Community Forests and Land Rights
PREPPYG
Grassroots organisation PREPPYG works closely with forest and indigenous communities in North Kivu, promoting their rights and providing training on agricultural activities and community enterprise to enhance their wellbeing. With Réseau CREF and RFUK, they are also spearheading community forestry in their region. News Perspectives on Gender and Equality from our Community Forests Project Community … Read more
A Post-COP Conversation
After a frenetic two weeks for RFUK and our local partners at the climate talks in Glasgow, we reflect on some of the gains, the losses, and the next steps in striving to put tropical forests and their traditional guardians at the heart of the international climate agenda. A declaration by 137 countries promising to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030 … Read more
RÉSEAU CREF
A strong NGO network in North Kivu, Réseau CREF has supported communities to manage their lands long before there were laws to protect these efforts, and often against powerful interests such as mining and conservation. They advocate for a society where the free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) of local communities and indigenous peoples is … Read more
GASHE
GASHE (Groupe d’action pour sauver l’homme et son environnement) is a leading Congolese NGO based in Equateur Province, DRC. The charity aims to protect the environment and its resources whilst encouraging human development of those who live there, such as forest and indigenous communities. Since the beginning of our partnership in 2012, we have gone … Read more
CAGDFT
Founded in 2011 and located in Kinshasa, DRC, CAGDFT (Centre D’Appui à la Gestion Durable des Fôrets Tropicales) have played a central role building the legal framework for Community Forests in DRC – one of the most progressive in Central Africa. RFUK has worked with CAGDFT in this field since 2014, bringing together government, donors, … 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
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
Community finally receives official documents to manage their traditional lands
This Thursday, September 2, the Bamasobha community of Lubero (North- Kivu), comprised of indigenous and Bantu groups, was officially handed the decree legally recognising their hard-won CFCL (local communities’ forest concession). This decree guarantees perpetual rights over Bamasobha’s customary lands, and thus opens the way to the management stage of the CFCL, an area rich … Read more