location: Drc

location: Drc

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DRC carbon credit projects surge amid lack of regulation
- Researchers say carbon credit projects involving private companies, NGOs and logging companies have proliferated in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- They’ve documented projects covering more than a quarter of the DRC’s nearly 200 million hectares (494 million acres) of forest.
- Preliminary findings suggest that the DRC lacks the governmental guardrails to ensure these projects are helping to avoid deforestation and that they are not harming communities.
- In late 2021, an India-based consultancy signed carbon credit project agreements with 25 communities in the DRC but provided little information about the projects. The company is reportedly no longer operating in the country.

The Itombwe owl: Two birds and an identity crisis
- The last sighting by scientists of the Itombwe owl, a species endemic to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was in 1996.
- This was in Itombwe Nature Reserve, a protected area described by its director as “forgotten by a majority of organizations and people who support the conservation of biodiversity.”
- Being overlooked may have helped keep the reserve protected, with the forest remaining intact and satellite imagery showing no roads being carved inside it.
- Experts agree on the need for further expeditions to study the Itombwe owl, including settling the long-running debate over which genus of barn owl, Tyto or Phodilus, it belongs to.

Study highlights environmental and economic benefits of agroforestry for DRC coffee crops
- Growing coffee in agroforestry systems in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) supports 19 times higher biodiversity and stores twice as much carbon compared with monoculture systems, while maintaining comparable yields.
- But sustainable coffee production in the DRC requires small-holder farmers’ buy-in, considering their immediate economic needs and the local context of extreme poverty.
- Sustainable agroforestry systems are profitable in the long term but face challenges in attracting investment. Experts say responsibility for sustainability should extend to consumers and coffee companies.
- Successful implementation of agroforestry depends on making it beneficial for local farmers, providing additional revenue streams and respecting local ownership and knowledge of the rainforest.

Disputed Manono lithium mining project in DRC sparks concern
- A lithium mining project in the DRC that was expected to begin in 2023 is still pending.
- The Congolese government and mineral exploration company AVZ Minerals are fighting over the rights to an ore concession awarded to the Chinese company Zijin Mining.
- Delays are lengthening for residents waiting for jobs, and the local population has not yet been informed of how lithium mining will impact their environment.

DRC conflict hinders search for Itombwe nightjar, but ‘lost’ bird may yet be found
- The Itombwe nightjar is a bird described from a single specimen in the Congo Basin nearly 70 years ago and not seen by science for at least the past decade.
- It’s in the top 10 of the global Search for Lost Birds, an initiative by a group of international conservation NGOs.
- Complicating its search is the fact that the region where the type specimen was collected is currently a conflict zone in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
- But there’s hope for the species: it may be far more widely distributed, with live sightings and recordings of its song made at the other end of the Congo Basin, in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo.

Togo monkey seizure turns spotlight on illicit wildlife trafficking from DR Congo
- In December, Togo seized 38 monkeys in transit to Thailand.
- Nearly 30 of the animals in the shipment had not been declared in the official documentation.
- The monkeys, many of which were in poor health, were repatriated to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Only 24 monkeys from the group survived, and these have been taken in by a Lubumbashi animal refuge.

Mongabay’s top 10 podcast episodes of 2023
- It was a packed year on Mongabay’s podcast calendar, with a new season of “Mongabay Explores” taking a deep dive into the Congo Basin.
- At the same time, the Mongabay Newscast continued publishing conversations with leading researchers, authors and activists, and it introduced a new co-host, Rachel Donald.
- Our top 10 list includes examinations of the Congo Basin’s cobalt mining industry, a conversation with a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, a botanist discussing the worrying decline of botany education, and a National Geographic photographer’s project highlighting the key role of traditional ecological knowledge for Indigenous communities and conservation.

CAPS, new gas megaproject, aims to power Central Africa, but at what cost, critics ask
- The Central Africa Business Energy Forum proposes to build 6,500 kilometers (4,000 miles) of pipelines linking oil and gas resources across 11 countries in Central Africa.
- The forum says gas in particular should play a key role in developing the region’s economy.
- Seven countries have so far signed a memorandum of understanding, and a feasibility study for a first phase is expected by the end of 2023
- Environmentalists say the project is a mistake that will exacerbate the climate crisis and fail to benefit local populations.

