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Conning the Congo

Activists take the message "Ban illegal timber" to the EU Commission Headquarters. Enlarge Image

Facing up to illegal forest destruction

Illegal logging often happens in far-off places that are all too easily ignored. That's why we have brought the problem to the heart of Europe - with a 12-metre Amazon tree trunk placed in Brussels to highlight the role of Europe in fuelling the destruction of the world's rainforests.

Forest on the banks of the Congo river system, Equatorial province, Democratic Republic of Congo. Enlarge Image

World Bank cuts forest destruction funding

Here's some good news in the fight to protect the second largest rainforest on Earth, as Olam - a major trading company - finds its World Bank funding cut, after we revealed their involvement in illegal logging in the Congo Basin Forest.

Illegal logging under way. It only takes ten minutes to cut down trees like this one, which can be as old as 200 years. Enlarge Image

The World Bank and Congo deforestation

Back in April, at the World Bank's spring meeting, there was much talk about the plight of the Congo rainforest. We'd just published a big report detailing how in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) logging titles were being granted in breach of a moratorium that the bank had been instrumental in establishing. The report launch was so high profile, we were able to force DRC's rainforest high onto the agenda of the World Bank meeting and have also managed to secure another session at the upcoming autumn meeting.

Children sit on logs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. More than 21 million hectares of the nation's rainforest are now allocated to the logging industry. Enlarge Image

Rainforest destruction in Africa

The Congo rainforest is the life support system for millions of people in the 'green heart' of Africa. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) alone, 40 million people depend on the forest. Like all large intact forests, it's also crucially important for regulating the local and global climate.

A log park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 21 million hectares of rainforest are currently allocated to the logging industry, an area nearly seven times the size of Belgium. Most of DRC's timber is exported to Europe, with France and Belgium currently the largest importers. Enlarge Image

Illegal Carve-up of Congo Rainforests

The second largest rainforest in the world, after the Amazon, sits in the Congo basin of Africa, with around half existing in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Around 21 million hectares (over 51 million acres) of DRC's rainforest are now allocated to the logging industry. We've released new evidence of the extent of this forest crime.

Gorilla seated looking at the camera, holding something in his left paw. It appears as if he is "giving the finger" to the onlooker. Enlarge Image

Danzer Group illegal logging evidence

We knew they were dodgy, and now we have proof of just HOW dodgy ... today Greenpeace published an investigation into Swiss/German logging company The Danzer Group, which shows hard evidence of illegal logging, bribery and the defrauding of developing countries.

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