Safeguards in OP 4.36: Forestry (1993)

‘Bank’ includes IDA and ‘loans’ includes credits. (The policy was not adopted by IFC until 1999).

The safeguard policy applies to all members of the World Bank Group

The need for the policy to apply to IFC (and MIGA?) was generally accepted

The Bank uses a sector-wide approach to forestry and conservation in order to address policy and institutional issues and integrate forestry and forest conservation projects with initiatives in other sectors and with macro-economic objectives.

The policy also applies to all Bank operations including structural adjustment lending, Economic and Sector Work and Country Assistance Strategies

The importance of the policy being cross-sectoral and applying to structural adjustment lending was emphaised

The Bank does not finance commercial logging or purchase of logging equipment for use in primary moist tropical forests

Extend the proscription on Bank financing of logging to all old growth forests (boreal temperate, tropical dry and tropical wet) unless acceptable country-level exercises have been carried out to zone High Conservation Value Forests (HCVF)

It was agreed that the policy should apply to all forest types.

The concept of HCVF was not accepted by the group (see below).

In accordance with the precautionary principle, all old growth forests are considered HCVF unless established otherwise, with demonstrable public acceptance, through inclusive and open processes of participation.

The concept of HCVF was not accepted by the group (see below)

The Bank may finance improvements in the planning, monitoring and field control of forestry operations, where the borrower country has a commitment to move towards sustainable management and aims to retain as much effective forest cover as possible.

No changes proposed

The Bank requires the borrower to identify and consult the interest groups involved in a particular forest area where the Bank involves the private sector and local people in forestry and conservation activities

Ensure inclusive and participatory decision-making

The need for participatory decision-making was emphasised by the TAG

Bank suppport to the forest sector is conditional on borrower’s commitment to undertake sustainable management and conservation-oriented forestry. Borrowers should adopt policies and a legal and institutional framework to:

Ensure borrower or client adoption of policies and an institutional framework consistent with sustainability

- Ensure conservation and sustainable management of existing forests

No change proposed

This was assumed to be the objective

- Promote active participation of local people and the private sector in the long-term sustainable management of natural forests

.

Ensure borrower or client adoption of a participatory approach to the management of natural forests

Partcipation was strongly emphasised in view of the greater attention the overall strategy gives to poverty alleviation and community forestry.

- Adopt a comprehensive and environmentally sound forestry conservation and development plan that clearly defines the roles and rights of government, the private sector and local people

Ensure adequate provisions to safeguard the interests of local people, including forest dwellers and indigenous peoples

The need to protect the interests of local peoples especially of those who are not indigenous and therefore not covered by OD 4.20 on Indigenous Peoples was emphasised.

- Undertake social, economic and environmental assessments of forests being considered for commercial use

No changes proposed (but see conditions on logging below)

The needs for comprehensive social and environmental impact assessments was emphasised for projects with cross-sectoral impacts and for adjustment loans

- Set aside adequate compensatory preservation forests:

i. to protect and conserve biological diversity and

ii. to safeguard the interests of forest dwellers, specifically their rights of access to and use of designated forest areas

Secure the tenure rights of forest-dwellers as a precondition to Bank operations affecting forests

The need to secure the tenure rights of forest-dwellers was stressed. There was doubt as to whether this could be a ‘precondition’ of Bank projects, however.

-Establish institutional capacity to implement and enforce these commitments

No changes proposed

The Bank distinguishes investment projects that are exclusively environmentally protection (eg protected areas and watershed management) and which are supportive of small farmers. Projects in this limited group may be appraised on the basis of their own social, economic and environmental merits. However, they may be pursued only where broad sectoral reforms are in hand, or where remaining forest cover is so limited that preserving it in its entirety is the agreed course of action.

No changes proposed

The new strategy makes poverty alleviation and community forestry projects a central objective. The need for social safeguards to ensure that these projects meet the needs and recognise the rights of the poor was stressed.

In areas of high ecological value, the Bank finances only preservation and light, non-extractive use of forest resources.

Include an outright ban on negative impacts in forests defined as High Conservation Value Forests. HCVF are defined as those forests that possess one or more of the following attributes:

a)       forest areas fundamental to meeting basic needs of local communities (e.g. subsistence, health) and/or critical to local communities’ traditional cultural  identity (areas of cultural, economic or religious significance)

b)       forest areas that provide basic services (e.g. watershed protection, erosion control) that are crucial and unable to be effectively replaced by other land cover.

c)       forest areas containing globally, regionally or nationally significant concentrations of biodiversity and forest areas that are in or contain rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems.

Such areas are to be determined locally through a consultation process and based on internationally accepted standards.

TAG members did not support the Bank adopting the concept of HCVF. Some client governments rejected it strongly and some donor agencies considered it unworkable.

In areas retaining natural forest cover and the associated soil, water, biological diversity and carbon sequestration values is the object, the Bank may finance controlled sustained-yield forest management.

Bank support for operations in non-HCVFs are conditional on internationally accepted certification standards. Any proposed Bank-funded logging operation would need to be sustainable at the stand level, meaning FSC or equivalent

Any proposed Bank-funded logging operation should only take place in any particular forest ecosystem if a viable, ecologically representative protected area network exists for that particular ecosystem.

Any proposed Bank-funded logging operation would have to demonstrate clear poverty alleviation benefits and local benefit sharing.

This was stressed several times in the TAG. It was emphasised that this provision should also apply to the IFC and MIGA.

Any proposed Bank-funded logging operation would have to include some form of corporate code of conduct (or performance bond or some other mechanism) to ensure that there were not corrupt practices.

The Bank finances plantations only on non-forested areas (including previously planted areas) or on heavily degraded forestland.

No changes proposed.

The Bank does not finance projects that contravene applicable international environmental areements.

The Bank does not finance projects that contravene applicable international environmental and human rights agreements.

The need for the Bank to adhere to international law was noted.

Improved monitoring and evaluation

The need for participatory Monitoring and Evaluation was stressed.

Establish adequate enforcement mechanisms.

The need for additional accountability mechanisms was stressed including grievance procedures and conflict resolution mechanisms.