IRI Country Program Launched in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

3rd – 5th December, 2019

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative country program has been launched in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). From 3-5 December 2019, more than 180 faith leaders, indigenous peoples and forest communities, NGOs, scientists, government leaders and representatives from the United Nations gathered in Kinshasa to officially launch this new platform to work together in cooperation and shared purpose on the protection of the Congo Basin’s tropical forests. The launch of the initiative builds on a strong precedent of interreligious cooperation in DRC in the fields of electoral transparency, education and health, and benefitted from leadership and endorsement by all of the country’s faiths, including the Catholic Church (Conférence Episcopal National du Congo, CENCO) and the Protestant Church (Église du Christ au Congo, ECC), which together represent more than 90% of the population in the country.