DR Congo
ANNUAL REVIEW 2023
We are thrilled to share RFUK’s 2023 Annual Review of our main achievements and impact for the world’s tropical forests and the people that call them home.
Promoting Sustainable Community Forest Enterprises in Équateur Province, DRC
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of a briefing summarising our approach to establishing collective forest enterprises in Équateur Province, DRC. Published with support from Partnerships for Forests, USAID and NICFI, ‘Guidelines for Establishing Collective Forest Enterprises: The Case of Équateur Province in DRC‘ is a comprehensive guide outlining key strategies for promoting sustainable, community-led … Read more
Guidelines for establishing collective forest enterprises: The case of Équateur Province in DRC
New guidelines by Partnerships for Forests, with support and contributions from Rainforest Foundation UK, on establishing collective forest enterprises in DRC. ‘Guidelines for Establishing Collective Forest Enterprises: The Case of Équateur Province in DRC’ is a comprehensive guide outlining key strategies for promoting sustainable, community-led development and conservation in one of the world’s most biodiverse … Read more
Community Forests in Action series: Bountiful harvest in Ilinga, Lukolela
SUCCESS STORY Ilinga village, Lukolela territory in DRC’s Equateur province, secured their customary land by establishing a Community Forest in 2018 and becoming the first community in the country to develop an inclusive and sustainable ‘simple management plan’ for their forest the following year. Based on this plan, community members are working on ways of … Read more
Direct funding of Indigenous peoples can protect global rainforests and the climate
by Joe Eisen, Suzanne Pelletier, Tørris Jæger. This article was first published on 24 January 2024 in Mongabay. Last week, Indigenous leaders from around the world joined business leaders and politicians for the World Economic Forum’s 2024 Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. While much of the discussion on climate change and nature loss at Davos focused on … Read more
Blue Carbon and the New Scramble for Africa’s Forests
Blue Carbon LLC, a private company based in Dubai, is finalising deals with at least six African countries to acquire huge swathes of their forests to harvest carbon credits. Although the deals are shrouded in secrecy, it appears that at least 25 million hectares of forests – an area larger than the UK – may … Read more
‘Leave it in the ground!’ Congolese civil society send a strong message to halt auction of oil and gas licensing rights in DRC as COP28 climate summit begins
Kinshasa, 30 November 2023 As the DRC government delegation prepares for crucial COP28 climate talks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) starting later this week, Congolese civil society and Indigenous organisations have sent to them and to the broader international community a strong message: it is time for the country to move away from oil … Read more
Petrol Non-Merci ! Civil society organisations push presidential candidates on their environmental commitments in the run up to DRC presidential elections
Kinshasa Last week, Congolese civil society organisations knocked at the door of several candidates running for the upcoming DRC presidential elections to ask them to prioritize pressing environmental issues in their electoral campaigns and manifestos. Activists from Extinction Rebellion Movement of the University of Goma (XR), in partnership with North Kivu-based civil society network Reseau … Read more
The Three Basin Summit falls short of bold actions in fight against tropical deforestation
At the closing of the Three Basin Summit on Saturday, governments and leaders vowed to strengthen collaboration to preserve the world’s great rainforest basins but fell short of adopting concrete outcomes to protect tropical forests and forest-dependent communities from the looming threats of industrial and extractive expansion. A reported 3,000 delegates including Heads of States, … Read more
GUEST BLOG: The People of the Congo Basin Peat Swamp Forest
On a tributary of the River Congo, there is a row of houses with thatch roofs under fruit and palm trees with dug-out canoes tied to the river bank. Everything in this village comes from the forest – the food, the wood for construction, palm fronds for thatch, the tree trunks that are hollowed out … Read more