I'm in the Congo, on the first anniversary of our newest Greenpeace office opening here. Read more »

Sarah is in Kinshasa, visiting our Congo office on their first anniversary.

I write from our office in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In some ways it's very like any other Greenpeace office. There are pictures of the Rainbow Warrior on the wall, people on phones rush from room to room, journalists and cameramen walk in and out. There's a shout and we all crowd round the TV to watch one of our colleagues, Rene Ngongo, who won the alternative livelihood award a few weeks ago for his work in the DRC, giving an interview. Read more »

Whenever anyone asks me what it's like to work at Greenpeace the word that always springs to mind is privileged. Not only do I feel privileged to do a job that I enjoy with equally passionate people but more importantly to be able translate my anger about the damage done to people and the natural world into concrete positive action.

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.

© 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.

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.

"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.

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

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.