Element Africa: Deadly violence and massive graft at Tanzania and DRC mines
- Environmental concerns are mounting as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company begins drilling for oil in a new field in the north of the country.
- Video testimony has emerged about alleged police killings of five villagers near Canadian miner Barrick Gold’s mine in Tanzania.
- A local official has absconded with $14.5 million in mining royalties intended to fund community development in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lualaba province.
- Element Africa is Mongabay’s bi-weekly bulletin rounding up brief stories from the commodities industry in Africa.

Element Africa: Mines take their toll on nature and communities
- Civil society groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo are demanding the revocation of the license for a Chinese-owned gold miner operating inside a wildlife reserve that’s also home to nomadic Indigenous groups.
- Up to 90% of mines in South Africa aren’t publishing their social commitments to the communities in which they operate, in violation of the law, activists say.
- A major Nigerian conglomerate that was granted a major concession for industrial developments in 2012 has still not compensated displaced residents, it was revealed after the company announced it’s abandoning the project.
- Element Africa is Mongabay’s bi-weekly bulletin rounding up brief stories from the commodities industry in Africa.

‘That’s a scam’: Indian firm’s REDD+ carbon deal in the DRC raises concern
- Environmental and human rights advocacy organizations say an Indian company has misled communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, convincing them to sign away the rights to sell carbon credits from the restoration, reforestation or avoided deforestation of locally managed forests.
- These forests, managed under a structure known by the French acronym CFCL, provide communities with control over how land is managed while giving them access to the resources the forests provide, proponents of the initiative say.
- But the contracts, the implications of which were not fairly or adequately explained to community members, may restrict their access to the forests for generations to come, the advocacy groups say.
- These organizations and the communities are now calling on the Congolese government to cancel the contracts.

In the DRC’s forests, a tug-of-war between oil and aid
- At the COP26 climate summit, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Féelix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo announced a $500 million aid package to protect forests in the Central African country.
- Part of the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use, the announcement was one of the top headlines at the summit.
- Now, with the DRC set to auction off oil blocs in carbon-rich peatlands, questions are being raised about whether the package addresses the threat posed by industrial logging and oil drilling.

Suspension of Chinese miner for pollution in DRC points to wider problem
- The Democratic Republic of Congo’s environment minister recently suspended the operations of a Chinese company for polluting a major tributary of the Congo River in Tshopo province.
- Xiang Jiang Mining is accused of polluting the Aruwimi River, mining for gold without first conducting an environmental impact assessment, and failing to secure work permits for its foreign employees.
- In nearby South Kivu province, six other mining companies were suspended for similar offenses last year, pointing to a worrying pattern of companies ignoring mining and environmental regulations.

Ivory from at least 150 poached elephants seized in the DRC raid
- A three-year investigation has led authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 2 metric tons of ivory hidden in a stash house in the southern city of Lubumbashi.
- The tusks are valued at $6 million on the international market and estimated to have come from more than 150 elephants.
- The three people arrested in the May 14 raid are allegedly members of a major wildlife trafficking ring in the Southern African region.

Oil exploration in DR Congo peatland risks forests, climate and local communities
- The Democratic Republic of Congo is putting 16 oil exploration blocks up for auction, including nine in the peatlands of the Cuvette Centrale.
- Environmentalists warn that oil exploration and infrastructure for production could release huge amounts of carbon stored in the peatland and threaten the rights of local communities.
- The Congolese government says it needs to exploit its natural resources in order to generate income to develop the country, much as countries in other parts of the world have done before it.

Scheme to stop ‘conflict minerals’ fails to end child labor in DRC, report says
- Much of the world’s supply of coltan, tin and tungsten minerals is extracted using child and forced labor, despite an industry mechanism meant to guarantee responsible supply chains, a new report alleges.
- The investigation by campaign group Global Witness found major failures in the chain of custody for minerals produced in the provinces of North and South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- The findings, which align with previous investigations by Congolese NGOs and the United Nations, point to large amounts of ore from unvalidated mines entering the supply chain, including from areas known to be under control of militias and rogue army units.
- The International Tin Supply Chain Initiative says the report is inaccurate and fails to account for progress made in recent years, but has not yet refuted any of the evidence provided.

