All articles
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Give the Congo Basin forest a chance
Approaching the forest in the Congo, I am met with an overwhelming wall of green. Flying over it, I see the meandering rivers merging together. I see animals drinking from the rivers, frolicking with joy in the water. Walking into the forest, I hear a chorus of teeming life – birds, lowland and mountain gorillas,…
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Our land should unite, not antagonize us!
On August 5, 2017, four days before the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, I was deeply troubled by news of deadly confrontations between Bantu[1] and indigenous (Pygmy) communities in Tanganyika province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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Norway and France threaten DRC’s forests
An area of rainforest the size of Italy is at risk of being cut down by loggers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), if the Norwegian government approves a French Development Agency (AFD) proposal to expand industrial logging there starting 2018.
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The Urgency of Now: The fate of the lungs of Africa hangs in a balance
As the plane from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), makes its descent towards Mbandaka airport, the capital of Equateur province, I am impressed by a beautiful canopy of greenery painting the landscape below my window; I was looking at the Congo Basin Forest. A casual observer sees a forest, robust,…
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Greenpeace condemns deportation of French filmmaker and cancellation of employee’s visa in the DRC
Kinshasa, 1 March 2017 - Greenpeace Africa is shocked by the deportation of a French filmmaker and the cancellation of the visa of a Greenpeace employee by the authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo following a filming trip in the Equateur Province.
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Donors remain indifferent as moratorium breaches occur in the DRC
The forest industry in the DRC has been plagued for years by confusion, uncertainties and illegalities. Although the country pays lip service to the principles of reducing emission from deforestation and degradation (REDD), this is only in the guise to benefit from significant donor funding. Policy makers have repeatedly violated the moratorium without regards for…
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Donors dish out millions while the DRC government ups the moratorium breaches
Kinshasa, 1st February 2017: Greenpeace Africa has today revealed further breaches to the 2002 moratorium on industrial logging titles by top Congolese government officials. Barely a month after these breaches the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) paid out $40 million to safeguard the DRC forest.
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How the DRC government has secretly breached it’s own logging moratorium
In a snub to international donors, the DRC government has violated a moratorium on the allocation of new industrial logging concessions in place since 2002. Now the Minister of Environmental, Conservation of Nature and Sustainable Development (MECNDD) has announced his plans to lift the suspension of the moratorium.