Hilary Benn

Big actions speak louder than big words

Posted by Willie — 19 January 2010 at 4:22pm - Comments

Charismatic megafauna at play. Did we get your attention?

The word 'biodiversity' is often bandied about as shorthand for 'lots of lovely animals and plants'. We probably think of African plains teeming with herds of antelopes, zebra and wildebeest, a jungle cacophonous with crickets, monkeys and birds, or perhaps a coral reef that looks like a still from Finding Nemo.

But that's because most of us are a little shallow when it comes to the species we co-inhabit this planet with. We get overexcited by the big things, the cuddly things, and the wow! things.

Article tagged as: angela merkel, biodiversity, CBD, CITES, endangered species, hilary benn, wildlife

Chewing over the Congo with the World Bank

Posted by jamie — 19 April 2007 at 1:43pm - Comments
Okapi are unique to the Congo rainforest

Our report on the con in the Congo really did catch the attention of the World Bank. They were referenced many, many times in its pages and have taken a keen interest in what we have to say about their role in the destruction of the African rainforest at the hands of the international logging companies.

Such is their interest that a special event was held at the spring meeting in Washington DC last weekend - even though it was in the offing before we released the report, it wasn't on the official agenda and was held as a direct result of the work done by ourselves and other organisations, both globally and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the last few weeks.

Article tagged as: africa, congo, DRC, forests, global witness, hilary benn, paul wolfowitz, world bank

Meeting with Mr Benn

Posted by jamie — 12 April 2007 at 6:04pm - Comments

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.

Article tagged as: africa, congo, DRC, forests, hilary benn, world bank

What a carve up! The con in the Congo logging industry

Posted by jamie — 11 April 2007 at 9:00am - Comments

A logging road torn through the Congo rainforest

As we revealed last week, we've been doing a lot of work recently in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), researching the threats that currently face the vast rainforest that stretch across the Congo basin.

It's a forest we can ill-afford to lose: 40 million people depend on the forest in one way or another. It is also critical for the survival of our closest animal relatives, including gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos, and like all large intact forests, it's crucially important for regulating the local and global climate.

Article tagged as: africa, congo, DfID, DRC, forests, hilary benn, world bank
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