Mon, 07/30/2007 - Indigenous peoples living in the tropical rainforests of Central Africa are widely dispersed and identify their groups by a variety of names. Numbering a total of 300,000 to 500,000 people, those members of communities from several ethnic groups characterized by their small stature are identified under the generic name of “pygmies” (see WRM Bulletin Nº 119).

A LOW FOG ENVELOPES the steep and remote valleys of southwestern Uganda most mornings, as birds found only in this small corner of the continent rise in chorus and the great apes drink from clear streams. Days in the dense montane forest are quiet and steamy. Nights are an exaltation of insects and primate howling. For thousands of years the Batwa people thrived in this soundscape, in such close harmony with the forest that early-twentieth-century wildlife biologists who studied the flora and fauna of the region barely noticed their existence.

FACE TO THE INDIGENOUS PYGMIES’ COOPERATIVE ENVIRONMENT.

POSITION OF THE PROBLEM.

The Democratic Republic of congo has just done the reformation of its mining and forest regimes in giving an edict of mining code and a code of forest. This country has immeasurable forests which represent almost the half of its area, that is more or less 1,1million km. In addition, it has spacious reserves of ores and other precious raw materials such as: cassiterite and its accompaniments, gold, diamond, and so forth.

Precised informations about these ores can be found on the following site: