Conservation & Human Rights

300 MILLION AT RISK FROM CBD DRIVE

16 July 2020

The ‘Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’ – How the CBD drive to protect 30 percent of the planet could dispossess millions.

Severe Human Rights Abuses Reported in and around Salonga National Park

6 June 2019

An investigation by the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) and Congolese NGO Actions pour la Promotion et la Protection des Peuples et Espèces Menacés (APEM), uncovered a worrying number of human rights abuses allegedly carried out by Salonga National Park’s anti-poaching agents, who receive support and funding from a range of international donors. Allegations include cases … Read more

Protected Areas and Community Rights: Using Local Maps to Support Sustainable Conservation in the Congo Basin

28 November 2018

The best conservation projects start with people. Yet protected areas in the Congo Basin continue to be established and managed with poor consideration for local communities’ land and resource rights, fostering conflicts and human rights abuses. A lot of these toxic situations could be avoided if thorough participatory community mapping data, such as collected through MappingForRights, … Read more

The Human Cost of Conservation in Republic of Congo

7 December 2017

This report is based on investigations in Republic of Congo by our local civil society partners, mainly within six forest communities living in or on the periphery of Conkouati-Douli National Park (CDNP) and Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park (NNNP). The aim of our investigations was to understand the impact of the protected areas on those communities and … Read more

Aid-funded conservation guards accused of extrajudicial killing

7 December 2017

The Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) and three leading Congolese human rights organisations have today written to international conservation organisations and government aid agencies calling for an investigation into a new case of extrajudicial killing of a man by ‘eco-guards’ in Republic of Congo. The 32-year old man, called Freddy Ndadé, was arrested near the border … Read more

Protected Areas in the Congo Basin: Failing Both People and Biodiversity?

22 April 2016

Protected areas in Africa’s great equatorial rainforests are falling well below expectations both in terms of conserving wildlife and respecting local peoples’ rights. Watch this short film about forest communities affected by the Tumba Lediima Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Protected Areas in the Congo Basin: Failing Both People and Biodiversity?

22 April 2016

Based on a sample of 34 protected areas across Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Republic of Congo, including four detailed case studies, this study reveals that biodiversity in the region continues to decline, that there is little evidence that the ‘guns and guards’ approach to protected areas … Read more

Protected Areas in the Congo Basin: A Briefing

1 November 2014

In 2014, RFUK undertook research on protected areas and their effects on local communities, using both desk-based studies and field-based data collection. For a more in-depth update to this briefing, read our 2016 study on protected areas.

The Growth of Protected Areas in the Congo Basin

1 November 2011

The expansion of the protected area network in the Congo Basin has made a significant contribution to forest protection but has been considerably less successful in addressing the needs of forest-dependent peoples.

Parc National de Mbaéré-Bodingué en République centrafricaine

1 May 2011

Parc National de Mbaéré-Bodingué : Contribution des communautés locales et autochtones et de la société civile centrafricaine pour une gestion durable des ressources forestières et de l’environnement