Forests in the Democratic Republic Of Congo - the story so far
When DRC’s five-year civil war officially ‘ended’ with a cease-fire in 2002, attention focused on how to rebuild the country, and the country’s rich forests were identified as a critical resource for economic development. In August 2002, the government passed a new Forest Code, setting out how forest lands would be managed. It was based on a ‘vision’ of the forest as being mainly for the production of timber. Forest dwellers, such as indigenous ‘Pygmy’ people, were not consulted or informed.
Working against the clock, the Rainforest Foundation brought together Congolese environmental and human rights organisations, to raise awareness of the threat to the forest. By 2004, the Rainforest Foundation had helped to establish a national network of groups dedicated to protecting the country’s environment. Forest peoples are now able to lobby the government about the changes to the country’s laws.
In 2005, with the support of the Rainforest Foundation, indigenous peoples submitted a formal complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel (the official independent watchdog of the Bank). A preliminary investigation by the Panel found that the Bank had failed to take account of the impact of its plans on DRC’s forest-dwellers, and it was forced to admit that it had made mistakes. Crucially, the Bank recognised that it was time for a new approach to the Congo’s rainforests that involved alternatives to logging.
The logging concessions scandal
Back in 2002 the World Bank had pressed the government to temporarily ban the allocation of new logging permits until the new forest laws were in place. The Congolese government had passed a new law, but this was widely breached; over the next 3 years, 15 million hectares were illegally handed out to the loggers.
Under pressure from local and international environmental groups, and again strongly supported by the World Bank, Joseph Kabila, President of DRC, signed a new law in October 2005 restating the ban on new logging activities. An official ‘review’ of the legality of all logging operations has begun. Congolese organisations, supported by the Rainforest Foundation, have begun parallel investigations locally.
At the same time, the Rainforest Foundation and its local Congolese partner organisations, with the support of the UK’s Department for International Development, have started a national project helping communities to map their local forests. We have already helped establish a national team of ‘community mappers’ who have produced dozens of detailed and accurate maps showing how and where forest communities live in and use their local environment.
In a country as large as Western Europe, where there are just 300 miles of good roads and limited telecommunications, the Rainforest Foundation has shown it is still possible to help forest peoples to play an active role in shaping the future of their country’s great rainforests.
