Mr. Odin Knudsen
Forest Policy Implementation Review and Strategy Development
World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433

Fax: 202-522-1142

Dear Mr. Knudsen and FPIRS team,

Concerns regarding the 30 July 2001 draft A Revised Forest Strategy for the World Bank Group

The undersigned NGOs, indigenous peoples’ organisations and community-based organisations write in response to the call for public comments on the above draft document. In the first part of our response, we express our misgivings about the plan to finalise and adopt the Strategy before the necessary revisions of the Operational Policy have been discussed and agreed between different stakeholders. The second part outlines our overall impression of the draft Strategy and sets out our concerns regarding its contents. We make a number of key recommendations for improving the Strategy at the end of our response.

Numbers in square brackets [] refer to page numbers in the July 30 draft.

1. Flawed procedure for developing and adopting the Strategy

Our first reaction to the draft Forest Strategy is that it is difficult to give a detailed response without the accompanying draft revised Forest Policy. The revision of the existing Policy (OD4.36) is of primary concern to forest dwellers and forest-dependent communities in particular and civil society in general because its provisions will constitute the set of mandatory rules which Bank staff must follow in all Bank-assisted operations affecting forests. In our opinion, the Forest Strategy should not be finalised until there is open discussion regarding the proposed changes to the provisions of the revised Policy and their relationship to the new Strategy.

We urge the World Bank to develop and release a full draft of its revised Forest Policy at the earliest opportunity. We request that the World Bank delay finalisation of its Forest Strategy until its Operational Policy on forests has been revised in a transparent and participatory manner.

2.  Response to the draft Strategy

Our overall response to the draft Strategy is that while it features welcome positive language on participation, monitoring, incentives and the need to promote good governance in forest management, it contains a number of serious deficiencies. We are particularly concerned that the draft Strategy:

·        lifts the existing proscription against Bank-financed logging in primary tropical moist forests;

·        does not provide adequate safeguards to protect the rights of indigenous peoples and other forest dwellers and forest-dependent communities;

·        fails to establish strong environmental safeguards to protect forests and the environment;

·        lacks clear operational measures to address the cross-sectoral impacts on forests of other Bank-funded operations;

·        does not make proposals for revising the Bank’s safeguard framework to address structural adjustment and programmatic lending;

·        adopts a timber-centric approach based on World Bank support for commercial-scale logging operations in all types of forests;

·        does not contain sufficient detail about the certification, “verification” and “stakeholder assessment” standards and procedures that are proposed to ensure logging operations meet “acceptable standards of sustainability”;

·        fails to explain and set benchmarks for required standards that must be met before the World Bank will approve and release funds for projects and programmes that affect forests and forest peoples;

·        does not propose concrete mechanisms for involving affected  communities and other stakeholders in forest policy and programmes at the national level;

·        commits the Bank to involvement in carbon forestry and carbon trading without properly acknowledging the controversy over these issues and the potential negative impact on forests and forest peoples;

·        introduces important new concepts and categories without explanation.

These points are elaborated below.

(a)        A high-risk major change in Bank policy without clear safeguards

The draft Strategy indicates that the World Bank is planning to reverse its current forest Policy by lifting its proscription against financing logging in primary tropical moist forests to enable Bank financing of commercial-scale logging operations in all types of forest. World Bank support for logging will be subject to “certification, independent verification, or stakeholder-based assessment” [31]. The Strategy confirms that this policy reversal is geared towards helping the World Bank-WWF Alliance achieve its target of 200 million hectares of “independently certified well managed forest” by 2005 [36,Box 3.3:52].

We are extremely worried that without strong and enforceable safeguards and clear certification standards and procedures this new Strategy centred on certification is a recipe for failed projects that will harm forest dwellers and degrade the forest environment. We are particularly alarmed that the IFC and MIGA will be the primary loan window for these operations [21,24,33,55], given their poor record of dealing with social and environmental concerns in private sector operations.[1]

We therefore consider that the World Bank is taking an unacceptably high risk in deciding to support industrial logging operations which are proven to exacerbate rather than alleviate poverty[2]. The Strategy proposes addressing benefit sharing and poverty reduction issues through certification of forest management, even though certified forestry operations, particularly in primary forests, have still to prove their effectiveness in bringing social benefits to local forest communities [30].[3]

