Washington, DC (March 11, 2026)—More than four years of collaboration is entering a new phase as REPALEAC—the Central African Network for Indigenous and Local Peoples for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems—expands its partnership with the Rights and Resources Initiative and its rightsholder-led funding mechanism, the Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI) across the Congo Basin.
Their efforts have led to measurable impacts in the region since 2022, helping to secure communities’ rights to about 2.1 million hectares and strengthening their governance, conservation practices, and livelihoods across 17.8 million hectares in Gabon, the DRC, and the Republic of the Congo.
On March 11–12, 2026, in Kinshasa, REPALEAC, RRI, and CLARIFI will convene local partners, Indigenous leaders, donors, and global allies for a high-level event, “One Basin, One Vision: The Congo Basin’s Path to Rights, Livelihoods, and Impact Towards 2030.” This strategic convening will align regional and international partners around the Congo Basin’s Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ shared priorities around conservation, land rights, livelihoods, and sustainable financing, and support their progress toward implementing REPALEAC’s 2030 Vision for Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
“Our vision for 2030 in the Congo Basin is a continuation and expansion of work already underway,” said Deborah Sanchez, Director of CLARIFI. “This partnership builds on real progress attained by RRI coalition members in the region following years of strategic collective action and advocacy, and has strong potential to scale across the region, especially by expanding direct access to funding for women and youth and strengthening grassroots organizations on the ground.”
In addition to highlighting impacts from community-led projects supported by the four-year partnership between CLARIFI, the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC), REPALEAC, and local partners, the event will showcase the role the RRI coalition’s collective advocacy has played in the region over the last 15 years in achieving this progress. Within this context, it will provide a critical space for coordination on implementing recent global climate commitments and pledges announced at the UNFCCC COP30.
“Over the past four years, this partnership has demonstrated what is possible when Indigenous leadership, rights-based conservation, and sustainable financing are aligned,” said Dr. Solange Bandiaky-Badji, RRI President and Coordinator. “Building on this progress, we are working together to advance REPALEAC’s 2030 Vision to ensure that Indigenous Peoples and local communities in the Congo Basin are empowered, recognized, and supported through coordinated partnerships and financing that secure rights and deliver climate and biodiversity impact.”
Beyond project-level impact, the RRI coalition’s partnerships and 15 years of advocacy have helped advance systemic reforms across the region, contributing to the historic recognition of Indigenous Pygmy Peoples in the DRC as well as other major land reforms. RRI coalition partners have also catalyzed key convenings and advocacy that contributed to COP30 commitments globally and for the region, including the 2025 Brazzaville Congress Declaration and the roadmap emerging from the 2023 Women’s Forum.
The partnership is now set to support implementation of global commitments and pledges that came out of COP30, including the Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment (ILTC), the Congo Basin Pledge, the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), and the Forest Tenure Funders Pledge, as well as preparations for the upcoming 2026 Rio Conventions.
This convening will also strengthen regional collaboration and scale community-led solutions across the Congo Basin. By 2030, REPALEAC, RRI, and CLARIFI aim to secure tenure rights for an additional 6 million hectares and expand governance support for communities. This work will reinforce long-term, sustainable development across the region.
“The Belém Call to Action for the Congo Basin Forests is a collective commitment to protect these forests through coordinated action,” said Joseph Itongwa, Regional Coordinator of REPALEAC. “Without concrete measures that directly support Indigenous Peoples and local communities, its ambitions will be difficult to achieve. To move forward, REPALEAC, RRI, and CLARIFI call on donors to diversify investments across more countries in the Basin and prioritize direct support for women- and youth-led organizations, ensuring a resilient and inclusive future for both people and forests.”
As global climate and biodiversity priorities continue to grow in urgency, the RRI coalition remains focused on advancing the critical role played by Indigenous Peoples and local communities in achieving long-term environmental progress in the Congo Basin, which is home to one of the world’s largest tropical forest ecosystems and plays a critical role in global climate stability and biodiversity protection.
The REPALEAC-RRI-CLARIFI consortium reinforces the essential role of Indigenous leadership in safeguarding the Congo Basin and advancing durable climate and conservation solutions for generations to come.
