News
From war to sustainable chocolate: Indigenous Amazonian cocoa producers awarded prestigious United Nations ‘Equator Prize’
A cooperative of indigenous cocoa producers based in a remote part of the Peruvian rainforest has won the biennial UN Development Programme’s Equator Prize in recognition of its “outstanding community effort to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.” Kemito Ene (“cocoa from the Ene River”) was formed in 2010, with support from the Rainforest … Read more
Well done to our 2019 London Marathon runners!
It took dedication, passion and months of training, but this month our London Marathon team came out to run for the rainforest, so far raising a staggering £12,700 as they each ran over 26 miles in support of RFUK. The seven runners came from a variety of backgrounds and experience levels, from those running their … Read more
Historic first in the Central African Republic as communities gain rights over their local forests
The first official ‘Community Forest’ has been allocated in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the Congo Basin, giving local people the rights to manage and protect their forest. In what represents an important achievement for forest peoples in CAR, a country where 80 per cent of the rainforest has been handed over to logging … Read more
Central Africa’s rainforests and people suffering from the expansion of palm oil and rubber plantations
Industrial palm oil and rubber plantations in Africa’s Congo Basin continue to disrespect human rights and destroy large swathes of rainforests – the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) reveals in a report published today. As new figures reveal that 2018 was the third worst year for tropical forest loss since records began in 2002, the investigation … Read more
WWF’s ‘review’ of alleged murders, rape, torture and expulsion condemned by human rights organisations as ‘not credible’
Environmental and human rights organisations have written to the Director General of WWF International to say that its intended ‘review’ following widespread reporting of abuse of local people linked to some of its projects is wholly inadequate and needs to be reconsidered [1]. Facing serious criticism that its programmes have been associated with murder, rape, … Read more
RFUK calls on WWF to immediately release details of investigation into human rights abuses
In February 2019, an investigation commissioned by WWF confirmed reports of six allegations of serious human rights abuses by eco-guards of the Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo [1] brought to its attention by RFUK in 2018 [2]. However, WWF, which co-manages the park with the Congolese parks agency ICCN, last week … Read more
RFUK withdraws from forests coalition in wake of allegations against WWF
The Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) has decided to withdraw its membership of the UK Forest Coalition, with immediate effect, following recent investigations and media coverage implicating one of its members, WWF, in serious and widespread human rights abuses associated with protected areas which WWF manages or funds. The coalition was formed in 2017 and made … Read more
Female perspectives on forest monitoring in Cameroon, DR Congo and Ghana
Two users of RFUK’s real-time forest monitoring technology, ForestLink, in DRC. Credit: GASHE Women have an important role to play in protecting and managing their local rainforests. Whether used for food, medicines or firewood, women in the Congo Basin depend greatly on rainforests for their livelihoods. They have a huge stake in protecting their local … Read more
La ce appelée à procéder à une évaluation urgente de ses financements pour les programmes de conservation en Afrique centrale
La Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) a appelée aujourd’hui la Commission européenne à conduire une enquête immédiate sur ses financements de projets de conservation dans les forêts du bassin du Congo, à la lumière de révélations concernant de nombreux abus de droits de l’homme par des « éco-gardes » financés par la Commission européenne. Cette semaine, le site … Read more
European Commission called on to conduct urgent review of its funding to conservation programmes in Central Africa
The Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) has today called on the European Commission (EC) to conduct an immediate investigation into its funding for conservation projects in Africa’s Congo Basin forests in the light of recent reports of widespread human rights abuses by aid-funded park rangers. This week, Buzzfeed launched a series of exposés on WWF’s role in human rights … Read more