Ownership protects
A community that holds legal title to its forest has every reason, and the standing, to defend it.
Spotlight · Forests & Climate
Guardians of the Congo Basin
The world's second-largest rainforest, and the planet's greatest tropical peatlands, lie in the DRC. The surest way to keep them standing is to put them in the hands of the communities who live there.
The forests of the Congo Basin store carbon the whole world depends on, and shelter a wealth of life found nowhere else. For decades they were guarded by keeping people out. A new model does the opposite: securing legal title to forests for the communities who live in them, who then have every reason to protect them.
Across the DRC, Congolese organisations help communities win Local Community Forest Concessions, knit protected areas into living corridors, and guard the carbon-rich peatlands. This is the work Nashiriki presents and promotes, with the goal of giving it sovereign, interoperable digital foundations.
The Organisations
The forest, guarded by its communities.
Two of the Congolese organisations whose community-forestry work Nashiriki champions, one in the eastern highlands, one in the Cuvette Centrale.
Strong Roots Congo
From Bukavu, building a biodiversity corridor between Kahuzi-Biega and Itombwe by securing community forests for the people who live there.
Partner profile →
GASHE
From Mbandaka, securing community forests and guarding the peatlands of the Cuvette Centrale, one of the planet's great carbon stores.
Partner profile →Why It Matters
Four reasons community forests hold.
Carbon that counts
The Congo Basin's forests and peatlands store carbon the whole planet depends on keeping in the ground.
Monitoring that works
Communities equipped to map and watch their forests catch illegal logging faster than any distant satellite alone.
Proof for climate finance
Structured, locally owned forest records are the credible evidence climate funders and carbon markets require.
Work With Us
Keep the forest standing, with its communities.
Do you fund or work on forests, biodiversity or climate in the Congo Basin? Talk to us about supporting the Congolese organisations that guard the forest from within.