Topic: congo

Atlas Forestier Interactif du Congo - Interactive Forest Atlas of Congo (Version 3.0)

Sarah Parsons — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 20:19:07 -0500

À Propos de cette Publication

L’Atlas forestier interactif du Congo est un système d’information forestière hébergé par le Ministère de l’Économie Forestière et du Développement Durable de la République du Congo (MEFDD) et géré par une équipe conjointe composée des représentants du World Resources Institute (WRI) et du MEFDD. Organisé autour d’une plateforme SIG (Système d’information géographique), l’Atlas facilite l’accès à une information objective et actualisée du secteur forestier congolais. L’un de ses principaux objectifs est de renforcer la gestion forestière et l’aménagement du territoire en rapprochant et regroupant les différentes catégories d’utilisation du sol sur une plateforme unique et standardisée. L’équipe conjointe MEFDD-WRI actualise la base de données de l’Atlas forestier au fur et à mesure que de nouvelles informations deviennent disponibles et les publie périodiquement sous formes de rapport, posters et application cartographique en version DVD et en ligne.

Le présent rapport fait partie intégrante de la troisième version (Atlas V3) de la série d’Atlas forestiers interactifs du Congo. Il fournit au lecteur des informations sur l’affectation des terres et les types d’occupation des sols dans le Domaine Forestier National au 31 décembre 2011. Il donne également un aperçu de l’évolution des forêts de production, ainsi que des données actualisées sur les aires protégées et les infrastructures forestières (routes et pistes d’exploitation). En fin, il met en évidence les zones de conflits d’usage potentiels émanant des chevauchements entre le domaine forestier (concessions forestières et aires protégées) et les zones d’exploitation minière, ainsi que les orientations et applications futures de l’Atlas.

About this Publication

The Interactive forest Atlas of Congo is a living forest information system hosted in the Ministry of Forest Economy and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Congo (MEFDD), and managed by a joint team including members from MEFDD and the World Resources Institute (WRI). Built on a geographic information system (GIS) platform, the Atlas provides unbiased and up-to-date information on the Congolese forest sector. One of its main objectives is to strengthen forest management and land use planning by bringing all major land use categories onto the same standardized platform. While the underlying forest Atlas database is kept up-to-date as new information becomes available, periodic publications of the data and database are made publicly available through the Atlas report, poster, and online and CD/DVD mapping applications.

This report is companion to the third version (Atlas V3) of a series of Interactive Forest Atlases of Congo. It provides the reader with the land use allocation and land cover types in the National Forest Estate as of December 31st, 2011. It also gives an overview of the evolution of production forests, as well as updated information about protected areas and forest infrastructure (logging roads). Finally, it highlights areas of potential conflicts from overlapping between the forest domain (forest concessions and protected areas) and mining concessions, and outlines future directions and applications of the Atlas.

Coming Soon: Global Forest Watch 2.0

James Anderson — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:03:32 -0500

Welcome to the home of Global Forest Watch 2.0, a powerful near real-time forest monitoring system that unites satellite technology, data sharing, and human networks around the world to fight deforestation.

GFW 2.0 is currently under development, and will launch in late 2013.

Read more below, and email gfw2@wri.org to participate in the pilot testing period or be notified when GFW 2.0 launches. Please note that as we prepare for the launch, the original Global Forest Watch website has been redirected to this page.

Watch a Short Preview of Global Forest Watch 2.0 at the UN Forum on Forests 10, in Istanbul.

Watch the full version here

Speakers:

Zulkifli Hasan, Minister of Forestry, Indonesia
Kerri-Ann Jones, Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Wu Hongbo, Under-Secretary-General, United Nations
Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility
Tim Christophersen, Senior Program Officer, Forests and Climate Change, UNEP
Nigel Sizer, Director, Global Forests Initiative, World Resources Institute

Photo by David Gilbert

WHY FORESTS, WHY NOW?

