After spending forty hours in jail and judicial custody, I came out feeling even more motivated and determined to continue this struggle to save forests. Bechanlalji is still in custody and getting him out is our first priority. We...

The Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) has joined forces with other international campaigning NGOs to oppose the imminent lifting of a moratorium on the allocation of new industrial logging concessions in the Democratic Republic of Congo...

Forests, like other ecosystems, provide ‘ecosystem services’. These are services people need (such as pollination and flood control) and use, but often don’t realise we depend on. They provide us with essential services like the ...

In hindsight, it was always evident that visiting the Cameroonian rainforest at the height of rainy season would present a unique set of problems. Scrabbling up a steep bank of mud, dripping with a combination of sweat and rain,...

There was dancing in the streets of Mundemba and Fabe when the news came two weeks ago that the Cameroonian government had suspended Herakles Farms’ forest clearing operations. Communities in this region of South West Cameroon, who...

Like many activists, we ask lots of questions, and often these questions go unanswered in the hope that we’ll simply give up and stop asking. US agribusiness Herakles Farms and its chief executive Bruce Wrobel think they can put...

As the rain thunders down, it becomes not just increasingly hard to hear the speakers but also to see them. The lack of light due to the poor electricity supply in this part of South West Cameroon means that as the clouds darken, the...

Communities, like rainforests, take many years to develop into rich, interconnected and vibrant systems. And, like rainforests, communities can also be fragmented in a fraction of the time that they took to grow. The stakes could...

The Congo Basin is home to the second largest tropical rain-forested area on earth.  New research publicised this week suggests that the rate of deforestation in the region is actually slowing.  However this message does not...

The forest fires that have set Sumatra ablaze and engulfed the region with record-breaking air pollution remind us that forest destruction is very real. It’s a problem with global effects and demands global solutions. That is why...

Bruce Wrobel, the chief executive of Herakles Farms, claims his company’s efforts to flatten a chunk of Cameroon’s dense rainforest to develop a palm oil plantation are borne of a desire to address a "dire humanitarian need". Yet...

To the layperson the world of forest certification is often a technical one that does not seem to operate at what could be called a breakneck pace. However, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has this week reached a landmark decision...

It was one of those days when we felt like change was in the air – even if it was a small victory it was an important one. Yesterday, we confirmed that notorious palm oil producer and forest destroyer, Duta Palma, has (finally) been...

It always amazes me how the actions – or rather inaction – of high-level meetings in far-off cities can so seriously impact forests in my own country. Today, an organisation with the declared aim of ensuring environmentally...

As an African working for Greenpeace, I am often challenged when I speak out against the industrial exploitation of our continent’s natural resources, disguised as “development”. All too often, this simply creates huge profits for...

Last month Greenpeace Africa released a report on how the illegal logging sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is in a state of organized chaos, with numerous companies flouting regulations and threatening the country’s...

We’ve got some good news for Indonesia’s rainforests, and the endangered tigers living there. Thanks to pressure from Greenpeace supporters around the globe, Yum! Brands, the largest restaurant company in the world and parent...

In many cases we tend to separate the well-being of the environment from the well-being of ourselves as a human species, not realising that a healthy environment is connected to human dignity, and therefore is a human right. On the...

As Greenpeace Africa continues to work with local communities and NGOs to stop Herakles Farms’ proposed palm oil plantation in Cameroon, we welcome an ambitious Forest Conservation Policy launched by the largest palm oil producer in...

Today was a day I have at times feared might never come, but I’ve just emerged from a packed press conference in Jakarta for the launch of Asia Pulp & Paper’s new ‘Forest Conservation Policy’ aimed to end its involvement in...

The French President Francois Hollande today received his Cameroonian counterpart, Paul Biya, at the Elysée Palace in Paris – and there was not a lack of potential topics for discussion. Yet surely the one thing that had to be...

Deep in the vast rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, chainsaws are buzzing. Heavy machinery rumbles and growls, as loggers slice their way through the forest. Three newly published investigations by Resource...

Endless power cuts in the DRC’s capital city, Kinshasa, force most households to use charcoal or wood (makala) to cook their meals. Bikuku and Lutendele, two suburbs of Kinshasa, are particularly afflicted by this daily reality. ...

It is full a 2-day drive from the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé to the area in the South West of the country where the American company, Herakles Farms is developing a huge new palm oil plantation, that could eventually cover an area 8...

The culmination of our events inviting the Congolese youth to stand up for their forest environment was a moving one. A year ago, we started with a poetry competition , and last weekend, we welcomed over 180 guests to a...

At the Wallonie Bruxelles Centre in Kinshasa today, we launched the “Voices Of The Forest” poetry book, a collection of 77 poems written by Congolese youth about their wishes to protect the forests of the Congo Basin. 30 of the young...

If you’ve been following our forest campaigns, you’ll know the world’s forests are under a lot of pressure from deforestation and climate change. Although there is some good news coming through, there’s a still a whole lot that needs...

Freedom of expression is a universal human right that affects all of us . As Greenpeace activists we affirm this right when we campaign to save the Congo Basin Rainforest from illegal logging, or when we take on industrial...

Last year, we asked the youth of the DRC what they thought the future of the Congo forests was, and they answered louder than we ever expected – we received 2600 poems that were real cries from the heart of youths who see the future...

I'm in Oshwe, a small forest community of around 22 000 people who live deep in the indigenous rainforests of the DRC. Here people survive by hunting, farming, fishing, and gathering from the rainforest. For this community, the...

The Congo basin is home to the world’s second largest rainforest. Not only is it one of the most beautiful places on earth, with incredibly rich biodiversity, it’s also a vital source of food, medicine, and other basic services for...

No matter what you think about fast food, you’ll no doubt agree that rainforests shouldn’t be trashed to make packaging destined for the trash. But  that’s exactly what’s happening. Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) is supplying KFC with...

Within the past few weeks, rainforest destruction has begun once again in one of Africa’s most important biodiversity hotspots:  the coastal rainforest of Cameroon, at the fringe of the Congo Basin region. Herakles Farms, the...

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) industrial logging is still totally out of control. Ongoing social conflicts, including extreme violence, rape and human rights abuse prompted Greenpeace International to file a complaint in...

This is a moment to share a thought for all the people around the world who are putting their own lives at risk in the struggle to save the last remaining rainforests, be it in the Amazon, Indonesia or Congo. Paulo Adario, who...

In the days just before we launched the new Solar Powered radio station, the village of Oshwe was abuzz. People were walking around, radio glued to their ear, trying their best to catch the frequency that our engineers were still...

When I think about climate change in Africa, the word that comes to mind is ‘injustice’ – the reality that those least responsible for climate change, are the one’s most exposed to its impacts. Simultaneously, they’re the...

Oshwe is a small forest community deep in the indigenous rainforests of the DRC. Although administratively classified as an urban area, it has all the characteristics of a rural community. It is supplied with manufactured goods,...