We are pleased to present our Annual Review, which gives an overview of our programmes, achievements, and how your donations were spent during 2015 – 2016.

For almost three decades, The Rainforest Foundation UK, (RFUK), has been at the forefront of efforts to support indigenous and local communities to protect millions of hectares of rainforest. Our work in the Congo Basin and the Amazon, continues to achieve real results for people who call the rainforest home.

Our MappingForRights initiative, the largest community mapping exercise in Africa, which was awarded a Momentum for Change award by the UNFCCC in 2016, has now helped hundreds of communities to document their traditional use of millions of hectares of rainforest.

This ground-breaking work has also paved the way for a new programme, ForestLink. Using innovative, applied technology, forest communities are now able to anonymously capture and transmit reports of illegal logging and mining in real-time.  Over the course of 2017, a total of 32 communities and 80 trained forest monitors will be taking part in the project across four countries.

The last year has also seen significant advances in our campaign and policy work in the Congo Basin, where we have directly contributed to halting the expansion of industrial logging in the Democratic Republic of Congo, (DRC), and to the passage of landmark ‘Community Forest’ legislation in the country.  In 2017, we will be working with our local partners to test this important development on the ground.

In April, we published a report based on extensive research into forest conservation initiatives in the Congo Basin, which found that the current protected area system is systemically failing communities and biodiversity alike.  Protected Areas in the Congo Basin: Failing People and Biodiversity is available here.

We would like to thank you; our fundraisers, donors, in-country partners and staff, whose valued support allows us to continue this vital work. Finally, we’d like to thank the communities themselves, whose willingness to work with us not only teaches us much, but essentially ensures our projects best suit who they aim to serve.

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To read our annual review, please download it here.