Central African Republic

Protected Areas and Indigenous Rights: A submission to the UN Special Rapporteur

20 April 2022

In response to a call for comments to inform the Special Rapporteur’s report to the UN General Assembly at its 77th session, RFUK has put together a brief highlighting how, despite much lip service to the contrary, conventional conservation and climate change programmes continue to wreak havoc on indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent communities.

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Roads to Ruin: The Emerging Impacts of Infrastructure Development in Congo Basin forests

26 October 2021

A report by RFUK reveals the growing extent, and impact, of transport and energy infrastructure development in the Congo Basin – which is on its way to becoming a major driver of deforestation in the world’s second largest rainforest. The eight case studies featured in this report show that, while certain projects may bring some … Read more

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Securing Customary Rights is Key to Sustainable Community Forestry

13 February 2020

The laws in the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic provide limited protection to indigenous peoples and local communities regarding access to land and forest resources. Often, logging concessions overlap their territories, restricting access to lands and resources. However, the development of community forests is gaining momentum in the region. These can help … Read more

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Allocation of Community Forests in the Central African Republic

28 September 2019

A process to test the legal framework on community forests is currently underway in CAR. For more than two years, local and indigenous communities have been supported by civil society in applying for the allocation of the pilot community forests. The process developed by those involved has been documented to provide a basis for a … Read more

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Making Community Forests Work for Local and Indigenous Communities in the Central African Republic

11 July 2019

As the Central African Republic (CAR) is entering a decisive phase that could lead to the allocation of the country’s first ‘pilot’ community forests, the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) and CAR civil society groups are supporting local communities in their application processes.

Voice of the communities: Why we need community forests in the Central African Republic

1 July 2019

In a historic development, three communities in the Central African Republic (CAR) were recently given the legal right to protect almost 15,000 hectares of their local rainforest, in the country’s very first community forests [1]. The customary territories of the villages of Moalé, Lokombé and Moloukou had been allocated by the government some years ago … Read more

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The Green Climate Fund in the Congo Basin Rainforests – Good Money After Bad?

1 July 2019

A report published by the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) on the Green Climate Fund finds that one of the world’s largest climate adaptation and mitigation funds for developing countries may actually do more harm to tropical forests and people on the frontline of climate change unless it is reformed.

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Yaoundé Declaration Declaration: Statement Concerning Community Forestry in the Congo Basin Region

10 June 2019

Organisations and individuals from Central Africa, along with international partners from Europe, came together in Yaoundé in February 2019 to discuss the lessons from the recent years of community forest development in the Congo Basin, especially in the context of the projects funded through DFID’s ILLUCBF programme.

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Safer Ground: How Participatory Mapping can Mitigate the Social Impacts of Agribusiness in the Congo Basin

3 June 2019

The expansion of commercial agriculture in the Congo Basin, especially for palm oil, poses great risks to forests and the people who depend on them for their livelihoods and culture. While efforts to make palm oil more ‘sustainable’ focus on avoiding deforestation and biodiversity loss, far less attention has been paid to land rights and … Read more

Historic first in the Central African Republic as communities gain rights over their local forests

2 May 2019

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