Forests provide food jobs, raw materials, climate benefits and more. But without clear, up-to-date information, governments, companies and communities lack the tools to monitor and manage these resources.

We can track a company’s financial information daily, but information about forests is often years out of date.

Deforestation continues today in part because by the time satellite images are available, analyzed, and shared, the forest clearing is long done. The illegal loggers have moved on; cattle are already grazing amidst stumps; the oil palm plantation has been established. We simply find out too late.

New technologies can overcome these challenges

Fortunately, a convergence of technologies and human networks offers the ability to address these challenges for the first time:

Advances in satellite and remote sensing technology, including the launch of NASA’s Landsat 8 in early 2013, and new private systems, enable higher spatial resolution analysis and much more rapid updates of information. This has enabled the development of near-real-time forest cover change detection.
Brazilian partner IMAZON, is making its Amazon Alert System available through GFW 2.0, and also the DETER system which is innovating in detection of forest degradation. Brazil has seen a remarkable drop in deforestation in the Amazon of almost 80 percent partly due to improved linked to more effective use of satellite imagery.
Cloud computing and open source software can now be used to rapidly process and interpret large volumes of satellite data at low cost by utilizing clusters of servers scattered around the world. Google Earth Engine’s team is partnered with Global Forest Watch 2.0 to optimize easy access to cloud computing-based forest cover information.
High speed internet connectivity enables sending data and forest maps processed in North America, Europe, or Singapore to laptops and mobile phones in Jakarta, Kinshasa, Lima, Vladivostok, and other corners of the globe.
Smartphones are more common than ever and can be used by anyone in the field to download maps and satellite images, as well as upload GPS coordinates and photographs from the ground.
Crowdsourcing using simple web interfaces can empower thousands if not millions of people to gather and share information, participate in forest monitoring, and hold decision-makers accountable. • Social media outlets are creating a flat, networked world in which information travels fast, communities self-organize, and people get mobilized.

ABOUT GLOBAL FOREST WATCH 2.0

These enhanced technologies and social movements are the foundation for Global Forest Watch 2.0. GFW 2.0 will unite a near-real-time deforestation alert system, complementary satellite imagery and monitoring systems, WRI’s data-rich collection of maps, mobile technology, and a networked world to create never-before-possible transparency for faraway forests.

The platform is currently under development, and will be launched in late 2013.

This powerful new platform will enable responsible companies, NGOs, the media, and progressive government leaders to hold those responsible accountable for forest management.

GFW 2.0 can be useful to multiple groups of users involved with the sustainable management of forests:

Buyers of sustainable commodities. GFW 2.0 will enable buyers of sustainably sourced commodities―such as certified timber, palm oil, soya, and beef―to confirm adherence to or violations of supplier commitments to “no deforestation,” “no clearing of high conservation value forest,” and related criteria.
Suppliers of sustainable commodities. GFW 2.0 will help suppliers of sustainable commodities prove to buyers, investors, governments, and NGOs that their commodities are adhering to best forest management practices, national laws, criteria of the relevant commodity roundtables, or investor lending conditions.
Governments. GFW 2.0 is designed to help progressive elements in governments better enforce sustainable forest management and forest protection laws. GFW 2.0 is also designed to be a trusted, independent, and user-friendly way to help investors in REDD+ and other forest conservation projects monitor performance and hold countries accountable to their commitments on greenhouse gas emission reductions and forest conservation.
Conservation and community organizations. GFW 2.0 will enable NGOs dedicated to forest conservation, indigenous rights, and forest communities to identify deforestation hotspots as they arise and quickly mobilize action to curtail further clearing.
The media. GFW 2.0 will enable local, national, and international media to ring the alarm bell on deforestation hotspots around the globe at a pace never-before-possible, and thereby put pressure on governments, companies, and others to curtail forest conversion and illegal logging in time

Applying new technology

GFW 2.0 combines satellites, new algorithms, cloud computing, mobile phone technologies, and WRI databases to connect images, maps, photos, and data with forest clearing alerts ultimately within two weeks of significant deforestation occurring.

