Congo Basin
Building Legal Capacity to Protect Forests and Forest Communities’ Rights
RFUK is developing special training programmes for teams of young African lawyers to work with forest communities and local organisations, helping them defend community rights to lands and resources and basic rights, stop illegal forest destruction, confront abuse of forest peoples’ rights, obtain essential legal documents, and establish legally-designated community forest areas.
Ndima: Mapping our Future – A story of the Congo Basin people’s fight to save the rainforest
Maps of the Congo Basin often make it appear empty of human settlement, giving rise to the erroneous belief that these lands are an unoccupied ‘wilderness’ available for others to use. But a technique called ‘participatory mapping’, a tool which combines the traditional knowledge of forest dwellers with sophisticated modern technology, is a means of … Read more
Seeds of Destruction: Expansion of Industrial Oil Palm in the Congo Basin
The cultivation of palm oil at an industrial-scale has wreaked havoc with the rainforests and forest peoples of South-East Asia and is now threatening rainforests in the Congo Basin. This report, the result of original research commissioned by The Rainforest Foundation UK, lifts the lid on the new expansion of oil palm developments in the … Read more
RFUK Annual Report 2011/12
This summary of our projects and campaigns in 2011/2012 offers a highlight of the Rainforest Foundation UK’s work with indigenous and forest communities around the world.
Rainforest Roulette? Why Creating a Forest Carbon Offset Market is a Risky Bet for REDD
This briefing argues that the creation of an international forest carbon market to finance REDD would be a sub-prime option for the climate, tropical forests and forest peoples.
RFUK Annual Report 2010/11
This summary of our projects and campaigns in 2010/11 offers a highlight of the Rainforest Foundation UK’s work with indigenous and forest communities around the world.
The Growth of Protected Areas in the Congo Basin
The expansion of the protected area network in the Congo Basin has made a significant contribution to forest protection but has been considerably less successful in addressing the needs of forest-dependent peoples.
Is REDD-readiness Taking Us in the Right Direction? Case Studies from the Accra Caucus
The Accra Caucus on Forests and Climate Change is a network of around 100 southern and northern civil society and Indigenous Peoples’ organizations from 38 countries. Despite the diversity of experience, there seems to be one common aspect: the REDD+ readiness process is focused much more strongly on attracting carbon income than on protecting the … Read more
La cartographie participative : Guide pour la production des cartes avec les communautés forestières dans le Bassin du Congo
Ce guide explique comment les représentants des ONG, des gouvernements et des communautés participant aux projets de cartographie participative appuyés par la RFUK
McREDD: How McKinsey ‘Cost-curves’ are Distorting REDD
The carbon mitigation cost-curve, as used by McKinsey & Company, has become influential in national and international REDD policy making, but it is misleading for decision-makers. This briefing outlines why this approach is flawed as a policy-making tool.