Statement in Support of the Central Asháninka del Río Ene in their quest for Justice for Asháninka Defenders ES Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) expresses its deep concern at the circumstances surrounding the recent preliminary detention order against Indigenous leader Angel Pedro Valerio, president of the Central Asháninka del Río Ene (CARE). Given the importance of … Read more
Work Theme: Rights Violations
A Step in the Right Direction: Publication of ICCN’s Guidelines for Grievance Mechanisms Agosto 25, 2023 In Kinshasa recently, an important step was taken towards securing the rights of the millions of people who live in the vicinity of national parks in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After a lengthy process involving consultation with local … Read more
Trial begins of timber company accused of shooting and maiming locals Julio 21, 2022 The Congo Sunflower Forestry Development company is currently on trial, accused of orchestrating a series of reprisals and physical violence against the villagers of Tokoma in the Tshuapa province of DRC, after they seized some of the company’s equipment from a site … Read more
Gabon’s Massaha community sacred forest being logged despite government assurances for it to become a community protected area Julio 5, 2022 Massaha community’s sacred forest being logged despite government assurances for it to become Gabon’s first-ever community protected area. Logging has resumed in northeastern Gabon in the local community of Massaha’s ancestral forest of unique … Read more
Massaha update: TBNI Logging company told to cease operations, paving the way for a new community reserve Abril 25, 2022 In a positive development, Gabon’s Forest Minister has ordered an immediate end to the logging of Massaha’s ancestral forest, by the company Transport Bois Négoce International (TBNI), paving the way for the community to create … Read more
On Protected Areas and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: A submission to the UN Special Rapporteur Abril 21, 2022 In a submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ upcoming report on the impacts of protected areas to the UN General Assembly at its 77th session, RFUK has warned that despite much lip … Read more
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.
New U.S. legislative bill could pave the way for greater protection of human rights in international biodiversity conservation Marzo 11, 2022 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 … Read more
Massaha’s fight to protect their ancestral forests in Gabon Marzo 8, 2022 RFUK, Forest Peoples Programme and Greenpeace Africa have today written to the Gabonese Minister of Water, Forests, Oceans, Environment, Climate Change and Land-use Planning, Lee White, to call for an immediate halt to illegal logging in the village of Massaha’s ancestral forests, and … Read more
Statement: Protected areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo – a broken system Enero 25, 2021 Statement: Protected areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo – a broken system 25th January 2021 Peoples and ecosystems in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being failed by the way conservation is practised. Indigenous Peoples and local communities … Read more