News
Allegations of Rights Abuses in WWF-managed Ntokou Pikounda National Park
Worrying reports of forced displacement and human rights abuses have emerged from the Republic of Congo’s youngest national park. Rainforest Foundation UK’s local partner Centre d’Actions pour le Développement (CAD) just published an investigation around Ntokou Pikounda National Park, finding that neighbouring indigenous and local communities have suffered and continue to suffer serious harm … 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
Putting land-use planning into action: community monitoring with the Ashaninka
To put their land-use planning work into action, RFUK has supported the training of Asháninka community forest custodians on the use of a real time monitoring system called CIPTA (AIDESEP’s Centre for Information and Territorial Planning) – a tool which has been developed for the defence of the territorial rights of the indigenous peoples of … Read more
Land use planning with the Ashaninka in the Peruvian Amazon
Part of our work with the Asháninka communities in the Ene River basin has focused on improving control over their ancestral territories through the development of participatory land use plans. These plans support their rights to access and use their forests by zoning their territory, defining different area uses (e.g. urban expansion, fisheries, tourism, … Read more
New Global Biodiversity Framework: a missed opportunity to galvanise a new era of conservation
After years of intense international negotiations and delays, the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was finally adopted at COP15 last month at COP15 in Montreal. The agreement, which sets the stage for international conservation efforts over this decade, includes a contentious plan to ‘protect’ 30 percent of the planet by 2030 and fails to adequately address … Read more
A new chapter for community monitoring: women’s land rights in Kenya
We are excited to announce RFUK’s partnership with TMG Think Tank and Kenya Land Alliance, along with their local partners Taita Taveta Human Rights Watch, Sauti ya wanawake, and Shibuye Community Health Workers, to launch a new project aimed at helping rural women in Kenya report abuses and threats to their land rights. While favourable … Read more
NGOs warn 30×30 plan could “devastate Indigenous lives” in run-up to COP15
These Khadia men were thrown off their land after it was turned into a protected area. They lived for months under plastic sheets. Millions more face this fate if the 30% plan goes ahead. © Survival Human Rights NGOs have just released a joint statement in the run-up to December’s COP15 on biodiversity, denouncing the planned target … Read more
A New Indigenous Peoples Law in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has just promulgated a new law on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples in the country. This groundbreaking law, the result of years of efforts by Congolese organisations such as Dynamique des Groupes des Peuples Autochtones (DGPA) with the support of Rainforest Foundation Norway, … Read more
New Maps Show The Congo Basin is the Epicenter of Oil and Gas Expansion Threats to Tropical Forests
RFUK & Earth InSight have just released a new report, Congo in the Crosshairs, showing how 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 – along with the tens of millions of people who live there. A comprehensive … Read more
COP27 Side Event: Realizing the pledge – How can we make the $1.7 bn pledge a reality for IPLCs
The event will take place on November 10th at 4:45 pm at the Hatshepsut Room, side event room 3, Blue Zone. We will have a networking reception following the event. Realizing the pledge: How can we make it a reality for IPLCs? At COP26, governments and private foundations pledged $1.7bn to support indigenous and local communities in … Read more