Industrial Logging

African Civil Society Decries Corporate Capture of the Africa Climate Summit

4 September 2023

African Civil Society Decries Capture of the Africa Climate Summit by Corporate Interests   As African leaders gather for the Africa Climate Summit, hundreds of African organisations have expressed concerns about the corporate capture of the event.  The inaugural summit – held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 4 to 6 September – is billed as a crucial … Read more

CREDITS WHERE THEY ARE NOT DUE: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MAJOR REDD+ SCHEMES

26 July 2023

A first-of-its-kind comparative analysis that finds that world-leading forest offsetting and REDD+ schemes – used by some of the world’s biggest polluters – are failing forests by allowing millions of credits to be generated that simply do not represent real emissions reductions.

Two logging permits suspended in Cameroon following ForestLink alerts sent by local communities

26 April 2023

Further evidence of the vital role of community-based forest monitoring has emerged from the Yoko district of Mbam-et-Kim, Cameroon, after two logging companies had their permits suspended following alerts of infractions sent by community monitors. L’association Écosystèmes et Développement (EcoDev), a partner organisation of the Rainforest Foundation UK who have been implementing ForestLink since 2019, … Read more

Trial begins of timber company accused of shooting and maiming locals

21 July 2022

The Congo Sunflower Forestry Development company is currently on trial, accused of orchestrating a series of reprisals and physical violence against the villagers of Tokoma in the Tshuapa province of DRC, after they seized some of the company’s equipment from a site illegally being operated on their lands. According to Mr. Iyoko Elungu, an inhabitant of … Read more

Gabon’s Massaha community sacred forest being logged despite government assurances for it to become a community protected area

5 July 2022

Massaha community’s sacred forest being logged despite government assurances for it to become Gabon’s first-ever community protected area. Logging has resumed in northeastern Gabon in the local community of Massaha’s ancestral forest of unique bio-cultural diversity, despite a commitment by the Forest Ministry to suspend all timber operations in the area and to support the … Read more

NGOs call on Congolese General Prosecutor to investigate the role of several former ministers in illegal logging operations

5 May 2022

A group of Congolese and international NGOs have written to DRC’s General Prosecutor calling on him to investigate reports of widespread illegal logging, which implicate as many as six former ministers. On 1 April, the Environment ministry finally released a long-suppressed audit of the country’s logging industry by the Congolese General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), which found … Read more

Climate catastrophe looms as DRC oil plan poses new threat to Cuvette Centrale peatlands

29 April 2022

The DRC government has adopted a plan to open up one of the world’s largest carbon sinks to oil drilling only months after it signed a $500 million forest protection agreement with the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) at COP26. Last week, the DRC Council of Ministers adopted a plan to tender 16 new oil blocks, several … Read more

DRC suspends twelve concessions following publication of IGF audit – Many more must now follow

27 April 2022

The DRC Vice Prime Minister, Eve Bazaiba, this week suspended twelve logging concessions, covering nearly two million hectares, following a damning government report into the state of the industry. This welcome development comes after intense scrutiny from RFUK and other international and national organisations, but is likely to account for only a fraction of the … Read more

Massaha update: TBNI Logging company told to cease operations, paving the way for a new community reserve

25 April 2022

In a positive development, Gabon’s Forest Minister has ordered an immediate end to the logging of Massaha’s ancestral forest, by the company Transport Bois Négoce International (TBNI), paving the way for the community to create its own protected area. Following a two-year struggle by the community, as well as international pressure from RFUK and others, … Read more

DRC national logging moratorium must be extended indefinitely following damning audit of the industry logging

7 April 2022

Rainforest Foundation UK and Greenpeace Africa have today called on the DRC government and its international partners to extend the national logging moratorium indefinitely, following a damning official report that lays bare the lawlessness and impunity in the country’s timber industry. After several delays, the DRC Environment Ministry last week finally published an audit by General Inspectorate … Read more