DRC logging contracts suspended as audit uncovers serious violations
- The publication of an audit of forestry contracts in the Democratic Republic of Congo has exposed serious management failures.
- The audit cites serial breaches of the country’s forest code and more than a dozen violations of a 2002 moratorium on new concessions.
- The DRC’s environment minister announced the immediate suspension of forestry contracts deemed illegal by the audit, saying that where a special commission confirms the Inspectorate General of Finance’s findings, those contracts will be canceled.
- The audit is the first requirement to access a $500 million fund for protection of the Congo Basin pledged by funders last November, but the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), which is leading the funding process, has not reacted publicly to the negative findings.

The past, present and future of the Congo peatlands: 10 takeaways from our series

This is the wrap-up article for our four-part series “The Congo Basin peatlands.” Read Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four. In the first half of December, Mongabay published a four-part series on the peatlands of the Congo Basin. Only in 2017 did a team of Congolese and British scientists discover that a […]
DRC environment minister panned for allegedly facilitating illegal concessions
- The Democratic Republic of Congo’s environment minister, Ève Bazaiba, has come under scrutiny over her alleged involvement in a series of illegal forest concessions.
- Bazaiba in September reportedly deployed a team from her ministry to effectively obtain local community consent for a concession that had been illegally granted by her predecessor.
- The country’s president has ordered an audit of the concessions and the suspension of all “questionable contracts,” but observers say the government hasn’t taken any action yet.
- The DRC is mulling a controversial plan to end a 19-year moratorium on industrial logging, which critics say would imperil 70 million hectares (173 million acres) of forest, an area larger than France.

High risk, low pay for DRC rangers entrusted to guard a gorilla sanctuary
- Marie Jeanne Bora Ntianabo was drawn to the extraordinary commitment of park rangers while she was still a child.
- Now 29, she loves her job as a ranger despite danger of being ambushed by poachers or armed groups operating in Kahuzi-Biega National Park.
- The work doesn’t pay well, especially due to reduced numbers of tourists that the park depends on for revenue, but Ntianabo says she isn’t tempted by the profits others seek while harming the park’s ecosystems and wildlife.

Overcoming community-conservation conflict: Q&A with Dominique Bikaba
- Kahuzi-Biega National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is renowned for its biodiversity. The area is also home to the Batwa people, who are highly dependent on its forests for their livelihoods and cultural traditions.
- Efforts to protect these forests are challenged by conservation’s mixed record: Kahuzi-Biega’s expansion in the 1970s forced the displacement of thousands of local people, turning them into conservation refugees and sowing distrust in conservation initiatives.
- One of the local organizations leading efforts to overcome these challenges is Strong Roots Congo, which was co-founded by Dominique Bikaba in 2009. Strong Roots Congo puts the needs of local people at the center of its strategy to protect endangered forests and wildlife in eastern DRC.
- “Strong Roots’ approach to conservation is bottom-up, collaborative, and inclusive,” Bikaba said during a recent conversation with Mongabay founder Rhett A. Butler.

In DRC, community ownership of forests helps guard the Grauer’s gorilla
- The Congolese government has officially recognized community ownership of a conservation area linking two national parks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, giving hope for the survival of the Grauer’s gorilla, a critically endangered species.
- The gorilla, found only in DRC, faces threats from habitat loss, poaching for bushmeat, and the effects of lingering civil unrest in the region.
- The Nkuba Conservation Area is co-managed by local communities and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, with the latter providing jobs and training initiatives for women.
- The years-long effort to develop the conservation area and now to maintain it points to the importance of engaging local communities in conservation.

Female putty-nosed monkeys get their males to run defense against predators
- A new study found that female putty-nosed monkeys use alarm calls to recruit males to be their “hired guns” when a predator is detected, only stopping their vocalizations once males have been enlisted to ward off the threat.
- Recruited males will vocalize their participation with a “pyow” call, which may aid their reproductive chances in the future, according to the study.
- The researchers also observed that male putty-nosed monkeys emitted a newly described “kek” call when responding to a simulation of a leopard moving along the forest floor.
- The researchers say that this study, as well as related studies, can aid conservation efforts for the putty-nosed monkey, a near-threatened species, and broaden our understanding of communicative and cognitive capacities of non-human primate species.