The Strategy rightly notes the importance of local participation [24,30,31,34], the need to secure land and resource rights for forest dwellers [24,25,26,41-45] and the need to protect the poor [25,41-45] and the environment [36,39-40,41-45]. However, these Strategy goals are not underpinned by explicit and enforceable standards for loan operations. Likewise, the Bank’s principles for credible certification rightly recognise the need for local stakeholder participation, respect for indigenous rights and active performance-based monitoring and assessment [footnote 2,30]. However, the Strategy is not clear how these principles will be complied with in practice. The Strategy simply proposes reliance on the Bank’s existing and proposed safeguard framework [19-20,32-36], which is itself being weakened.[4]

Adequate social safeguards are supposedly secured in the World Bank’s forthcoming revised policies on Indigenous Peoples (OP4.10) and Involuntary Resettlement  (OP4.12) as well as its existing Policy on Cultural Property (OP4.11) [25,34]. Unfortunately, these policies do not provide strong safeguards. The March 2001 draft of the Indigenous Peoples Policy no longer has any mandatory requirements for borrowers to take action to secure land tenure for indigenous peoples. The Bank will only engage in support for these safeguard activities “upon request from the borrower” (draft OP4.10: 20e).

Even if OP4.10 protections for land and resource rights are strengthened before they are finalised, the Policy will not cover the billion or so non-indigenous people who live in or depend on the world’s forests for their livelihood and well-being. The Strategy consequently seems to have disregarded the recommendation of the 2000 OED review that “more attention should be given to the effects of the Strategy on all the poor”.[5]

The final draft version of the Bank’s resettlement policy will allow the forced resettlement of indigenous peoples even where this threatens their cultural survival (draft OP4.12:9). The same revised Policy enables the Bank to assist the relocation of local communities to areas outside protected areas with no clear presumption against forced resettlement (draft OP4.12:7). In short, the Bank’s existing and proposed social safeguard policies do not square with the aspirations set out in the draft Strategy which seeks to respect the rights of forest dwellers and promote collaborative management of forests and protected areas.

The draft Strategy’s treatment of environmental safeguards is also ambiguous and seriously deficient placing undue reliance on the Bank’s existing Natural Habitats Policy (OP4.04) to address conservation concerns [32-36]. We do not consider OP4.04 a strong safeguard for forest habitats and ecosystems because it contains multiple derogations that permit the Bank and its borrowers to eliminate or damage natural habitats. For example, paragraph 5 of this OP disregards the precautionary principle and allows significant conversion or degradation of natural habitats if there are “no feasible alternatives”. It is also disconcerting that OP4.04 is proposed as an effective safeguard when there has been no implementation review of OP4.04 to assess the usefulness of this policy.

Given the fundamental failings in the existing and proposed mandatory operational policy framework outlined above, it is our view that the draft Strategy lacks clear and effective safeguards. Even if safeguard policies were to be revised to make them stronger as requested by civil society, numerous independent and internal Bank studies have shown that the World Bank Group lacks supervision and compliance mechanisms to apply its safeguard policies effectively.[6] Although the World Bank  has a series of initiatives to address compliance problems [12,55], these operational reforms will take time to be put in place and be tested.

The deficiencies in the Bank’s safeguard framework plus its poor record of quality control have therefore prompted social and environmental groups to press the Bank to adopt a cautionary approach to forests and extend its existing proscription against financing logging in primary tropical moist forests to all old growth forests. These same groups have also called for safeguard provisions in the new Forest Policy that prohibit World Bank financing of other operations that directly or indirectly lead to the damage of old growth forests.[7]

(b)        Inadequate plans to forestall cross-sectoral impacts on forests

Forests throughout the world are threatened by the impacts of mines, roads, dams, and the expansion of industrial agriculture which all fragment forest habitats and open up remote areas to colonisation and intense exploitation. With the support of financial institutions like the World Bank, governments are expanding their national infrastructure for resource extraction with pipelines, electricity grids, roads and railways which are opening up vast areas of old growth forests with potentially disastrous consequences for forests and forest peoples.[8]

Numerous studies have shown that World Bank structural adjustment loans (SALs) and structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) have exacerbated pressures on forests in developing countries.[9] The crucial need to address structural adjustment and cross-sectoral issues affecting forests was identified in the OED implementation review of the existing Forest Policy, which was undertaken to feed into the development of the Bank’s new Forest Strategy.[10] These findings and recommendations were reinforced by the Technical Advisory Group input to the development of the Strategy in 2000.