Because GFW 2.0 will be powered by Google Earth Engine and Earth Builder, it will bring to target users a seamless experience of the best technology offered by WRI, Google, and their partners, as Bloomberg does for the world’s vast, complex array of financial information.

Mobilizing human networks

GFW 2.0 will mobilize networks of people to ensure sustainable management of forests and greater forest conservation. Global Forest Watch “anchor” NGOs in each priority country or region, will actively use and contribute content in an open-source, network model.

These groups will include ScanEx and its non-profit affiliate Transparent World in Russia, Imazon in Brazil and their Amazon-wide network of partners across the seven neighboring countries, the Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC) which covers the Central Africa region. More partners in Canada, China, Europe, and the United States are joining every day.

Watch a Sneak Peek of GFW 2.0 presented at Rio+20

Video streaming by Ustream

Speakers:

Carlos Souza Jr., Senior Researcher, IMAZON
Charles Barber, Forest Division Chief, Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, U.S. Department of State
Rebecca Moore, Google
Nigel Sizer, Director, Global Forest Initiative, World Resources Institute

Watch UNEP’s press conference featuring GFW 2.0 at COP18 in Doha

Speakers:

Mr. Heru Prasetyo, Deputy I, Presidential Delivery Unit on Development Monitoring and Oversight, Government of Indonesia
Tim Christophersen, Senior Programme Officer, Forests and Climate Change, UNEP
Jane Feehan, Natural Resources Specialist, European Investment Bank
Nigel Sizer, Director, Global Forest Initiative, World Resources Institute

Watch a Sneak Peek of Global Forest Watch 2.0 at the U.S. Pavilion, COP18 in Doha

Video streaming by Ustream

Speakers:

Nigel Sizer, Director, Forests Initiative, World Resources Institute
Nirarta “Koni” Samadhi, Head of REDD+ Task Force Working Group on Moratorium Monitoring, Presidential Work Unit on Monitoring and Development Oversight (UKP4), Government of Indonesia
Per Fredrik Ilsaas Pharo, Director, International Climate and Forest Initiative, Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, Government of Norway
Tim Christophersen, Senior Program Officer, Forests and Climate Change, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Read more about WRI’s forest work here.

Forest Atlas of Congo/Atlas Forestier du Congo

Sarah Parsons — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:53:45 -0500

Interactive Map/Carte Interactive

Carte Interactive/Interactive Map

Desktop Mapping Application

Coming Soon

GIS Data

Download all spatial data in the Congo Atlas (shapefile and raster format in zip archives).

Latest Version

2011 (Complete) (ZIP archive, 44.9 Mb)
- Affectation Territoriale (ZIP archive, 8.7 Mb)
- Conservation (ZIP archive, 231 Kb)
- Hydrographie (ZIP archive, 3.9 Mb)
- Infrastructure (ZIP archive, 1.2 Mb)
- Limite Administrative (ZIP archive, 1.9 Mb)
- Localite (ZIP archive, 192 Kb)
- Vegetation (ZIP archive, 27.5 Mb)

Previous Versions

2008 (ZIP archive, 34.1 Mb)
2006 (ZIP archive, 9.9 Mb)

Complete Atlases

The Atlas files contain a free map viewing application as well as all GIS data and ArcGIS projects for advanced users.

Version 2, 2008 (ZIP archive, 31.7 Mb)
Version 1, 2007 (ZIP archive, 223.4 Mb)

Poster: Situation du découpage forestier en République du Congo

2011: French
2008: French
2006: French| English

The Forest Atlas of Congo is a living forest information system, which combines the use of remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and ground-truthing to monitor and manage forests. Through a combination of interactive mapping applications, posters, analytical reports, trainings, and outreach, the Atlas provides users with access to timely, accurate, and harmonized information about land-use allocation (forest concessions, protected areas, mining, etc.) in the national forest estate through a user-friendly and publicly accessible format.

