Rainforest Foundation UK News
RFUK’s New Project! Community Lawyers in the Central African Republic and Gabon.
RFUK is delighted to announce the launch of its new project in the Central African Republic and Gabon, aimed at enhancing legal capacity of forest communities to protect their rights to land and resources. The project will provide training and support to at least 10 law graduates and at least 15 community paralegals who will be based in forest communities on a permanent basis. This new network will provide support and training to forest communities enabling them to make more effective use of the laws that affect their communities, as well as to advocate for improved legal frameworks where they are needed. As a result, communities will have more secure land tenure arrangements, access to forest revenues, and will be adequately consulted on matters that concern them. RFUK will implement this project together with its partners Maison de l'Enfant et de La Femme Pygmées (MEFP) in CAR and Brainforest in Gabon.
Sign Up To Secure A Place Now And Run For The Rainforest In The 2012 Brighton Marathon!
The event takes place on 15th April 2012, so there is still time to train!
We still have a limited number of places available, so email matildef@rainforestuk.org or give us a call on +44 (0) 20 7485 0193, and we will send you an application form and info pack to get you off and running!
Click the Read more link below for all the event information!
Joint Letter To President Rousseff Raising Concerns After Brazil Passes Controversial Forest Code Reform
The Rainforest Foundation UK, along with other UK NGOs and members of Bond (the UK membership body for international development NGOs) have sent the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff a collective statement raising concerns about the suggested amendments to the Brazilian Forest Code, as announced to the international press earlier this week after its passing at the Brazilian Senate on Monday.
You can read the letter in full by clicking 'Read More' below, or by downloading a copy at the below link.
An article regarding the revision of the Brazilian Forest Code can be found on Mongabay.com here.
Happy Birthday, Kemito Ene!
Kemito Ene, the association of Ashaninka cacao producers of the Ene river, celebrates its first birthday on the 9th of December. This association was created as part of the joint project "Protecting Rainforest in the Selva Central Region of Peru", run by the Central Asháninka del Río Ene (CARE) and the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK), under the sponsorship of Betty's and Taylor's of Harrogate. Throughout this year, the project has enabled Ashaninka families to increase their income and enhance their livelihoods in a way that is both respectful of their culture and of the environment.
COP17 UPDATE - Leading Southern NGOs Slam Durban Proposal To Create New Forest Carbon Market
Durban, South Africa (UNFCCC): Recent collapses in carbon markets and widespread opposition from forest peoples and non-governmental organisations have not stopped governments gathered in Durban from trying to build momentum for the creation of a new forest carbon market as part of the response to deforestation and climate change. The Accra Caucus on Forests and Climate Change, a coalition of around 100 civil society and indigenous peoples organisations from 38 countries, called on governments in Durban to reject forest carbon trading after a new draft decision [1] related to REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) specifically includes "market-based" sources of financing, which opens the door for as forest carbon market allowing developed countries to ‘offset' emissions reductions.
Double your donation from today!
The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2011 launches today!
From 10am today your donation could be doubled and worth twice as much through the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2011 at www.theBigGive.org.uk/donate/rfuk.
Why take part?
A donation made through the Big Give will be worth twice its original value as it unlocks bonus funding from an external sponsor, who will double public donations.
To double your donation please visit www.theBigGive.org.uk/donate/rfuk now!
The Rainforest Foundation is one of the chosen charities for The Big Give Christmas Challenge and we are now aiming to raise £32,000 by 9th December 2011 to support our work in the Congo Basin and Amazon rainforests.
This is an amazing opportunity to help protect twice as much rainforest - but we only have five days to do it so please double your donation today!
TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH MAPS A PATH TO RAINFOREST PROTECTION
As the latest climate summit in Durban again tries to resolve the challenges of implementing ‘reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation' (REDD), the Rainforest Foundation UK unveils a powerful new tool which could help prevent the destruction of rainforests, one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. The new website MappingForRights.org provides, for the first time, accurate interactive maps showing the location of communities living in the forest, and how and where they are using forest resources. It also includes the boundaries of strictly protected areas and agents of forest destruction, such as logging companies. The groundbreaking website, which is backed by a unique database of digital maps, builds on the results of many years work to map the existence of forest dwellers in the forests of the Congo Basin.
Double your donation next week!
The Rainforest Foundation UK has been selected for the second year in a row to participate in The Big Give Christmas Challenge 2011 and benefit from this fantastic match-funding scheme run by The Big Give.
The Big Give encourages "intelligent philanthropy" by enabling donors to obtain information confidentially on how a charity uses donations. The Big Give website features chosen charities and each year in December it runs a week-long on-line match-giving Christmas Challenge that allows donors to double their donations.
The Rainforest Foundation has been selected as one of the chosen charities for The Big Give Christmas Challenge and we are now aiming to raise £32,000, which will be matched, releasing an additional £32,000 and bringing the total to £64,000. The challenge runs from the 5th to the 9th December 2011, with all funds raised going to support our work in the Congo Basin and Amazon rainforests.
Victory! Mega-Dam in Peru’s Amazonian rainforest halted by indigenous peoples’ opposition!
In what is being internationally heralded as a victory for the world's indigenous peoples, Brazilian construction company, Odebrecht, has announced its withdrawal from the planned development of the Tambo-40 Hydroelectric Dam on the Tambo River in the Peruvian Amazon, due to the strong opposition by potentially affected indigenous communities. In a letter [1] newly obtained by the Rainforest Foundation, Odebrecht stated to the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines on October 24th that after completing preliminary studies, the company decided to withdraw from the project to "respect the opinion of local populations", referring directly to the more than 14,000 indigenous peoples of the Ashaninka communities who have opposed the construction of dams on the Ene and Tambo Rivers, fearing the loss of the 73,000 hectares of forest and farmland that would have been destroyed if construction had gone ahead. [2]
› Read the Odebrecht Letter to Peruvian Ministry of Mines and Energy
RFUK at United Nations Climate Change Conference in South Africa
Next week, RFUK will be sending a small delegation to COP17, the UN climate change conference to be held in Durban, South Africa, as part of our Climate Change and Forests Programme. The two-week meeting of governments and observers from around the world is the latest in a string of meetings from Cancun to Copenhagen, that has so far failed to agree a fair, ambitious and binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The main focus of our work at the conference will be to ensure that forest peoples voices are heard in discussions related to the future of the rainforests, under the negotiations on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).