Unrelated adoptions by bonobos may point to altruistic traits, study says
- Two wild bonobos in the Luo Scientific Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were observed to adopt infants from different social groups, according to a new study.
- These are said to be the first recorded cases of great apes adopting unrelated individuals.
- While the researchers do not know why these bonobos chose to adopt unrelated infants, they speculate that it could be to strengthen current and future alliances within their own groups as well as with other social groups.

2019: The year rainforests burned
- 2019 closed out a “lost decade” for the world’s tropical forests, with surging deforestation from Brazil to the Congo Basin, environmental policy roll-backs, assaults on environmental defenders, abandoned conservation commitments, and fires burning through rainforests on four continents.
- The following review covers some of the biggest rainforest storylines for the year.

Companies ‘disregard responsibility’ over conflict minerals: Report
- An analysis of 215 companies’ mineral supply chains has found many have fallen short of their obligations under the Conflict Minerals Rule.
- In a report published this month by the Responsible Sourcing Network (RSN), the group analysed corporate compliance under the legislation, which requires public companies in the United States to disclose the use of tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG).
- While some companies increased participation in efforts to address the conflict minerals issue, most indicators studied by RSN showed a decline in long-term engagement and “deplorable” levels of risk.
- In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to suspend Section 1502 and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission subsequently decided not to enforce the law.

The biggest rainforest news stories in 2018
- This is our annual rainforests year in review post.
- Overall, 2018 was not a good year for the planet’s tropical rainforests.
- Rainforest conservation suffered many setbacks, especially in Brazil, the Congo Basin, and Madagascar.
- Colombia was one of the few bright spots for rainforests in 2018.

COP24: Tropical deforestation risks undermining 1.5-degree warming limit
- Maintaining forests is a key tactic in the fight against catastrophic climate change, one that could help significantly reduce global carbon dioxide emissions.
- But of the six countries that account for the greatest expanses of tropical rainforest, only Indonesia is on track to reduce its current rate of deforestation by 2030. The five others — Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Peru and Myanmar — look set to maintain or even increase their deforestation rates.
- The findings are based on an analysis of each country’s climate action pledges within their National Determined Commitments, or NDCs.
- Researchers say these countries can do more to both tamp down deforestation and boost their emissions reduction targets.

Maps tease apart complex relationship between agriculture and deforestation in DRC
- A team from the University of Maryland’s GLAD laboratory has analyzed satellite images of the Democratic Republic of Congo to identify different elements of the “rural complex” — where many of the DRC’s subsistence farmers live.
- Their new maps and visualizations allow scientists and land-use planners to pinpoint areas where the cycle of shifting cultivation is contained, and where it is causing new deforestation.
- The team and many experts believe that enhanced understanding of the rural complex could help establish baselines that further inform multi-pronged approaches to forest conservation and development, such as REDD+.

Forest protection funds flow to DRC despite ‘illegal’ logging permits
- Since signing agreements with the government of Norway and the Central African Forests Initiative, Greenpeace says leaders in Congo have approved two concessions on 4,000 square kilometers of forest.
- DRC expects to receive tens of millions of dollars from CAFI and the Norwegian government for forest protection and sustainable development.
- Greenpeace and other watchdog groups have called for an investigation into how these concessions are awarded and an overhaul of donor funding.

5 wildlife rangers shot – 3 killed – by poachers in Congo park
- Elephant poachers killed three wildlife rangers and wounded two more in a shootout yesterday in Garamba National Park.
- All five victims were members of African Parks.
- Garamba – once a stronghold for elephants and other wildlife – has been hard hit by poaching and violence against conservation workers.

Norway pledges $47M/yr to help Congo countries save forests
- Norway and several other countries and multilaterals have created the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI).
- CAFI will function as a trust fund to support efforts to reduce deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo.
- Deforestation is currently on the rise in the region.

Scientists urge greater enforcement of wildlife laws in Africa

Wildlife market in Togo. The world’s largest association of tropical biologists and conservationists is urging African leaders to step up efforts to protect wildlife from poaching. In a resolution released June 30, the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) called for several measures to counter the commercial bushmeat and hunting trade that it says […]
‘Chaos’ in Congo’s logging sector

Dysfunction plagues DRC’s logging industry, say conservation and watchdog groups, but the government and timber companies want to grow the sector. Little of the timber from the Democratic Republic of Congo that finds its way onto international markets can be considered legal, according to a pair of advocacy organizations that recently investigated the forestry sector […]
World’s critical habitats lost Connecticut-size area of forest in a decade