Although the draft Strategy consistently recognises the need for a cross-sectoral approach [3, 11,19, 23-24,48,57], its only clear commitment is to carry out more studies on cross-sectoral issues and feed the findings into Country Assistance Strategies and Economic and Sector Work [11,27-28,40-45,49,57-58]. The draft Strategy is unclear about how the World Bank Group plans to address cross-sectoral impacts on forests and forest peoples in specific loan operations. It is disappointing that the Bank proposes no operational mechanisms to address the impacts of programmatic lending on forests and forest peoples. These important matters are side-stepped by the Strategy, which passes the problem on to the forthcoming review of the Bank’s Structural Adjustment Policy (OD8.36) [19,27].

(c)        Lack of clear mechanisms for participation

The draft Strategy emphasises that the Bank will seek to involve local communities in the management and implementation of its forestry and forest-related projects in each of the six regions where the Bank operates and plans to apply its Forest Strategy [12,29-30,41-45]. There is also a consistent commitment to involve local people in social and “local-stakeholder” assessments and participatory monitoring of implementation of collaborative forest management activities and certified forestry operations [11,31, 41-45]. The intention to adopt a participatory approach is welcome. Once again, however, these progressive goals are not backed up by any new enforceable operational standards in the outline of the revised Policy [32-36].

The draft Strategy highlights the Bank’s commitment to promote National Forest Programmes  (NFPs) via its partnership with the FAO “Implementation Facility”. It also puts much emphasis on its role in hosting PROFOR [49,50], whose work is seen as “critical” to the implementation of the Strategy [49]. The draft Strategy affirms that NFPs are supposed to be a participatory process, which secures land tenure and recognises the customary rights of forest peoples [48]. Again, the draft Strategy and outline Policy make no mention of operational mechanisms to ensure participation of Major Groups in NFPs or other national initiatives supported by the Bank.

(d)        Controversial commitments to promote carbon trading and carbon forestry

We are alarmed that one “key element” in the draft Forest Strategy for the World Bank Group is the promotion of international carbon markets and carbon sinks [37-39,54]. NGOs and indigenous peoples’ organisations have argued that reduction in greenhouse gas emissions should be the primary responsibility of the industrialised developed countries that owe an ecological debt to the South.[11] Many indigenous groups remain opposed to the inclusion of tree plantations as carbon sinks in the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).[12] Social and environmental organisations have repeatedly raised legitimate concerns about the potential negative impacts of plantations on local communities and biodiversity.[13]

A World Bank Forest Strategy must include considerations about the high social and environmental risks associated with carbon sinks and carbon trading. Unfortunately, the draft Strategy is silent about these issues even though these concerns were raised by the Technical Advisory Group. We urge the World Bank to consider these important issues and adopt a clear precautionary stance with a strong presumption against any funding of carbon forestry projects without the prior adoption of internationally agreed safeguards and the free and informed consent of indigenous and other local communities.

(e)        No explanation of key concepts and categories

Important concepts like “acceptable standards of sustainability” [33] and “independent forest monitoring bodies” [31] are used in the Strategy without clear definitions or just vague reference to standards adopted by international fora [35]. The draft Strategy also introduces new field-based operational practices including “stakeholder-based assessment” [31], “rigorous performance-based monitoring” [33], “social assessment” and “safeguard monitoring” [41-45] without clear explanation of the activities, methodologies and instruments involved.

The value of “land use zoning” strategies [36] and the need to protect “areas of special conservation value or social significance” [29] are also emphasised. However, the Strategy does not present any clear methodologies or standards for such zoning of forest lands. How will the Bank ensure that local knowledge, values and maps are incorporated in land use zoning activities? How will the “critical habitats” that are off limits for commercial-scale loan operations, including areas “recognized as protected by traditional communities (e.g., sacred groves)”[14], be identified on the ground? How will local communities be involved in the definition of zone categories and areas?

We find the draft Strategy unconvincing and unacceptably vague on these crucial issues.

