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
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…
RFUK and MEFP, in collaboration with film maker Luis Leitao, have launched a new film on how the BaAka in the Central African rainforests are making their voices heard through participatory mapping. In order to raise awareness of the problems faced by indigenous forest communities in the Congo Basin, and the role that participatory mapping can play in resolving these,…
As half a million hectares of Congo Basin rainforest is actively being cleared to make room for oil palm plantations and – according to Seeds of Destruction, a new report published by the RFUK – with as much as 115 million hectares being deemed suitable for future palm oil cultivation, the need for careful planning of the use of forest…
RFUK’s application to become a member of the International Land Coalition (ILC) was approved at the ILC Assembly of Members on April 25, 2013 in Antigua, Guatemala. The ILC’s vision is to secure and equitable access to and control over land reduces poverty and contributes to identity, dignity and inclusion. It is composed of 152 members in over 50 countries, including civil society…
