Congo Basin
African Civil Society Decries Corporate Capture of the Africa Climate Summit
African Civil Society Decries Capture of the Africa Climate Summit by Corporate Interests As African leaders gather for the Africa Climate Summit, hundreds of African organisations have expressed concerns about the corporate capture of the event. The inaugural summit – held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 4 to 6 September – is billed as a crucial … Read more
A Step in the Right Direction: Publication of ICCN’s Guidelines for Grievance Mechanisms in DRC
In Kinshasa recently, an important step was taken towards securing the rights of the millions of people who live in the vicinity of national parks in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After a lengthy process involving consultation with local communities and civil society, ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature – Congolese Institute … Read more
A Make Or Break Moment: Fossil Fuel Expansion In The Amazon And Congo Basins Is An Existential Threat To Climate And Communities
Financial system decisions now pivotal to ending fossil fuel expansion in the world’s largest tropical rainforests Recent reports spotlight plans for fossil fuel expansion in some of the world’s most important ecosystems, and follow financial flows from major banks Banks, financial institutions, and their regulatory bodies have a key role to play in reducing threats … Read more
NGOs Urge International Community to Act on Impending Natural Resource Grab in DRC
Fifteen Congolese and International NGOs have warned of an imminent sell-off of timber, oil and carbon rights in the run-up to elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo later this year. In a letter to the Inter-Donor Group on Environment and Climate (GIBEC) ahead of its planned meeting with DRC President Tshisekedi this week, we call … Read more
Using a gender-sensitive approach to shape meaningful participation in forest protection
Following on from International Women’s Day, we want to continue shining a spotlight on the vital importance of ensuring women’s meaningful participation in rainforest protection initiatives. Women are key forest users with important roles in the agricultural industry and unique knowledge of forest diversity, however they are often underrepresented in forest governance and community-based monitoring … Read more
#IWD 2023: Rural women at the heart of participatory forest resource management
A guest Blog from our ForestLink partners: In Cameroon, the forestry sector plays an important role in the national economy, and provides a range of essential social and environmental functions for many local and indigenous communities. As a result, the sector also faces several tensions related to the proper management of its resources, including the socio-economic precariousness … Read more
Press Release: Gabon’s rainforest carbon credits set a precedent that could worsen climate change
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE As world leaders including Emmanuel Macron gather in Libreville for the ‘One Forest Summit’ [1], convened jointly by the governments of Gabon and France, a new investigation by the Rainforest Foundation UK has found that the recent issue by Gabon of more than 90 million carbon credits [2] for supposedly saving … Read more
Target to ‘Protect’ 30% of Earth by 2030 – A Disaster for People and Bad for the Planet?
With COP15 looming, leading Human Rights NGOs have denounced the planned target of protecting 30% of Earth by 2030.
Congo in the Crosshairs: Oil and Gas Expansion Threats to Climate, Forests, and Communities
A new comprehensive mapping and analysis by RFUK and Earth Insight shows that oil and gas expansion in the Congo Basin is a rapidly accelerating existential threat to the global climate, and to the world’s second largest rainforest – including the tens of millions of people who live there. There is still time for African … Read more
Realising the Pledge: Unlocking System-level Change in the Congo Basin
Building on ‘Realising the Pledge,’ a briefing by the Rainforest Foundations of the United Kingdom, the United States and Norway on how the US$1.7 billion Forest Tenure commitment at COP26 can reach critical frontline forest defenders, this Brief looks at major opportunities to unlock system-level change in key tropical forest regions such as the Congo … Read more