Millions of people live in the forests of Congo Basin and depend on it for their survival. This is the world’s second largest rainforest and its second lung. But forests in DRC are under threat from uncontrolled logging. Global Witness has been working on forest issues in DRC since 2007, in close partnership with Congolese environmental organisations. We work to expose illegal logging, fight the expansion of industrial logging into intact forests, and promote transparency in the way the country’s forests are managed.
To see our reports and press releases on forests in the DRC, click here.
Featured reports & releases:
Follow up to artisanal logging report
Making the Forest Sector Transparent
Since 2008 Global Witness has been working with civil society groups in forest-rich countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, to engage with policy makers and advocate for capable, responsive and accountable forest sector governance. The Making the Forest Sector Transparent project supported local environmental and human rights campaigners in seven countries to monitor transparency and to advocate on issues of importance to local communities. To read about the project work in DRC, where we worked with the Congolese NGO Reseau Ressources Naturelles, click here:
A process to decide on the designation of DRC’s forests for various land uses – logging, conservation and community use – is soon to get underway. Global Witness and other NGOs have put forward solutions about how the views of local communities should be taken into account.