Through the Interactive Forest Atlas and capacity building of forest stakeholders in remote sensing, GIS, and forest information management, WRI and the Ministry of Forest Economy and Sustainable Development (MEFDD) are working together to improve the quality and availability of information in the forest sector to support transparent and participatory decision-making towards sustainable forest management in the Republic of Congo.

L’Atlas Forestier Interactif du Congo est un système continu d’information forestière qui combine l’utilisation de la télédétection, les Systèmes d’Information Géographique (SIG) et les vérifications de terrain pour le suivi et la gestion des forêts. A travers ses produits constitués de cartes interactives, de posters, de rapports analytiques, l’Atlas donne aux utilisateurs un accès à une information actualisée, précise et harmonisée sur l’allocation des terres (concessions forestières, aires protégées, mines, etc.) dans le domaine forestier de l’Etat sous un format convivial et accessible au public.

A travers l’Atlas Forestier Interactif et le renforcement des capacités des acteurs du secteur forestier en télédétection, en Système d’Information Géographique (SIG) et en gestion de l’information forestière, WRI et le Ministère de l’Économie Forestière et du Développement Durable (MEFDD) travaillent de concert afin d’améliorer la qualité et la disponibilité de l’information dans le secteur forestier en appui à une prise de décision informée et participative pour une gestion durable des forêts en République du Congo.

RELEASE: Project Launched to Support Conservation and Improved Forest Management in the Congo Basin

Lauren Zelin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:02:47 -0400

Global Environment Facility begins pilots in Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo

The Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Resources Institute (WRI), and Rainforest Alliance joined with officials from government, national NGOs, the private sector, and international development organizations throughout the Congo Basin to launch a regional Global Environment Facility (GEF) project will focus on improving forest management and conservation.

The project, entitled A Regional Focus on Sustainable Timber Management in the Congo Basin, is starting with a set of activities at the regional level and in three pilot countries: Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo. The regional launch held in Douala, Cameroon, on March 20-21 was followed by events in Bangui, Central African Republic, on March 27, and Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, on March 29. A subsequent launch event is expected to be held in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, in April 2012.

At the regional launch event in Douala, Adamou Bouhari, UNEP/GEF Task Manager, invited the participants to collaborate closely on this effort to address illegal logging and ensure that the management of production forests is carried out in a sustainable manner. According to Bouhari, initiatives at the national level have had significant impacts, but have focused on the ‘formal’ sector rather than the informal sector, and have not addressed regional and cross-border issues. GEF and UNEP involvement in this project will ensure that the Global Environment Benefits (GEB) are maintained and enhanced through a regional approach.

“WRI is very excited and proud to undertake this important and challenging four-year project to serve as a regional catalyst and work to promote a harmonized approach to the sustainable management of production forests,” said Pierre Methot, WRI’s Director of Forestry for Central Africa and Project Director. “This project will reinforce WRI’s already strong presence in the region and enhance our efforts to improve transparency and governance in the Congo Basin that focus on timber management, REDD, and other aspects of sustainable forest development.”

This project forms part of the GEF Congo Basin Strategic Program and will contribute to the implementation of the Convergence Plan and reinforce the capacity of COMIFAC.

The project will also capitalize on Rainforest Alliance’s ongoing work in Cameroon, and elsewhere around the world, with community-based forest enterprises.

According to Rainforest Alliance’s Senior Vice President & Vice President of Forestry Richard Donovan, “The forests of the Congo Basin are an incredible resource, but how do we ensure that local communities and indigenous people truly benefit from commercial activities, based on timber or carbon, in a way that supports forest conservation and community livelihoods? That is a critical challenge for this effort.”

