Africa’s Congo is the world's second largest rainforest, and it is under threat. Tens of millions of people depend on the Congo for their survival, and as a major biodiversity hotspot, it’s home to some of Africa's most amazing wildlife, like gorillas, bonobos and forest elephants. Like all large intact forests, the Congo is a critical defense against man-made climate change.
International logging companies are creating social and environmental destruction in the Congo. Taxes paid by companies for rights to log the forest are supposed to go to forest communities for essential services like education and healthcare. But over the last three years, not a cent paid by logging companies has reached local communities.
In exchange for timber worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the companies are giving “gifts” like bags of salt and crates of beer worth less than $100. Poorly paid officials sometimes have only a bicycle to help them patrol vast areas of rainforest, making enforcement of conservation law basically impossible.
Despite a moratorium on new logging being in place since 2002, over 37 million acres of rainforest (an area the size of Illinois) have been granted to the logging industry, most of this in areas vital for protecting biodiversity. But it's not too late to prevent the destruction of this rainforest and the communities it supports. Please help: make your voice heard!
Peace!
ERIK
