Publications
Search Publications (85)
Roads to Ruin: the emerging impacts of infrastructure development in Congo Basin forests
26 October 2021
A new report by RFUK reveals the growing extent, and impact, of transport and energy infrastructure development in the Congo Basin - which is on its way to becoming a major driver of deforestation in the world’s second largest rainforest. The eight case studies featured in this report show that, while certain projects may bring some economic benefits, environmental and social impacts have been overwhelmingly higher than necessary due to bad planning, corruption, failure to follow better practice, and simple negligence. This study has also found that development projects often overlap internationally-funded forest protection schemes, and several are already causing serious long-term environmental and social impacts.
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Open Letter to the COP26 Presidency and Parties to the UNFCCC and CBD on Nature-based Solutions
11 October 2021
With just weeks to go before COP26 in Glasgow, a group of leading environmental and human rights NGOs have written to the UK Presidency of the crucial climate talks warning that one of its flagship policies, so-called ‘nature-based solutions’ to climate change, risks greenwashing some of the biggest polluters on earth.
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NbS: New Era or False Dawn? - webinar presentations
18 May 2021
Part 2 of an RFUK & WRI joint webinar series exploring and debating Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change. Presentations from RFUK, APEM, CARE & RRI explore the real-world challenges of implementing NbS on the ground.
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Use it and lose it - Industrial logging and its role in deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo
05 May 2021
New research demonstrates a clear link between the establishment of commercial logging operations and a cascade of deforestation. Investigating forest loss in DRC across 60 logging concessions and eight ‘control’ areas, the findings from this study show that the selective logging of high-value timber species is not a sustainable form of forest management, but rather an underlying ‘driver’ of deforestation after logging roads open up new forest areas to settlements and other uses.
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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’ participation in forest management processes and the increased sustainability of forest resources. The report by Futureproof Ideas provides insights into how this project has improved forest management, law enforcement and transparency in the target areas, whilst highlighting important questions surrounding community incentives, participation and sustainability which will inform the next phase of this work.
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REDD-MINUS: The Rhetoric and Reality of the Mai Ndombe REDD+ Programme
16 December 2020
A new study by Action pour la promotion et protection des peoples et espèces menacées (APEM) and the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) finds that one of the world’s highest profile emissions reductions programmes is failing to uphold social safeguards, deliver local benefits, or prevent deforestation.
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