A Madagascar nightjar (Caprimulgus madagascariensis), which shares a genus with the endangered Itombwe nightjar (Caprimulgus prigoginei). Photo by Francesco Veronesi Many of the world’s endangered animals live in only one place, making them hugely susceptible to environmental upset. One fell swoop, and entire species could disappear from existence forever. New analysis shows that possibility may […]
Ranger killed by poachers in park known for grisly elephant slaughters

Elephant ivory seized from poachers in Garamba. Photo by: Jonathan Hutson for the Enough Project and Satellite Sentinel Project. On April 25th, poachers shot and killed wildlife ranger, Agoyo Mbikoyo, in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the organization African Parks. On the frontline of the illegal wildlife […]
New group hopes to raise global profile of the peace-loving bonobo

Bonobo at Lola Ya Bonobo sanctuary. Photo courtesy of Lola Ya Bonobo. Of the world’s six species of great ape (not including us), it’s safe to say that bonobos (Pan paniscus) are the least studied and least known publicly. But a new organization, the Bonobo Project, is hoping to change that. “The mission…is to elevate […]
Elephant poaching rate unchanged – and still devastating

Savannah elephant in Kruger National Park in South Africa. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. New figures show essentially no change in the number of elephants killed in Africa by poachers last year, despite a high-profile meeting on the crisis which was attended by 46 countries and a number of commitments. Data from CITES’ Monitoring the […]
DRC mulls changing Virunga’s boundaries for oil

Mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park. Photo by: Cai Tjeenk Willink/Creative Commons 3.0. Last Friday, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) announced it was considering changing the boundaries of Virunga National Park to accommodate oil exploitation. Africa’s oldest park, Virunga is home to around a quarter of the world’s mountain gorillas (Gorilla […]
Rainforest loss increased in the 2000s, concludes new analysis

Click charts to enlarge Loss of tropical forests accelerated roughly 60 percent during the 2000s, argues a paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The findings contradict previous research suggesting that deforestation slowed since the 1990s. The study is based on a map of 1990 forest cover developed last year by Do-Hyung Kim and […]
Rainforests: 10 things to watch in 2015

What’s in store for rainforests in the new year.
Camera traps capture rare footage of wild bonobos (video)

Bonobo from still of camera trap video. Courtesy of: Terese Hart. Bonobos, our ape cousins, love peace. Unlike chimpanzees, also our close relatives, bonobos are known to resolve conflict through sex instead of aggression. They kiss, they caress, and females display genito-genital rubbing (also called G-G rubbing) to communicate, bond, and reconcile. But capturing these […]
Mapping mistake leaves wildlife at risk

Administrative maps show DRC’s Luama Katanga Reserve in the wrong place, letting mining concessions and agriculture threaten the reserve’s unique wildlife – including a new plant species. Scientists have discovered a new, endangered plant species in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in an area that is supposed to be protected as a reserve. However, […]
Beef, palm oil, soy, and wood products from 8 countries responsible for 1/3 of forest destruction

Four commodities produced in just eight countries are responsible for a third of the world’s forest loss, according to a new report. Those familiar with the long-standing effort to stop deforestation won’t be surprised by the commodities named: beef, palm oil, soy, and wood products (including timber and paper). Nor will they be very surprised […]
Forest restoration commitments: driven by science or politics?

Uganda, Ethiopia, and the DRC made lofty forest restoration pledges Forest during the UN Climate Summit last month. Will they follow through? The United Nations Climate Summit at the end of September saw a host of governments, agencies and organizations rally around an international agreement aimed at stopping deforestation called the New York Declaration on […]
Climate change to boost farmland, diminish harvests, says new study

Ninety-two percent of intact forests suitable for cultivation Climate change is likely to alter how we humans grow adequate amounts of food for a swelling global population. Assessing just how much and where those changes will occur has been difficult. But a new study takes aim at those very questions and could provide a guide […]
Four countries pledge to restore 30 million hectares of degraded lands at UN Summit

In 2011, Germany and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature launched the Bonn Challenge, which pledged to restore 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands by 2020. Several countries have already made commitments—including the U.S.—but this week at the UN Climate Summit four more jumped on board. The Democratic Republic of the […]
Next big idea in forest conservation? DNA fingerprinting trees to stem illegal logging

Innovation in Tropical Forest Conservation: Q&A with Dr. Chuck Cannon As a professor at Texas Tech, Dr. Chuck Cannon has been, among other things, working to create a system of DNA fingerprinting for tropical trees to undercut the global illegal logging trade. “If we just enforced existing laws and management policies, things would be pretty […]
Looming mining ‘tsunami’ set to take Africa by storm

As nations invest billions in extraction development, forests may suffer big losses Many of the minerals that enable our technology, back the value of our economies (or did at one time), and power our cities can be found in Africa. And yet the continent still remains something of an untapped resource, as the vast majority […]
How did Ebola Zaïre Get to Guinea?

