The Republic of Congo had been protecting about half of its dense rainforests via the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) framework. In exchange, the country is supposed to receive payments from the World Bank. But Mongabay Africa staff writer Elodie Toto’s recent investigation revealed the nation has also granted nearly 80 gold mining and exploration permits in areas covered by the project, driving deforestation and negatively impacting local populations. “It was beyond words, if I may say. I could see people using excavators to uproot trees. I could see them washing the earth and it basically looked [like] a war zone,” Toto says on this episode of the podcast. One of the residents she interviewed reported now having to walk 20 kilometers (12 miles) to find food and water. When Toto asked the REDD+ project developer about such impacts, he appeared to justify them. “He seemed very aware of the situation. Very aware,” Toto says. “He was like, ‘OK, that’s true. There’s some gold mining happening in the region, but we can’t just save our forest and expect some [money] from it; we are a developing country, and to develop a country, one needs money.’” Toto is also part of Mongabay Africa’s team producing a new French-language podcast, Planète Mongabay, and discusses how the program makes environmental news more accessible to audiences who often prefer to get their news via audio or video. Subscribe to or follow the Mongabay Newscast wherever you listen to podcasts, from Apple to Spotify, and…This article was originally published on Mongabay