# # #

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is an Implementing Agency of the Gobal Environment Facility (GEF) with the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is the only GEF Agency whose core business is the environment. UNEP plays a key role in supporting countries to develop and execute GEF projects that fit within its comparative advantage. www.unep.org

The World Resources Institute is a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to put ideas into action. We work with governments, companies, and civil society to build solutions to urgent environmental challenges. WRI’s transformative ideas protect the earth and promote development because sustainability is essential to meeting human needs and fulfilling human aspirations in the future. www.wri.org

The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit conservation organization that works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. www.rainforest-alliance.org

# # #

Preparing for REDD in the Republic of Congo

Kemen Austin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:45:55 -0400

A new WRI project will quantify forest degradation and associated greenhouse gas emissions in the forests of the Republic of Congo.

The Republic of Congo is part of the larger Congo Basin region, which contains one quarter of the world’s tropical forests. Protecting the region’s forests has become a crucial part of the international effort to combat global warming. Yet the Republic of Congo, like other countries in the Congo Basin, is still putting the systems in place to implement an effective strategy to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (known as REDD) and to participate in future programs that incentivize reduction in emissions from these sources.

To support this effort, WRI is spearheading an innovative new project entitled Quantifying Forest Degradation and Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Forests of the Republic of Congo. Planned project activities will:

Quantify greenhouse gas emissions from the country’s forests,
Develop new methods to measure and monitor forest degradation,
Build in-country forest monitoring capacity, and
Ensure that spatial data sets are transparent and publically available.

WRI will coordinate these project activities with stakeholders from the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Forest Economy and Environment (MDDEFE) in the Republic of Congo, in a process facilitated by the country’s National REDD Coordination Committee (CN-REDD). The CN-REDD will ensure that the project is fully coordinated with the Republic of Congo’s climate change preparedness strategy.

The Forests of the Republic of Congo

Spanning 22.5 million hectares (ha), the forests of Republic of Congo cover two-thirds of the country. They provide significant ecosystem services to local communities such as fuel wood, timber, non-timber forest products, water purification, and cultural and religious values. In addition, these forests help regulate the climate by sequestering significant quantities of carbon, thereby supporting efforts to mitigate global climate change.

Forests of the Congo Basin

Historically deforestation rates in the Republic of Congo have been very low. The 2008 State of the Forests report for Central Africa estimates the annual net deforestation rate in Republic of Congo at 0.03%, driven primarily by small-holder agriculture and urban settlement. Forest degradation, though harder to quantify, is estimated to be a more significant driver of forest change in the country, and the Congo Basin in general. Degradation, while yet to be defined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), occurs as a result of activities such as shifting cultivation, fuel wood collection, selective logging, and the construction of roads for commercial logging or mining activities. A recent study estimates carbon emissions from degradation may be three times greater than those from deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa.

Although historical rates of deforestation and degradation have been relatively low, underlying factors such as population growth, poor rural populations, and lack of alternative sources of energy for low income people are expected to exacerbate forest cover loss in the future. Furthermore, lessons from Latin America and Southeast Asia suggest that commercial farming may gradually replace subsistence agriculture as an important agent of forest cover loss in the Congo basin. The map below illustrates the land cover and status of logging concessions in the Republic of Congo.

Logging Concessions and Protected Areas in the Republic of Congo. View Larger Size.

REDD: An Opportunity for Forest Conservation

REDD - or reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation – is a proposed framework to incentivize reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The range of possible activities that will fall under the framework is still under discussion, and a REDD+ framework is proposed which includes a wider range of forest activities such as enhancing carbon stocks in forests and sustainable forest management.

Population growth, poor rural populations, and lack of alternative sources of energy for low income people are expected to exacerbate forest cover loss in the Congo Basin in the future. Photo credit: WRI

Whether designed as REDD or REDD+, the framework could provide compensation to governments, communities, companies or individuals who have taken actions to reduce emissions from forest loss below an established reference level. The effective implementation of a REDD strategy in the Republic of Congo can help protect carbon- and biodiversity-rich tropical rainforests while promoting local prosperity. However, countries in the Congo Basin region are currently not well-poised to employ these mechanisms and benefit from these emerging opportunities for several reasons, which the project will address:

Countrywide data on forest cover change is not gathered in a systematic fashion, and methods and systems for detecting forest degradation (the dominant form of land use change in the region) are absent. As a result, there is no country-specific information on forest carbon stocks and flows.
There is a lack of technical capacity to gather and utilize information on forest carbon. The government of Republic of Congo has not incorporated forest carbon data in their land-use policy decisions.
The nation has not yet developed systems to transparently share data on forests and forest carbon or mechanisms to facilitate broad-based civil society participation in REDD decision-making.