Is the great ape trade responsible for the current outbreak of Ebola? The vicious Ebola virus outbreak that has already killed more than 800 people this year, in addition to sowing panic, fear and confusion throughout West Africa, was not a strain endemic to the region as initially believed. Instead the University of Edinburgh found […]
Conservation controversy: are bonobos protected in the right ways and in the right places?

Sankuru Nature Reserve draws ire from some conservationists, other protections planned Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are often touted by scientists as a peace-loving great ape species, opting to solve social conflicts through sex rather than aggression. But their only refuge, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is a country torn by war for decades. Amid the […]
Invasion of the oil palm: western Africa’s native son returns, threatening great apes

New research shows African apes likely to be affected by palm oil, but there’s hope, says the author As palm oil producers increasingly look to Africa’s tropical forests as suitable candidates for their next plantations, primate scientists are sounding the alarm about the destruction of ape habitat that can go hand in hand with oil […]
Setting the stage: theater troupe revives tradition to promote conservation in DRC

Art-form helping establish new park by acting as communication bridge between conservationists, local people Two years ago, environmental artist Roger Peet set off to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to support the new Lomami National Park with bandanas that he designed. This time, Peet is back in Congo to carry out a conservation theater […]
Is there hope for bonobos? Researchers, NGOs, gov’t officials, local communities band together to save iconic ape (Part III)

This is the third part of a series. Part 1 discusses the formation of Sankuru Nature Reserve and the general state of bonobos. Part II discusses the specific threats faced by bonobos and the reserve. Tropical forests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are being cleared at a rapid clip, with nearly six […]
Poaching, fires, farming pervade: protecting bonobos ‘an enormous challenge’ (Part II)

This is the second part of a series, Part 1 of which discusses the formation of Sankuru Nature Reserve and the general state of bonobos. The bonobo (Pan paniscus) is a species of great ape found only in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It has declined precipitously in response to habitat destruction and […]
Will the last ape found be the first to go? Bonobos’ biggest refuge under threat (Part I)

This is the first part of a series, Part II of which discusses the specific threats faced by bonobos and Sankuru Nature Reserve. The bonobo, or pygmy chimpanzee (Pan paniscus), is a species of great ape that has experienced a steep drop in population over the past two decades due to habitat loss and bushmeat […]
DRC deforestation escalates despite resource shortages, protests, rape, homicide

Forest loss increased nearly three-fold in some areas since 2011 Road construction, the promise of employment, and the conversion of forest to farmland – the effects of logging tropical forests are often not confined to the boundaries of the concessions, where, in the best case, a timber company has gained legal access to harvest trees. […]
Oil, wildlife, and people: competing visions of development collide in Virunga National Park

What does SOCO’s withdrawal really mean for the future of Virunga National Park? – Part II. Read part I here. “SOCO is pleased that we were able to work together with WWF to hopefully find a way to jointly improve conditions in Virunga National Park and for its inhabitants,” said Roger Cagle, Deputy CEO of […]
New report: illegal logging keeps militias and terrorist groups in business

Total profit from environmental crime may exceed $200 billion per year Deforestation has many harmful consequences, from loss of wildlife habitat to degradation of water and air quality, and many more. Now, a new report adds another repercussion to the list: the funding of terrorist groups and other crime networks. Entitled “The Environmental Crime Crisis” […]
Grenades, helicopters, and scooping out brains: poachers decimate elephant population in park

WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW. Poached elephant skull shows bullet hole from above, likely from a helicopter. The elephant’s face was cut off by a chainsaw to remove the tusks. In addition, its brain was taken. Photo by: African Parks. Over the last two months, poachers have killed 68 African elephants in Garamba National Park representing […]

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