Last week, José Ilanga the Director General in charge of forests at the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development in the Democratic Republic of Congo, announced that plans were underway to lift the country’s 16-year-old moratorium on new logging concessions. Today, more than 50 environmental and human rights organisations have written to key donor governments…
Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court has ruled against protecting the environment – including the Amazon rainforest
On 28 February 2018, Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court upheld the 2012 Forest Code as constitutional, including the Forest Code’s amnesty for landowners that illegally cleared forest before 22 July 2008.
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has abandoned any pretence of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
On 1 February 2018, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s forests were dealt a double blow. First, DRC’s Minister of Environment, Amy Ambatobe, reinstated three illegal logging concessions covering an area of 6,500 square kilometres. Second, DRC’s president, Joseph Kabila, signed off on three oil exploration concessions covering a huge area of Mai Ndombe province, including…
Threats of eviction against indigenous Sengwer people continue in Kenya
The Sengwer indigenous people who live in the Embobut forest in the western highlands of Kenya continue to face threats of violence and evictions. The latest round of violent evictions started at the end of December 2017. The evictions, carried out by the Kenya Forest Service, are supposedly in the name of “conservation”.
The Kariba REDD project in Zimbabwe: From carbon credits to EARTH tokens
The extraordinary story of the Kariba REDD project in Zimbabwe. Featuring cryptocurrencies, Earth Tokens, carbon credits, and tax havens.