3. Recommendations

The revised Forest Strategy and Forest Policy should:

·        recognise and help to secure the customary and legal rights of indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent groups;

·        maintain the proscription against World Bank funding of logging in primary moist tropical forests and extend it to all types of old growth forests;

·        not support other projects or programmes that will damage old growth forests;

·        not finance projects or programmes that contravene applicable international environmental and human rights agreements;

·        establish clear and strong protections for forests habitats and ecosystems;

·        ensure inclusive, effective, informed, transparent, participatory decision making;

·        establish mechanisms for the effective participation of forest dwellers and other Major Groups in national forest programmes, national biodiversity action plans and related World Bank-assisted projects and programmes such as PROFOR;

·        include clear operational rules for Bank staff to follow in order to ensure that non-forest sector lending does not damage forests or forest peoples;

·        make explicit the minimum requirements that must be complied with by borrowers and implementing agencies before the World Bank will approve funds for loan operations affecting forests and forest peoples;

·        acknowledge the controversy surrounding the concept and practise of establishing tree plantations as carbon sinks;

·        adopt a precautionary approach towards tree plantations as carbon sinks and refrain from funding such projects in the absence of internationally agreed social and environmental safeguards;

·        explain important key concepts and procedures [e.g., zoning critical habitats and other forests of high conservation and social value]

We hope the FPIRS team find these comments and recommendations constructive.

We look forward to examining the full revised Forest Policy in due course in order to make a more informed response to the Bank’s proposed new Forest Strategy.

Yours sincerely,

Signed jointly by the following organisations and individuals:

Fernando Melo, Trasparencia Sociedad Civil, Promotora de Servicios para el Desarrollo Sociedad Civil, la Unión de Comunidades y Ejidos Cuicatecos y la Cooperativa de Magueyeros y Mexcaleros Ejutecos Tierra y Libertad, Oaxaca, Mexico

David Barkin, Profesor de Economia, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco, Mexico

Martha Delgado Peralta, Presencia Ciudadana Mexicana, Mexico

Fernando Bejarano, Red de Acción sobre Plaguicidas y Alternativas en México (RAPAM), Mexico

Fabiola Favila Gallegos, Universidad Iberoamericana Laguna, Mexico

Consejo de organizaciones populares e indigenas de Honduras (COPINH). Honduras

Conferecion de Pueblos Autoctonos de Honduras (CONPAH), Honduras

Consejo de Ancianos Miskitos de Honduras, Honduras

Consejo de tribus Tuolopanas, Montana de la Flor, Honduras

Comunidad Indigenas Maya-Chorti Nuevo san Andres, Honduras

Organizacion fraternal Negra Hondurena (OFRANEH), Honduras

Centro Humboldt - Amigos de la Tierra Nicaragua ,Managua, Nicaragua

Coecoceiba-Amigos de la Tierra, Costa Rica

Luis Diego Marin Schumacher, APREFLOFAS - Asociación Preservacionista de Floray Fauna Silvestre, Costa Rica

Silvia Rodriguez, Programa CAMBIOS, Heredia, Costa Rica

Gabriel Rivas-Ducca, Coecoceiba-Amigos de la Tierra Costa Rica, Costa Rica

Roxana Salazar, Fundación Ambio,Costa Rica

Carlos Albacete, Trópico Verde, Guatemala

Luz Graciela Cruz, Biologa Ecologa de Panamá

Geodisio Castillo, AEK/PEMASKY, Panamá

Marcial Arias, Presidente, La Fundación para la Promoción del Conocimiento Indígena de Panama, Panamá

Jose M. Borrero, Centro de Asistencia Legal Ambiental, Colombia

Hildebrando Vélez, Director, Censat Agua Viva/Amigos de la Tierra (FoE), Colombia

Corporación Ecofondo, Colombia

Margarita Flores, Instituto Llatinoamericano de Servicios Legales, ILSA, Centro de Debate y Acción Ambiental, Colombia

Juan José López Negrete, Asociacion De Productores Para El Desarrollo Comunitario De La Cienaga Grande Del Bajo Sinu, Cordoba, Colombia

Diego Roldan Luna, Colombia

Jorge Acosta Arias, Coordinador Area de Globalización y Comercio Justo, Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales (CDES), Quito-Ecuador

Ricardo Nenquihui, President, Organización de la Nacionalidad Huaorani de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana (ONHAE), Ecuador

Juan Aulestia, Director, Fundación Naupa para el Desarrollo Sustentable, Ecuador

Fundación Umacpa, Ecuador

Maria Sol Vallejo A., Fundación Rainforest Rescue, Ecuador

Joanna Simmons (Ms), Staff Attorney, Amerindian Peoples Association, Guyana

Adriana Ramos, Coordenadora do Programa Brasil Socioambiental, Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), Brasil

