04
December 2009 - Stockholm, Sweden — As Barack
Obama prepares to pick up a Peace Prize
he's yet to earn, a truly deserving activist
collects the Alternative Nobel Prize for
his work to save the forests of the Congo.
René Ngongo,
Greenpeace Africa Political Advisor and
civil society activist for 18 years, today
received the Right Livelihood Award at the
Swedish Parliament for his dedicated, and
at times dangerous, work in defending the
rights and livelihood of Democratic Republic
of Congo’s forest communities.
The Right Livelihood
Award Foundation recognised Ngongo "for
his courage in confronting the forces that
are destroying the Congo's rainforests and
building political support for their conservation
and sustainable use."
Accepting his award,
René said “I humbly receive this
honour on behalf of many of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo’s poor communities
for whom the forest is a source of livelihood,
a supermarket, a pharmacy and an heirloom.
If we do not continue to raise our voices
against the destruction of these ancient
forests, their future and our very own existence
is at stake”.
"René Ngongo
is a real leader. He has acted to protect
the Democratic Republic of the Congo's forests
and to protect its people," said Greenpeace
International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo,
who was present at the ceremony. "Just
days before the beginning of the UN Copenhagen
Climate Summit this award signals the critical
importance of working to save the world’s
forests, not only for the people who depend
on them, but also for their role in preventing
catastrophic climate change."
One fifth of all greenhouse
gas emissions come from deforestation. Left
intact, the tropical rainforests of the
Congo, the Amazon, and Inonesia act like
a mighty set of planetary lungs, absorbing
CO2 from human activity.
Forests on the table
in Copenhagen
In Copenhagen, we're demanding the developed
nations put real money on the table to protect
rainforests. But we're also having to snap
at the heels of global institutions which
are still funding forest destruction.
Yesterday, Ngongo put
his signature to an open letter to the World
Bank, principal financier of Congolese forest
reform, along with Greenpeace, Global Witness
and The Rainforest Foundation. The letter
exposes the environmental and social chaos
caused by multinational timber companies
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and criticizes the Bank’s role in promoting
industrial logging of rainforests in the
name of development.
The Bank needs to promote
viable alternatives that benefit the Congolese
people and the global climate. The World
Bank’s position in favour of logging may
also influence the climate negotiations
under the guise of so-called “sustainable
forest management”. Instead, efforts to
reduce emissions from deforestation and
forest degradation must on the contrary
exclude incentives for more forest destruction,
such as industrial logging and conversion
of forests into plantations. Agreements
in Copenhagen should provide a reliable
fund to promote alternatives.
Wars in the forest
Ngongo has dedicated
his life to activism. In the midst of raging
conflict, he tirelessly pushed for an end
to illegal exploitation of his country’s
natural resources, collecting abundant evidence
on timber and mineral extraction under sometimes
life-threatening conditions. In 1994, Ngongo
founded the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s
influential environment organisation, OCEAN.
Ngongo has been able to build a strong network
and momentum for better protection of the
world’s second largest rainforest.
“Today we are very proud
as René joins a group of leaders
who are not afraid to stand up for the best
sustainable options for their communities
and environment,” said Michelle Ndiaye Ntab,
Greenpeace Africa Executive Director.
