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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
Indigenous, environment and human rights organisations call out the Three Basins Summit over growing threats to rainforests
On the eve of the Three Basins Summit in Brazzaville, 60 Indigenous, environmental and human rights organisations have come together in a joint statement criticising the initiative for ignoring growing extractive industry threats to tropical forests, lack of focus on community rights and for the exclusion of civil society groups in shaping the agenda. The … Read more
Three Basins Summit Statement
Threats to tropical forests are growing: that is why Indigenous and community rights must be at the centre of the Three Basins initiative.
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
Fresh concerns over huge fossil fuel auction in DRC after government signs first gas production sharing agreements
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has awarded the first contracts in an auction of 30 oil and gas blocks in the tropical forest country to a forfeited company in the US and to another with no known experience in the industry, renewing concerns over the controversial tender. At a ceremony in … Read more
Banging the Drum for Indigenous-Led Forest Protection at New York Climate Week
This week, Rainforest Foundation UK will be banging the drum for Indigenous-led forest protection at New York Climate Week, the annual gathering where global leaders, innovators and activists to share real, innovative and scalable solutions to the climate crisis. Together with our local rainforest partners and sister organisations in the US and Norway, we will … Read more
SUCCESS STORY: Economic Empowerment Through Community Cocoa Production in DRC
Today in the villages of Mibenga and Ilebo, nestled along the edge of the Tumba Lediima Nature Reserve in western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), community members have been working hard to improve the cocoa production in their Community Forests as a way to boost their income while sustainably managing their forest lands. And … Read more