News
Widespread human rights abuses in Africa’s largest forest park
Rainforest communities living around Central Africa’s largest national park have been subjected to murder, gang-rape and torture at the hands of park rangers supported by funding from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and a range of international donors, an investigation by the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) has found. RFUK’s investigators found evidence of … Read more
Raising funds for the rainforest from Coast to Coast
Guest blog by RFUK supporter David Morgan Having run five marathons to raise money for the Rainforest Foundation UK over the last 15 years, I wanted to tackle a bigger challenge to celebrate turning 50. So at the beginning of February a friend and I competed in the Kathmandu Coast-to-Coast race, cycling, running and kayaking … Read more
Running for the rainforest: Tips from RFUK’s 2018 London Marathon team
The Virgin London Marathon is almost here. On April 28th, runners will come from around the world to compete in the challenge of a lifetime. The Rainforest Foundation UK is proud to have 8 runners fundraising for us this year. To help them on their journey, we asked some of our previous runners for their … Read more
Unleashing the potential of community forests in DR Congo
Today, the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) has launched a new short film on its community forests project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The film features several communities, the first supported by RFUK and its partners, as they gain legal rights to their forests and are formally recognised as the managers of their local … Read more
Vidéo: Libérer le potentiel des forêts communautaires en RDC
Aujourd’hui, la Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) a sorti un court film à propos de son projet concernant les forêts communautaires en République démocratique du Congo (RDC). Le film met en scène plusieurs communautés au moment où elles obtiennent des droits juridiques sur leurs forêts et sont officiellement reconnues comme les gestionnaires de leur environnement local. … Read more
Securing forests from the bottom up: How participatory maps can support community forests in the Congo Basin
Members of Ilinga community, in DRC’s Equateur Province, celebrate as their community forest is officially granted in September 2018. Ilinga is one of several communities supported by the Rainforest Foundation UK and its local partners to map their forests and obtain a community forest. For years, there has been a growing consensus that securing land … Read more
RFUK’s Real-time Monitoring project expands to new communities in Africa
RFUK’s ForestLink system is active in three countries in Africa and will soon expand to four. From left to right: Ghana, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo. Upwards of 100 communities across Africa will benefit from the Rainforest Foundation UK’s Real-time Monitoring (RTM) project, thanks to new support from the UK Department for … Read more
People, parks and social justice: How community maps can help make conservation better
By Maud Salber, Policy Advisor, RFUK The Tumba Lediima Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was established in 2006, mainly to protect the local population of bonobos. Remarkably, when Tumba Lediima’s borders were drawn, nobody had thought it worthwhile to properly documenting who was already living there, and how these people would be … Read more
ForestLink app helps catch illegal miners red-handed in Peru
Environmental police seized an estimated £1 million of illegal mining equipment during a raid near Barranco Chico, in Madre de Dios | Photo credit: FENAMAD Over the last two months, dozens of suspected illegal gold miners causing terrible environmental damage in the Peruvian Amazon were caught with the help of the ForestLink smartphone app developed by the Rainforest … Read more
Cameroon communities speak out about impacts of large rubber plantation
Representatives of 21 villages affected by industrial rubber project Sud-Cameroun Hevea (“Sudcam”), which is responsible for the largest single destruction of rainforests anywhere in Central Africa, have denounced the impacts of the rubber plantations on their rights and livelihoods. In a statement issued last week, they ask the Cameroonian government and the company that their rights are … Read more