Developing Capacity in the Republic of Congo

WRI’s new project will address these challenges by providing data, methods and assistance in developing national forest carbon accounting strategies and reference forest carbon emission levels. The initiative aims to develop Republic of Congo’s capacity to meet future UNFCCC technical requirements for measuring, reporting and verifying information on forest change and associated GHG emissions.

Main project activities include:

Quantifying forest carbon emissions from land use change, including tree cover change and forest degradation, using the most up-to-date methodologies and following IPCC Good Practice Guidance. These analyses will include an update of forest cover change from 2005-2010 and add missing years going back to the 1990s.
Testing a variety of novel methods for measuring and monitoring fine-scale degradation – e.g. from selective logging - and calculate associated GHG emissions through field work. Additionally, the project will evaluate these pilot technologies to determine the most appropriate options balancing accuracy, cost and ease-of-use.
Developing the capacity of the Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC) as a regional center of excellence in forest monitoring and carbon accounting. OSFAC will be trained by WRI and partners on remote sensing and the carbon accounting methodologies for monitoring changes in forest extent, quality, and carbon emissions.
Working closely with the government’s National REDD coordination committee to ensure integration with policy and coordination with other REDD initiatives in the country. This engagement includes a series of policy workshops with decision-makers in government ministries on how methods for monitoring and measuring forest loss/degradation and associated GHG emissions underpin REDD+ policies.
Ensuring that the information, spatial datasets, and maps developed through this project will be transparently produced and publically available. Additionally, the project will encourage participation of civil society, academic institutions, and local communities through a series of training events on the drivers of deforestation and degradation, costs and benefits of alternative policies, and lessons learned from other countries.

Project Partners and Collaborators

WRI will collaborate with the following project partners:

A research group from the Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence at South Dakota State University, led by Dr. Matthew Hansen, will use satellite imagery to provide annual estimates of deforestation from 2000 to 2010. Additionally, the team will test new methods to measure forest degradation.
Dr. Sandra Brown and a team from the Ecosystem Services Unit of Winrock International will lead the assessment of carbon stocks and flows.
A team from the Instituto do Homem e Meio Ambiente da Amazônia, led by Dr. Carlos Souza, will apply low-cost semi-automated methods of measuring forest degradation developed in Brazil to the forests of the Republic of Congo.
The Observatoire Satellital des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale (OSFAC) will participate in all project activities and staff will be trained by WRI and partners on remote sensing and the carbon accounting methodologies for monitoring changes in forest extent, quality, and carbon emissions. OSFAC will go on to become a regional training center for government and civil society stakeholders.
WRI will collaborate with stakeholders from the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Forest Economy and Environment (MDDEFE) on REDD preparedness activities.
The Republic of Congo’s National REDD Coordination Committee will work closely with WRI and partners to ensure that the project activities are coordinated with the country’s climate change preparedness strategy.

For more information on this project, please contact: Peter Mbile, Project Manager

Central African Indigenous Communities Given Voice in WRI Report on Forest Policy

Maggie Barron — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 14:24:37 -0500

Policies designed to counter deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries must account for the needs of indigenous communities that depend on forest resources.

A new report released today by the World Resources Institute (WRI) examines how Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) – a plan being developed here at the United Nations annual climate conference – could affect local communities in Africa’s Congo Basin.

