News
Remote rainforest communities can report illegal logging on their lands in ‘real-time’ thanks to ground-breaking technology
Today, we are launching a technologically innovative system that gives forest peoples the opportunity to send near-instantaneous, highly geographically accurate reports of illegal felling of trees, such as by timber or palm oil companies, from anywhere in the world, even where there is no mobile, phone or internet connectivity. Information on illegal activity in the … Read more
RFUK trains mappers in Cameroon amid renewed threat to rainforest
RFUK’s mapping coordinator Georges Thierry Handja was in Cameroon last month to continue our support for communities facing threats to their lands. Over just 12 days, RFUK trained teams of people from three regions to support forest communities to produce maps of their land, much of which is considered to be under customary ownership (though this … Read more
Cutting Edge Software and Mapping Techniques Help Prove Traditional ‘Ownership’ of Congo Basin Rainforest ‘Wildernesses’
KINSHASA: We have just published some new mapping data that reveals what has previously been thought of as rainforest ‘wilderness’ is in fact occupied and ‘traditionally owned’ by thousands of African villagers. The data from these ‘wildernesses’, which in fact, relates to 32 villages with a combined population of some 56,000 people and covering 209,000 hectares, exposed … Read more
How Accountants Play a Key Role in Protecting DRC’s Rainforests
KINSHASA: Accountants and financial managers, project managers and directors from our partner organisations in DRC, combined their know-how last week as part of our long-term capacity-building work in the region. As part of the Mapping and Forest Governance programme, we have been working with civil society organisations, CADEM, GASHE and RRN in DRC, on this since January 2013. Broadly, this programme is designed to contribute to poverty reduction, … Read more
Congo Basin NGOs call for urgent action on palm oil expansion
Environmental and human rights organisations from across the Congo Basin have called for urgent action to prevent forest destruction and violations of rights due to the expansion of industrial palm oil plantations in the region. A meeting in Douala in December, hosted by the Environmental Investigation Agency, heard how more than 70 groups are mobilising … Read more
Get Inspired and #MatchMaggie (through Twitter!)
Five-year-old Maggie wrote to the Rainforest Foundation UK to tell us she will be donating her weekly pocket money – 20 pence – for a whole year! “I love rainforests and I want to be a rainforest explorer when I grow up,” she wrote. Maggie, from Sutton Coldfield, sent her first 20p in the post … Read more
New evidence show that world’s second largest rainforest ‘wilderness’ is already occupied and ‘owned’ by African villagers
New maps put online today by the Rainforest Foundation UK – following two years of training and helping local villagers to use sophisticated mapping techniques – have revealed an extensive network of previously ‘invisible’ forest land ownership, occupation and use which could challenge many of the current ideas about how best to ‘protect’ rainforests in … Read more
Time for a rethink of forest management in the Congo Basin
Much of the commercial forest sector remains chaotic and badly governed. There is little evidence that ‘trickle-down’ wealth distribution from either logging or strict conservation has ever materialised, a view that is supported by recent independent evaluations of some of the main international backers of these sectors[1]. This failing ‘paradigm’ could provide the impetus for … Read more
Round the world trip for former RFUK staff member
Rosemary Brown, a former staff member at the RFUK, has set off on a round-the- world trip, offsetting the emissions of her travels by donating to the RFUK an amount equivalent to her adventure’s carbon footprint. Rosemary’s trip is in remembrance of Nellie Bly, a pioneer of investigative journalism, whose work resulted in historic reforms … Read more
RFUK teams up with ethical bank Triodos
We have launched a new partnership with the ethical bank Triodos, offering you a great alternative to UK high street banks who are often accused of lending money or providing financial services to companies who are directly involved in rainforest destruction. Triodos Bank pride themselves on only offering banking services to companies whose services have … Read more