Forests Are Violated in So-Called Development Projects

Three countries of the Congo Basin; one reality: the coveted forest destroyed by foreigners to the detriment of populations whose rights are violated with the complicity of the authorities.

Forests have become essential in the fight against global warming. The Congo Basin occupies an important place, as it is the world's second largest ecological lung after the Amazon. The member countries of this forest region have signed agreements to protect it in order to halt the climate catastrophe threatening the planet.

However, these commitments are hard to meet. In most countries, the forest is sold off—with the help of traditional, administrative, and security authorities—to individuals who promise great things, in violation of the laws governing the forestry, environmental, land, and social sectors.

This project focuses on this reality in the villages of Avébé and Meyos III in Djoum, in the south region of Cameroon; Mbila-Lékoumou, in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and in Central Kongo in the DRC, where hectares of forest are being illegally exploited by three "companies" that have arrived with so-called development projects. Several thousand hectares are up in smoke.