GASHE

Trial begins of timber company accused of shooting and maiming locals

21 July 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 illegally being operated on their lands. According to Mr. Iyoko Elungu, an inhabitant of … Read more

New alerts map shows vital role of forest communities in tackling illegal logging

4 July 2022

RFUK and its local partners in Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Peru have launched a webmap that includes thousands of illegal alerts sent by local community monitors using the ForestLink system. While satellite forest monitoring has transformed our ability to detect forest loss, ForestLink … Read more

NGOs call on Congolese General Prosecutor to investigate the role of several former ministers in illegal logging operations

5 May 2022

A group of Congolese and international NGOs have written to DRC’s General Prosecutor calling on him to investigate reports of widespread illegal logging, which implicate as many as six former ministers. On 1 April, the Environment ministry finally released a long-suppressed audit of the country’s logging industry by the Congolese General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), which found … Read more

Perspectives on Gender and Equality from our Community Forests Project

19 April 2022

The ‘Community Forest’ model in DRC offers an unprecedented opportunity for communities there to legally secure, manage and protect their traditional forests. But to assure the delivery of equitable and sustainable outcomes, there is a need to ensure they are developed by the communities themselves, with actively inclusive processes to ensure the information obtained on … Read more

Just launched: FORESTLINK.ORG

24 February 2022

RFUK’s Real-Time Monitoring project has created a new, dedicated digital hub for their ForestLink technology, with all the latest developments, resources and stories on how communities are protecting their forests with this innovative system. On the new site, you’ll find out how the tech system works, why it uniquely supports grassroots independent forest monitoring, the different ways it’s being deployed across … Read more

Community Forestry in DRC is a solution to tackle both poverty and climate change: that’s why it needs to be in focus at COP26

28 October 2021

On 14 October at the 8th annual Multi-actor Roundtable on Community Forestry in Kinshasa, the Congolese government, as well as representatives from donor countries, community leaders and a large contingent of national and international civil society organisations, affirmed that local forest communities and indigenous peoples should be at the centre of climate action. As expressed by Mr. Athanasse Lingodja, a community leader from the province of Maniema,  … Read more

44 Congolese and international NGOs join call to stop lifting of the DRC logging moratorium

23 September 2021

The DRC government has announced imminent plans to lift a near 20-year ban on new logging concessions operations in its Congo Basin rainforest – one of the last intact rainforests in the world. With less than six weeks to go before the crucial climate negotiations at COP26, Environmental and Human Rights NGOs are calling on … Read more

Just launched: “Forests for the Future” a 5-year community forestry project in DRC

7 July 2021

With the support of USAID and Norad, the Rainforest Foundation UK and a consortium of Congolese organisations are launching “Forests for the Future,” a 5-year project supporting community forests and sustainable livelihoods in DRC. Kinshasa, July 7, 2021 – Senior representatives of the government (from the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development), the United States … Read more

Celebrating women in leadership: experiences of women in the fight to protect the world’s rainforests

8 March 2021

RFUK has long understood that women have a central role to play in protecting and managing the world’s rainforests. They are the main providers of food, water and medicine to their families, who depend greatly on rainforests for their livelihoods. They hold vast traditional knowledge of their forests and their biodiversity. This understanding informs our … Read more

Final Evaluation: Embedding Community Real Time Monitoring (RTM) to Sustain Livelihoods and Forests in West and Central Africa

23 February 2021

An external evaluation of the ‘Embedding community Real Time Monitoring (RTM) to sustain livelihoods and forests in West and Central Africa’ project took place between October 2020 and January 2021. This project, funded by the UK government, seeks to improve forest governance in Cameroon, Ghana, DRC and Republic of Congo by strengthening of forest communities’ … Read more