News and discussion about forest mapping and land tenure in the Congo Basin
Actualités et analyses sur la cartographie et les droits aux terres dans le bassin du Congo
Presentation given at the Forest Governance Forum held in Kinshasa October 29-30, 2013 on the emerging risks on industrial palm oil expansion in the Congo Basin. Kinshasa Workshop Oct 2013 – Forest Conversion for Oil Palm – Threats for Congo Basin
REDD+ carbon market stabilizes, but risk of supply glut looms – November 13, 2013 The market for carbon credits generated under projects that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) showed signs of stabilizing in 2012 after a sharp drop in 2011, finds Forest Trends’ new assessment of the global forest carbon market. http://news.mongabay.com/2013/1113-state-of-redd-carbon-market-2012.html#kEHUzroYaMKb1tI1.99 Congo-Kinshasa: An Example in DRC…
The world is currently in a phase of fierce competition among major companies for better access to land and natural resources. Logging activities, mines and oil extraction, sport hunting, agro-industries, big infrastructures projects, and new carbon-stocking projects are requiring larger and larger spaces and resources. And coincidentally, these spaces are mostly located in rural areas. Armed with a historic reputation…
Though it is now fading, great expectations were placed on REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) as a means to fund better forest protection in the Congo Basin and elsewhere. But in what ways has REDD strengthened or weakened land and resource rights of forest communities? As most readers will be aware, virtually all forest land in the…
Brazzaville Declaration – October 28, 2013 Backed by six countries, Brazzaville Declaration is latest effort to slow destruction of valuable habitat but lacks detail about the potential role of local communities, of which there are many tens of thousands in the Central African forests. http://www.rtcc.org/2013/10/28/un-hopes-congo-deal-can-save-africas-rainforests/ Communities can monitor forests ‘as well as experts’ – October 29, 2013 Communities living alongside…
Concerns around the impacts and risks of “land grabs” for large scale foreign-owned agro-business in the Congo Basin are justified but this is only the latest manifestation of approaches to land and forest governance that have served to dispossess forest dwellers since colonial times. The rapid growth of foreign-owned agro-industrial expansion in developing countries in the wake of the 2008…
In February 2013, the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) published a major review of the Bank’s performance and strategy on forests. The evaluation was based on a strategy and portfolio review, “extensive interviews” and included desk and field-based case studies in numerous countries, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It assessed the impact of a sample of the…
The first in a new series of interviews with key actors and stakeholders on the underlying challenges to effective land and forest governance in the Congo Basin, Fred Amiel of Greenpeace talks about the impacts andfuture risks of mining, infrastructure and industrial agricultural expansion in the region, the absence of an integrated land use planning system in the region and…