Jacir José de Souza, Coordenador Geral, Conselho Indígena de Roraima (CIR ), Brasil

Junia Rodrigues de Alencar, Embrapa / Secretaria de Administração Estratégica, Brasilia, Brasil

Luis Felipe Cesar, Coordenador de Projetos Ambientais - Crescente Fértil, RJ, Brasil

Sandra Tosta Faillace, FASE -Solidariedade e Educação, Brasil

Blgo. Luis Albán, Universidad de Piura, Perú

Efraín Bonzano Sosa, Director Ejecutivo - Asociación RENAP, Perú

César Campos Rodríguez, DETEC, Perú

Robert Cartagena, Secretario de Recursos Naturales y Medio Ambiente, Confederación de Pueblos Indígenas de Bolivia (CIDOB), Bolivia

Julio Ruiz Murrieta, Secretario Ejecutivo - Fondo para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas de America Latina y El Caribe, Bolivia

Teresa Balderrama, Proceso Servicios Educativos, Bolivia

ASEO MTGDO, Bolivia

Consejo de Capitanes de Chuquisaca, Bolivia

Coordinadora Interinstitucional de Medio Ambiente, Bolivia

Simone Lovera and Johan Frijns, Friends of the Earth International Forest and IFI Campaigns, Paraguay

Ricardo Carrere, International Co-ordinator, World Rainforest Movement, Uruguay

Elizabeth Diaz, Grupo Guayubira, Uruguay

Ana Filippini, RAPAL,Uruguay

Nora Briozzo, Redes / Amigos de la Tierra, Uruguay

Vivianne García, Grupo Guayubira, Montevideo, Uruguay

Roberto Elissalde, Coordinador - Guía del Mundo, Instituto del Tercer Mundo, Montevideo,Uruguay

Pablo Galeano, Comunidad del Sur, Montevideo, Uruguay

Claudia Piccini, Instituto Clemente Estable, Uruguay

Jorge de Leon, CIAAE  - Centro de Investigacion Alternativa en Ambiente y Educacion, Uruguay

María Selva Ortiz, REDES- Amigos de la Tierra, Uruguay

Gerardo Iglesias, UITA, Uruguay

Julia Cócaro, MoViTDeS, Uruguay

Mauricio Fierro, Geo Austral, Puerto Montt Chile

Lucy Verdugo Meza, Consejo Ecologico De Educacion Ambiental De Chillan CEDEACH, Chile

Tatiana Renom, Santiago, Chile

Joseph Torres, La Fundación Cabo San Francisco, Chile

Patricio Yañez R, Movimiento Agroecologico Chileno (MACH), Chile

Malú Sierra Merino, Patricia Vera Osses, Defensores del Bosque Chileno, Chile

María Elena Rozas, Red de Acción en Plaguicidas de América Latina, Chile

Flavia Liberona, Red Nacional de Accion Ecologica RENACE, Chile

Lucio Cuenca Berger, Observatorio Latinoamericano de Conflictos Ambientales, Chile

Rosario Ortiz, Biolatina, Chile

Susana Garay, Movimiento por la Paz y el Ambiente, Esquel Chubut, Argentina

Mónica Hurt, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de Santa Fe, Argentina

Germán José Bournissen, Equipo Nacional de Pastoral Aborigen (ENDEPA), Argentina

Guillermo Stirnemann, Colegio de Ingenieros Forestales de Misiones, Argentina

Lucas Chiappe, Asociación Lihuen-Antu - Proyecto Lemu, Argentina

Silvana Buján, Red Nacional de Acción Ecologista, Argentina

Miguel A. Rementería, CIMA-Comisión Interdisciplinaria de Medio Ambiente - Secretaria del Foro del Buen Ayre, Argentina

Susanne Schulz, Asociación para la Defensa de la Naturaleza, Asociación LIHUE, Argentina

Comisión Directiva del Centro de Protección a la Naturaleza, Santa Fe, Argentina

Roberto Bissio, Third World Network - Latin America

Noemi Abad, Directora – Ecoportal.net

Isabel Lincolao Garces, Directora Ejecutiva - Instituto de Ecologia Politica (IEP)

Rocio Velandia, International Native Tradition Interchange Inc.