“The forests of the Congo Basin are a world treasure that store enormous amounts of carbon. While they provide crucial services to forest-dependent communities, they are facing increasing threats from population growth, small-holder activities, and selective logging,” said Dr. Fred Stolle, a WRI senior associate and co-author of Voices from the Congo Basin. “REDD policy can help keep these forests intact, but it can go further by contributing to the needs and concerns of local communities for the first time ever in a global climate pact.”

In 2008 and 2009, WRI and its partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo (CODELT) and Cameroon (NESDA) held a series of consultations on REDD-related measures with local communities in remote forested areas of the Congo Basin and with parliamentarians in the capitals of Cameroon and the DRC.

The report collects stories from these different groups and identifies key concerns of local communities and Congo Basin officials. Some of the major concerns highlighted are that REDD could amplify threats to customary tenure, lead to inequitable revenue distribution, reduce opportunities for development, and exacerbate lack of participation in the forest-management process for local and indigenous communities.

Many of these issues have been recognized as challenges to forest management for years. However, the increased focus on forest-related causes of climate change has brought along with it a newfound attention on the region’s socioeconomic needs and governance challenges for improving forest management. REDD may therefore provide an opportunity to resolve these long-standing challenges.

Voices From the Congo Basin: Incorporating the Perspectives of Local Stakeholders for Improved REDD Design

Tim Herzog — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:18:55 -0500

Summary

The scarcity of information on local and indigenous perspectives on Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) may inhibit the development of effective REDD-related measures in the Congo Basin. The World Resources Institute (WRI), along with the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development (NESDA) in Cameroon, and the Council for Environmental Defense by Legality and Traceability (CODELT) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), engaged underrepresented local communities in the Congo Basin on issues regarding REDD. We conducted a series of workshops with local and indigenous communities, community-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and parliamentary representatives to raise their awareness of forest/climate issues and REDD. The workshop participants then had an opportunity to discuss their aspirations and concerns regarding REDD’s design and implementation. Their five main concerns were the following:

Limited recognition of land-tenure rights.
Inadequate information about forest and carbon resources.
Weak institutional capacity and unclear roles.
Inequitable revenue distribution.
Fewer opportunities for development.

We discussed recommendations for addressing these concerns, and decided on priorities. This working paper summarizes the feedback and conclusions from these workshops for international civil society, UN-REDD, the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF), and the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

WRI Releases Guide to Help Extractive Companies Work with Local Communities

Paul Mackie — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:52:07 -0500

Natural-resources extractive companies are profiting financially and socially when they consult with affected communities before and during the construction of projects.

“Rio Tinto and De Beers, for example, have negotiated agreements with communities to avoid harm and provide benefits. In so doing, they have gained local support for projects, and communities have seized opportunities for development,” said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute (WRI). “But more work needs to be done. Too often, the rhetoric in support of community engagement does not match the practice.”

The report, Breaking Ground: Engaging Communities in Extractive and Infrastructure Projects, takes an in-depth look at international community engagement standards and how they often fall short of providing guidance to companies and communities. The work follows WRI’s 2007 report, Development Without Conflict, and is designed as a user’s guide to help companies and local community liaisons implement successful standards on-the-ground.

“Many national laws and financial institutions’ policies require companies to implement some type of community engagement in extractive and infrastructure projects, but do not necessarily provide guidance on how to do so,” said Kirk Herbertson of WRI, lead author of the report. “When local communities participate in the design and implementation of a project, they are more likely to understand and support the changes brought about by the project.”

In one of the examples from the report, community engagement during the construction of a natural gas project in the Philippines saved a U.S. company millions by allowing the company to complete construction ahead of schedule. In another example, from Guatemala, a mining company helped rebuild its damaged reputation by inviting local communities to test and monitor water quality, as a way to provide credible assurances that a mine was not polluting their water source.

