Following on from the release yesterday of our major new report about the con in the Congo, our campaigners met with Hilary Benn to ask what he intends to do about it. As the UK governor of the World Bank, he is extremely well-placed to make a big noise about it at the bank's spring meeting this weekend.

He's clearly concerned, and has agreed to talk directly with Paul Wolfowitz, Head of the World Bank, about the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He's also visiting the country later this month, and so he'll also talk to representatives from the government while he's there. But concern just isn't enough, and real action has to be taken on the ground to prevent the wholesale ransacking of the rainforest by the big logging companies.

We'll let you know what transpires at the World Bank meeting, but in the interim we need you to keep emailing Benn, pointing out to him that a crate of beer for vast tracts of valuable rainforest is a bum deal of the highest order - write to him now.

Posted by Jamie at 6:04 PM | Permalink

So, the Congo rainforest: as I mentioned last week, it's vast, lush and under threat, and we can now reveal what's going on in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where around half the forest is situated. As you can see, our old friends in the international logging industry are causing havoc, wrecking the rainforest and forcing local people further into poverty.

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Posted by Jamie at 10:31 AM | Permalink

In recent years, we've put a lot of effort into highlighting the threats facing what remains of the world's forests in North America, South America, and South East Asia. But there's one major area we haven't touched on for some time now: Africa. That's all about to change, however, and you'll be hearing more about what we've been up to in the coming weeks and months.

But first let's set the scene. The forest of the Congo basin stretches across central Africa, about two-thirds of which lies within the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) but also covers parts of Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. And it's huge: only the Amazon rainforest is bigger. Millions of people depend on it for their survival, including semi-nomadic pygmy communities, and it's another biodiversity hotspot: forest elephants and three of the great ape species - gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos - all form part of a rich ecosystem.

It's a story familiar from other areas of our forest work, but all this is being threatened by our old friend, industrial logging. Huge tracts of the forest are being opened up by logging companies with hunters and miners following in their wake into previously inaccessible areas.

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Posted by Jamie at 4:13 PM | Permalink