Rene Ngongo, winner of the 2009 Right Livelihood award

For as long as I can remember, I have played a game with myself - imagining what it is like to be someone else in a different time or a different place. It's just a bit of fun and kept me entertained for hours on long train journeys before I got my laptop. Sometimes though I wonder whether I would have the courage to stand up for what I believe in if I didn't have the luxury of being here in the UK, at this moment in time.

Would I have joined the White Rose movement, students at Munich University who were executed after spreading anti-Nazi leaflets during the height of the Third Reich regime? Would I have had the courage to sit at the back of the bus like Rosa Parks did or demonstrate in the streets in Tehran following the election results? Read more »

Shell has ducked out of the major international trial it faced over human rights abuses in Nigeria, and last night opened its wallet to fork out $15.5m (£9.6m) in a last minute settlement. After 13 years of bringing this case to court, it's a relief for the relatives of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others executed for campaigning against Shell's human rights abuse and environmental crimes in the Niger Delta.

An old Philips TV at a scrap yard in Ghana

Last week we broke the shocking story about what actually happens to our electronic waste; instead of being safely recycled in the UK or Europe, much of it is instead being exported as 'second-hand goods' to places like Nigeria, China and India. Once there it's either sold for scrap, illegally dumped, or broken apart for recycling by some of the poorest people in the country, with no safety measures to protect them from the dangerous toxic chemicals like mercury, cadmium and lead which the e-waste contains.

Raoul on board the Arctic Sunrise during the launch of the DRC office © Greenpeace

It has only been a few months since Greenpeace Africa set up its office in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but since then we have very busy. The Kinshasa office is only a small one and there are just two of us working there - myself and René Ngongo, the policy advisor. We are already making a name for Greenpeace and René is in demand - he is invited to multiple meetings and is much sought after for interviews on radio and TV.

Television are shipped from the EU to Nigeria to be sold, scrapped or illegally dumped © Greenpeace/Buus

As you may have seen on Sky News or the cover of the Independent this morning, our researchers have been conducting a three-year investigation in what really happens to electronic waste. The results show that, instead of being recycled responsibly like it's supposed to be, e-waste is being disguised as second-hand goods and being shipped of to (in this case) Nigeria. There, it's sold, scrapped or illegally dumped.

Acting on a tip-off, we launched our operation in collaboration with Sky Television to see just where some electronic waste was ending up. We took an unfixable TV, fitted it with a tracking device and brought it to Hampshire County Council for recycling. Instead of being safely dismantled in the UK or Europe, like it should have been, the council’s 'recycling' company, BJ Electronics, passed it on as 'second-hand goods' and it was shipped off to Nigeria to be sold or scrapped and dumped.

© 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.

"While the environmental threats facing Africans are urgent and critical, Africa is in a position to leapfrog dirty development and become a leader in helping to avert catastrophic climate change and protect the natural environment. We are here to help make that happen."

Greenpeace Africa is here! Marking a whole new era for Greenpeace, we opened our first African office yesterday, in Johannesburg. In the coming weeks, we'll be opening two more - one in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the other in Senegal.

Do you know what happens to your old telly once it conks out and you chuck it away? Well, it gets dumped onto developing countries in Asia and Africa as 'second hand goods' where unprotected workers (often kids) dismantle computers and TVs in search of metals that can be sold. The remaining plastic, cables and casing is either burnt in an e-waste pyre or simply dumped. Let me take you on a virtual journey to the 'scrapyards' of Ghana where some of the electronic waste from the western world ends up.

As if Carving up the Congo wasn't enough, logging companies are also evading paying taxes and cheating the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) out of millions of euros in revenue. A new report we have released today called Conning the Congo shows how the logging company Danzer has avoided paying approximately €8 million in tax from its logging operations in the DRC and the Republic of Congo. Just to put €8m in context in this part of the world, that is more than fifty times the DRC Ministry of Environment's annual operating budget.

The Congo rainforests of Central Africa form the second largest rainforest block on Earth after Amazon. They are of great importance for the global climate, the planet's biodiversity and the forest-dwelling communities who depend on them for resources and livelihoods.

Full story on Greenpeace International website

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the Greenpeace ship MV Esperanza in 2002

That's what Archbishop Desmond Tutu is asking the leaders of the most polluting economies, living up to his reputation for calling a spade a spade in, um, spades. Read more »