Press Releases
Introducing ForestEye, a cutting-edge tool for local deforestation analysis
RFUK is thrilled to announce the beta launch of ForestEye, an innovative web-based tool designed to provide precise, local analysis of deforestation. Developed by RFUK’s Mapping and Development team, ForestEye is set to transform the way deforestation is monitored, understood and addressed at the grassroots level. ForestEye was conceived in response to increasing demands for … Read more
Fresh concerns over huge fossil fuel auction in DRC after government signs first gas production sharing agreements
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has awarded the first contracts in an auction of 30 oil and gas blocks in the tropical forest country to a forfeited company in the US and to another with no known experience in the industry, renewing concerns over the controversial tender. At a ceremony in … Read more
Press Release: Gabon’s rainforest carbon credits set a precedent that could worsen climate change
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE As world leaders including Emmanuel Macron gather in Libreville for the ‘One Forest Summit’ [1], convened jointly by the governments of Gabon and France, a new investigation by the Rainforest Foundation UK has found that the recent issue by Gabon of more than 90 million carbon credits [2] for supposedly saving … Read more
Press Release: Petition of 100,000 signatures handed to DRC President to stop new oil development
Kinshasa, 25 July 2022 – More than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling on President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to end the development of new oil and gas fields in the country. The petition was launched earlier this month by Congolese and international NGOs and was handed over today … Read more
Press Release: Over 360 organisations say “No to Nature Based Solutions!”
Ahead of a vital UN moment for biodiversity, “nature-based solutions” are once again being erroneously heralded as the solution – and NGOs are pushing back. As more and more corporations and governments tout “nature-based solutions” as the means to fight the climate and biodiversity crises, over 360 organisations have come together to launch a statement exposing … Read more
New U.S. legislative bill could pave the way for greater protection of human rights in international biodiversity conservation
In a significant development, the chair and ranking minority member of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources has introduced a bill that aims to ensure that U.S. international biodiversity funding is not used to contribute to human rights abuses in and around protected areas. This comes off the back of a U.S. … Read more
Leading forest scientists call for a freeze on new logging in the Congo, urge governments to act
Press Release Kinshasa, 28 October 2021 – Leading African and international scientists join today the growing call for the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to cancel its plans to lift a 20-year ban on new industrial logging concessions. Over 25 scientists sent a letter to international donors warning of social and environmental impacts of an … Read more
Press Release: Open Letter on NbS to the COP26 Presidency
NATURE-BASED ’DISTRACTIONS’: IS THE UK ABOUT TO POUR BILLIONS INTO AN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY BACKED GREENWASH SCHEME? With just weeks to go before COP26 in Glasgow, a group of leading environmental and human rights NGOs have written to the UK Presidency of the crucial climate talks warning that one of its flagship policies, so-called ’nature-based solutions’ to climate change, risks greenwashing some of the biggest … Read more
Press Release: NGOs warn about lifting DRC logging ban
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: LOOMING CLIMATE CATASTROPHE IF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY STAYS SILENT ON PLAN TO OPEN UP THE WORLD’S SECOND-LARGEST RAINFOREST TO INDUSTRIAL LOGGING, WARN NGOS In a letter to international climate funders, a group of leading environmental and human rights organisations warn of an impending climate and biodiversity catastrophe following a plan to lift a … Read more
First international counter-conference on conservation will denounce “world’s biggest land grab”
The world’s first major international congress on decolonizing conservation, “Our Land, Our Nature”, will take place in Marseille, France, on September 2, 2021, immediately before the IUCN World Conservation Congress in the same city. At this congress indigenous representatives and speakers from around 18 countries will share evidence and first-hand testimonies of conservation atrocities and … Read more