DRC
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Posted by jamie — 21 January 2009 at 6:03pm
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© Stok/Greenpeace
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has, at long last, completed a review of the logging industry. Although there are some positive results, at the same time it has allowed an expansion of the industry to more than twice the recommended size.
Back in October last year, the government announced the results of a three-year review of logging contracts that had been issued. Logging companies which had contracts cancelled were then allowed to appeal against the decisions and this week's announcement is the final result of that process.
Posted by jossc — 24 November 2008 at 4:28pm
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Arctic Sunrise arriving at the DRC port of Matadi
Today we're celebrating the opening of a new Greenpeace office in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hurrah! We marked the occasion by inviting Congolese officials aboard the Arctic Sunrise, which is currently docked in Matadi, the country's principal port for timber exports.
This is a crucial time for the Congo rainforest, the world's second largest, as the DRC's government is the final stages of reviewing over 150 land titles, which cover millions of hectares of forest. While a number of titles were recently rejected by the government, the current 'appeals process' could see many of them returned to their former owners, the logging companies. The logging industry is using the present economic downturn to pressurise the govrnment to allow them to keep hold of (and exploit) what effectively amounts to millions of hectares of forest, and carry on business as usual.
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Posted by jamie — 10 December 2007 at 6:20pm
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There have
been some great developments around our Congo rainforest campaign, as the FT
reported on its website this morning that one of the arms of the World Bank
will offload the shares it owns in a company known to be destroying the forest of
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The
International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced that it will divest its
holdings in Olam International, a Singapore-based company which has operations
in the DRC. The Congo report we released earlier this year showed how Olam was
holding forest land granted in breach of the current moratorium which the World
Bank itself helped establish and that it was also trading in dodgy timber. As a
result, Olam has since given back its forest holdings to the DRC government, but
it still buys illegal timber cut by local companies.
Last edited 29 August 2007 at 3:40pm
The World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) is financing a Singapore-based trading group, Olam International Ltd, which has been involved in trading illegal timber in the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The world's 'local bank', HSBC, is also providing financial services to the company, in breach of its environmental policy. Olam is today expected to report much improved profits in its half yearly financial results.
Posted by jamie — 29 August 2007 at 2:53pm
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Back in April, at the World Bank's spring meeting, there was much talk about the plight of the Congo rainforest. We'd just published a big report detailing how in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) logging titles were being granted in breach of a moratorium that the bank had been instrumental in establishing. The report launch was so high profile, we were able to force DRC's rainforest high onto the agenda of the World Bank meeting and have also managed to secure another session at the upcoming autumn meeting.