a smartphone app developed by the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK), leading to the dramatic destruction of illegal mining equipment. The Masenawa community in Peru’s Madre de Dios … Read more