Republic of Congo
Population
4600000 people
Country size
34200000 hectares
Forest cover
21000000 hectares- In Republic of Congo, forest covers about 65 per cent of the country’s area and plays a major ecological and socio-economic role. 74% of the country’s forest area is allocated to logging concessions, which is a major driver of forest degradation.
- Agro-industrial and particularly palm oil expansion is another major threat to the Congolese rainforest. The single largest land concession for industrial palm oil production in the Congo Basin – the Atama plantation – is found in Republic of Congo, and the Congolese government has explicitly stated its intention to turn Congo into one of the main producers of palm oil in the continent.
- The rights of forest communities in Congo to the lands they have inhabited for centuries or to the forest resources they depend on are not effectively recognised. The Indigenous Peoples Law of 2011, which RFUK helped to develop, mentions their property right over their traditional territories, however very little has been done to actually enforce it.
- The Congo’s forests are invaded by a variety of land concessions which often overlap, particularly logging concessions, agro-industrial plantations and strictly protected areas. Communities are often displaced from their land to make way for these activities that don’t bring them any tangible benefits.
- Working here since 1998.
Projects in this country
COP26 & Climate Justice
This is a pivotal moment in the fight against climate change. With the world already experiencing increased drought, wildfires and storms – and national and corporate climate commitments falling well ...
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Sustainable Conservation
Conservation policy and practice has historically failed to take into account forest and indigenous peoples' rights and needs. In so doing, it has also failed to protect forests and biodiversity. ...
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Mapping For Rights
Mapping For Rights is an award-winning, interactive community map project for the Congo Basin, which started in November 2011 and is ongoing. By highlighting the presence of otherwise 'invisible' i...
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Challenging Palm Oil
With our work on palm oil in the Congo Basin we aim to highlight that large-scale development projects must not overshadow forest peoples’ rights and environmental sustainability. In other parts of...
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FGDH
FGDH (Forum pour la Gouvernance et les Droits de l’'Homme) are located in Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo. FGDH works with forest communities at the national level. RFUK has worked with FGDH since 2009, mainly on research projects examining the situation of land rights of forest communities, as well as their customary systems of land governance and use.
OCDH
OCDH (Observatoire Congolais des Droits de l’Homme) was founded in 1994. The organisation works to promote human rights, the rule of law and democracy in the Republic of Congo. OCDH provides assistance to human rights victims in Brazzaville and Congo and also works with forest and indigenous communities to promote their collective rights in forest governance processes. We have worked with OCDH since 2003.
