Industrial Logging

Real-time Forest Monitoring: Empowering Communities, Preventing Illegalities, Protecting Forests

24 January 2019

Since its creation, ForestLink has been successfully deployed as part of RFUK’s Real-Time Forest Monitoring (RTM) initiative in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana and Peru. By engaging forest and indigenous peoples in the fight against illegal logging and deforestation, RTM seeks to strengthen local involvement in forest 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

Government of Norway gives green light to continuing massive illegalities in Congo’s rainforests

21 June 2017

The government of Norway is today accused by RFUK of encouraging impunity for serious wrong-doing, by failing to insist that illegal logging concessions in the Democratic Republic of Congo are immediately terminated. Responding to recent requests from Rainforest Foundation UK that it should refuse funding to a huge expansion of logging in the DRC, and … Read more

Logging in Congo’s Rainforests: A ‘Carbon Bomb’ About to be Primed by the Government of Norway?

21 June 2017

In 2017, the government of Norway, through its ‘Central African Forests Initiative’ (CAFI), was considering providing financial support to a programme being developed by the French Development Agency (AFD) to greatly expand large-scale commercial logging in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This briefing outlines the potential impacts this proposal would have … Read more

Real-time Community-based Forest Monitoring: Challenges and Opportunities

1 June 2015

This briefing presents the main findings from a study and consultation covering nine countries, conducted for The Rainforest Foundation UK in April 2015. It follows the successful technical testing in Cameroon of RFUK’s ForestLink technology.

Central African Republic: Linking Rights, Capacity Strengthening, REDD and FLEGT

1 November 2011

This briefing provides a case study of recent developments in one country, linking together the work that has been done to advance forest community rights and livelihoods, EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance Trade (FLEGT) and REDD processes, and civil society participation.

Resource rights and timber concessions: Integrating local peoples’ land-use practices in forest management in the Congo Basin

1 February 2007

This paper presents an overview of land-use practices in the Congo Basin, as described in the literature, and then considers these in relation to forest management planning

Concessions to poverty: The environmental, social and economic impacts of industrial logging concessions in Africa’s rainforests

1 February 2007

This study is focused on the situation in DRC, but draws lessons from other cases across West and Central Africa. Evidence for the economic benefits of industrial tropical logging is very scant. Rather, the evidence suggests that the industrial timber concession model is inherently anti-poor.

Broken Promises: How World Bank Group policies fail to protect forests and forest peoples’ rights

1 January 2005

This is a collaborative report published with RFUK and seven other organisations. As the articles in this special issue show, the World Bank has broken several key promises and, sadly, the concerns the authors had about the World Bank’s new Forests Policy turn out to have been all too well founded.

Trading in Credibility

1 November 2002

The Forest Stewardship Council has come to be seen as one of the most important initiatives to promote the conservation and better management of the world’s forests. It aims to do this by setting standards for the independent auditing of forestry operations and companies, and allowing its logo to be used as a ‘seal of … Read more