Blog: Forests

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.

In recent years, we've put a lot of effort into highlighting the threats facing what remains of the world's forests in North America, South America, and South East Asia. But there's one major area we haven't touched on for some time now: Africa. That's all about to change, however, and you'll be hearing more about what we've been up to in the coming weeks and months.

In the heart of the Amazon rainforest a huge soya processing factory and port owned by the giant US company Cargill has just been closed down by the Brazilian Environmental Agency (IBAMA).

Amidst all the current hoo-hah about Trident, we have some good news from Russia or, at least, the potential for good news.

Back in September, our Partners in Crime report revealed how Finland is importing vast quantities of timber logged illegally in neighbouring Russia. According to federal law, all forestry management plans must undergo an Environmental Impact Assessment - in the republic of Karelia these assessments are not being done yet the local government continues to hand out logging permits.

However, this week the Head of the Federal Forestry Agency in Russia has ordered an immediate investigation into the problem, appointing a commission to report back next month. This is a huge step forward and acknowledges the scale of the problem - of all the timber felled in Karelia, the majority is illegal.