The type of environment news that makes the headlines can be disheartening.
But when we take a closer look, there are so many positive and inspiring stories – of welcome progress, community triumphs, and conservation success.
Here’s some good news you might have missed from our partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Women’s land rights officially acknowledged for the first time
In 2018, Synchronicity Earth started to support CFLEDD, a women-led organisation based in the DRC. At that time, CFLEDD President Néné Mainzana described Kaisai Oriental Province as the DRC’s ‘forgotten province’. People living there struggle, she tells us – and for women, even more so. Under the patriarchal culture of the communities they belong to, women are largely excluded from discussions on land management.
Néné explains: “If you go to any of the villages, it’s the women who go into the forests, every day. The forest is their supermarket, their pharmacy. It’s the women who are in the fields every day, and who do 80 or 90% of the work. Women should have a say in how the land is managed.”
This became Néné’s mission: she knew, for the sake of the environment – and all the people whose lives depend on it – something had to change. No other donor was supporting this work, but we said ‘let’s do it’!
Initially a project of just four women, CFLEDD has grown into a network of over 300 members and organisations, working to conserve the environment by ensuring women’s rights are recognised in new land and forest governance codes.
A few years ago, women from two communities signed a land agreement with local chiefs to manage their own land, and with CFLEDD’s help they requested community forests.
