Indigenous Peoples

Asociación de Productores Kemito ‒ Ene (Peru), New Economy, Equator Prize 2019 Spotlight

11 October 2019

In an area where forests are threatened by illegal logging, large infrastructure projects, and oil exploitation, Kemito Ene tells a story of indigenous entrepreneurship that sustains families and forests. This successful indigenous social business enterprise is a model for sustainable commodity supply chains worldwide. Kemito Ene advocates for the well-being of its producers based on … Read more

Community Forests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

2 October 2019

Strengthening forest communities’ rights and enabling them to manage their traditional lands is the most effective means of both protecting rainforests and fighting poverty. In 2014, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) passed Community Forest legislation in what is arguably the most ground-breaking legal development related to Congo Basin rainforests in recent years.

Allocation of Community Forests in the Central African Republic

28 September 2019

A process to test the legal framework on community forests is currently underway in CAR. For more than two years, local and indigenous communities have been supported by civil society in applying for the allocation of the pilot community forests. The process developed by those involved has been documented to provide a basis for a … Read more

Making Community Forestry Successful in DRC: Anthropological Perspectives on Community-based Forest Management

26 September 2019

In 2014, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) adopted ground-breaking legislation that enables forest communities to obtain “local community forest concessions” (CFCLs) of up to 50,000 hectares of their customarily owned lands, in perpetuity….

Making Community Forests Work for Local and Indigenous Communities in the Central African Republic

11 July 2019

As the Central African Republic (CAR) is entering a decisive phase that could lead to the allocation of the country’s first ‘pilot’ community forests, the Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) and CAR civil society groups are supporting local communities in their application processes.

Yaoundé Declaration Declaration: Statement Concerning Community Forestry in the Congo Basin Region

10 June 2019

Organisations and individuals from Central Africa, along with international partners from Europe, came together in Yaoundé in February 2019 to discuss the lessons from the recent years of community forest development in the Congo Basin, especially in the context of the projects funded through DFID’s ILLUCBF programme.

Community-based Land-use Planning

12 March 2019

In 2018, RFUK launched a new participatory mapping and land-use planning project in Maniema province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It aims to develop a community-driven model that will inform land-use planning at the local and national level, serving as an example for a more sustainable and equitable approach to land management.

At Loggerheads: The Moratorium, Geographical Programming And Community Mapping In DRC

8 November 2018

Of the three legal conditions attached to lifting DR Congo’s moratorium on new logging concessions, arguably only the third condition (on “geographic programming of future allocations”) remains to be fulfilled. Drawing on mapping data collected through MappingForRights and other sources, this briefing shows that any process which does not sufficiently take into account communities and … Read more

Mapping For Rights: Putting Rainforest Communities on the Map

1 October 2018

Since its launch in 2011, MappingForRights has supported more than a thousand communities to map and share highly detailed geographical information about their lands and resources so that decisions on forests do not neglect those who depend on them most. In this introductory briefing, we address the root causes land-based conflict in Central African forests, … Read more

Quels droits fonciers pour les populations des zones forestières en République centrafricaine ?

25 June 2018

Comment s’assurer que le processus de réforme foncière en cours en République centrafricaine (RCA) garantisse une protection effective des droits des communautés forestières sur les terres ? Cette question centrale est envisagée notamment au travers de l’impératif de protection de l’environnement et des écosystèmes dont dépendent ces communautés pour leur subsistance et la préservation de … Read more