WRI’s accompanying video documentary on Thailand’s Mae Moh coal power project shows what happens when companies and governments refuse to engage the communities they develop. Hundreds of people filed a lawsuit against the government-controlled Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), alleging the coal mine and power plant poisoned them with toxic sulfur dioxide emissions and mine dust, and damaged their crops. On Tuesday of this week, which is officially the World Bank’s Extractive Industries Week, a Thai court ruled that EGAT must compensate each of the victims and restore the environmental damage of the coal mine.

Extractive industry experts said at the World Bank conference that they continue to recognize the importance of engaging communities in mining projects, despite the ongoing economic crisis.

Video: Working to Save Central Africa's Forests

Scott Thompson — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:52:06 -0400

WRI began working in Central Africa ten years ago and has since built an extensive on-the-ground presence to contribute to the development of sustainable forest management in the region.

The following video introduction by Pierre Méthot, Program Manager for WRI’s Forest Information and Governance Initiative in Central Africa, is the first in a series of pieces examining WRI’s expanding role in this important region:

Stretching across six countries, the Congo Basin contains the second largest contiguous tropical forest in the world and is home to a wealth of biodiversity and wildlife populations. In addition to serving the livelihoods of the estimated 30 million people living in the region, the Basin’s forests absorb atmospheric carbon, thereby mitigating global warming.

The health of this rich ecosystem, however, is under increasing strain.

Industrial logging is expanding across the region due to mounting local and international demand for the Congo Basin’s forest resources, particularly from Asian markets. Moreover, as continued infrastructure improvements enhance forest accessibility, forest degradation and fragmentation is accelerating in even the most remote areas.

Alongside the Amazon and Southeast Asia, Central Africa has consequently become a focal point for tropical deforestation, which currently accounts for 20% of global carbon emissions. While not yet experiencing the high rates of deforestation seen in the other two regions, Central Africa will likely face similar levels as demand and populations increase.

In August, I traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo with colleagues in the People and Ecosystems Program to visit our local offices in Kinshasa and Brazzaville and interview regional partners in government, NGOs, civil society, and the private sector.

The experience illuminated both the breadth of WRI’s work as well as the collaborative framework that has been established between WRI and its partners to produce a set of informational tools to support transparency and decision-making processes in order to protect biodiversity, strengthen forest management, and combat the illegal, unsustainable exploitation of forest resources.

To learn more about WRI’s forest work in the Congo Basin and elsewhere around the globe, click here.

Logging Concessions and Protected Areas in the Republic of Congo

Paul Mackie — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 14:21:04 -0500

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Forest Landscapes Initiative

Richard Waite — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:53:48 -0400

Our strategy is to harness the power of information and communication technologies (e.g., satellites) to strengthen the incentives and capacity for sustainable forest management.

We partner with in-country organizations in four forest-rich regions of the world: Central Africa, Southeast Asia, Russia, and South America. We also monitor tree cover change and intact forest landscapes at the global level.

State of the World’s Forests (Click map to view larger size)

Our activities:

Monitor and map forests—support national efforts to create, review and make public geo-spatial forest information and produce map-based tools for decision making.
Provide training and technical assistance to governments, corporations, and non-governmental organizations in the production and use of maps and information.
Build bridges among business, government, and civil society institutions to share information and promote collaborative problem solving.
Support sustainable procurement of forest products—provide purchasers with reliable, impartial, and easy-to-understand advice.
Support emerging forest/climate policies and incentives (e.g. REDD)—develop methods for measuring and monitoring changes in forest cover and associated greenhouse gas emissions.
Assess forestry revenue distribution—examine how revenue from forest exploitation is distributed, so that forest-dependent communities receive their fair share.
Work at both ends of the forest products supply chain— The Forest Legality Alliance supports the Lacey Act amendment in the US, and similar legislation in the EU, by helping forest product producers and importers more effectively identify and avoid illegally sourced wood products.
Pilot test transformational investment strategies—Project POTICO (Palm Oil, Timber, and Carbon Offsets) is designed to divert new oil palm plantations onto degraded lands in Indonesia to curb deforestation.

Also check out our Interactive Maps and Data Explorer.