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From war to sustainable chocolate: Indigenous Amazonian cocoa producers awarded prestigious United Nations ‘Equator Prize’
A cooperative of indigenous cocoa producers based in a remote part of the Peruvian rainforest has won the biennial UN Development Programme’s Equator Prize in recognition of its “outstanding community effort to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.” Kemito Ene (“cocoa from the Ene River”) was formed in 2010, with support from the Rainforest … Read more
Safer Ground: How Participatory Mapping can Mitigate the Social Impacts of Agribusiness in the Congo Basin
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
Well done to our 2019 London Marathon runners!
It took dedication, passion and months of training, but this month our London Marathon team came out to run for the rainforest, so far raising a staggering £12,700 as they each ran over 26 miles in support of RFUK. The seven runners came from a variety of backgrounds and experience levels, from those running their … Read more
Palmed Off: An Investigation into Three Industrial Palm Oil and Rubber Projects in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo
Research carried out by the Rainforest Foundation UK and its partner organisations found that industrial palm oil and rubber plantations in Africa’s Congo Basin continue to disrespect human rights and destroy large swathes of rainforests.
Historic first in the Central African Republic as communities gain rights over their local forests
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
Central Africa’s rainforests and people suffering from the expansion of palm oil and rubber plantations
Industrial palm oil and rubber plantations in Africa’s Congo Basin continue to disrespect human rights and destroy large swathes of rainforests – the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) reveals in a report published today. As new figures reveal that 2018 was the third worst year for tropical forest loss since records began in 2002, the investigation … Read more
WWF’s ‘review’ of alleged murders, rape, torture and expulsion condemned by human rights organisations as ‘not credible’
Environmental and human rights organisations have written to the Director General of WWF International to say that its intended ‘review’ following widespread reporting of abuse of local people linked to some of its projects is wholly inadequate and needs to be reconsidered [1]. Facing serious criticism that its programmes have been associated with murder, rape, … Read more
RFUK calls on WWF to immediately release details of investigation into human rights abuses
In February 2019, an investigation commissioned by WWF confirmed reports of six allegations of serious human rights abuses by eco-guards of the Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo [1] brought to its attention by RFUK in 2018 [2]. However, WWF, which co-manages the park with the Congolese parks agency ICCN, last week … Read more
RFUK withdraws from forests coalition in wake of allegations against WWF
The Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) has decided to withdraw its membership of the UK Forest Coalition, with immediate effect, following recent investigations and media coverage implicating one of its members, WWF, in serious and widespread human rights abuses associated with protected areas which WWF manages or funds. The coalition was formed in 2017 and made … Read more
Female perspectives on forest monitoring in Cameroon, DR Congo and Ghana
Two users of RFUK’s real-time forest monitoring technology, ForestLink, in DRC. Credit: GASHE Women have an important role to play in protecting and managing their local rainforests. Whether used for food, medicines or firewood, women in the Congo Basin depend greatly on rainforests for their livelihoods. They have a huge stake in protecting their local … Read more