Raymond Abin, Borneo Resources Institute Malaysia (BRIMAS), Malaysia

Antares (Kit Leee), Magick River, Malaysia

Gail Saari, Malaysian Nature Society, Malaysia

MC Wong, IDEAL, Malaysia

Longgena Ginting, Campaigns Director, WALHI, - FoE Indonesia

Binny Buchori, International NGP Forum on Indonesian Development, Indonesia

Riza VT, PAN Indonesia, Indonesia

Sandra Moniaga, HuMa, Jakarta, Indonesia

Pisit Charnsnoh, President, Yadfon Association, Thailand

Jim Enright, S.E. Asia Coordinator, Mangrove Action Project, Thailand

Niel Makinuddin, Director, Institute for Environment and People Empowerment (PLASMA), East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Gopal Siwakoti 'Chintan', Co-ordinator, Water and Energy Users' Federation-Nepal

Neeru Shrestha, Director, International Institute for Human Rights, Peace and Environment (INHURPEN International), Nepal

Suresh Kumar Thapa, Vice-Chairperson, International Institute for Human Rights, Environment and Development (INHURED International), Nepal

Kripa Kirati, Executive Chairman, Nepal Indigenous Peoples Development and Information Service Centre (NIPDISC), Kathmandu, Nepal

Dayamani Barla, Jharkhand Ulgulan Manch, Jharkhand/INSAF, India

Roy David, CORD/INSAF, India

Nikhunj Bhutia Adivasi Mukthi Sangatan/INSAF, India

JK Babu Naraahole Budakattu Hakku Stapana Samithi, India

Raju Pandra Adivasi Ektha Parishad, Maharshtra, India

Kaluram Dhodade, Bhoomi Sena, Maharshtra, India

Raajen Singh Adivai Rights Resource Centre/INSAF, India

Ashish Fernandes, Sanctuary Asia, India

Nandini Sundar, Institute of Economic Growth, India

Murali Shanmugavelan, India

Dr.Md.Sohrab Uddin Sarker, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh

Rabiul Amin, Government of Bangladesh, Bangladesh

A. Ercelawn and M. Nauman, Creed Alliance, Karachi, Pakistan

Kevin Li, Globalization Monitor, China

Zhu Chunquan, China

Tieguhong Julius Chupezi, CIFOR, Cameroon

Joseph Claude Ovvono, Planet Survey, Cameroon

Pascal Kabungolu, Héritiers de la Justice, Democratic Republic of Congo

Sinafasi Makelo, AAPDMAC, Democratic Republic of Congo

Nengo, UNIPROBA, Burundi

J Sebishwi, Executive Secretary, Association for the Promotion of Batwa (APB), Rwanda

Ntabangandimana, member of CAURA, Rwanda

Francis Fagjot, Help Old People, Nigeria

Joseph K Towett, Ogiek Welfare Council (OWC), Kenya

Josephy K Sang, OWC, Kenya

E K Kesendany, Ogiek Development, Culture and Environmental Conservation (ODECECO), Kenya

William Olenasha, Maasai-Ngorongoro, Tanzania

Michael, David, Thad Peterson, Dorobo Tours and Safaris, Tanzania

Ji Useb, WIMSA, Namibia

Gillian Addison, groundWork, South Africa

E C McGregor, South African San Institute, South Africa

P Vaalbooi, Ikhomani San member, South Africa

Peter Russell, Native Forest Action, New Zealand

Sandy Gauntlett, International Research Institute for Maori and Indigenous Education, New Zealand

Rick Barber, Environment and Conservation Organisations (ECO), Aotearoa / New Zealand

John Seed, Director, Rainforest Information Centre, Australia

Glenda Lindsay, Local Artisans Alliance for Sustainability, Australia

Tim Cadman, Native Forest Network - Southern Hemisphere, Australia

Charles Lenchner, Friends of the Earth - Middle East

Andrei Laletin, Chairman, Friends of the Siberian Forests, Russia

Alexander Arbachakov, The Agency for Research and Protection of the the Taiga, Russia

Michal Rezek, Hnuti DUHA - Friends of the Earth, Czech Republic

Professor Edita Stojic-Karanovic, President - "Vasilije Karanovic - Foundation for Sustainable use of Natural Resources", Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Vladimir Kricsfalusy, Chairman Uzhgorod, Tisza Ecological Centre, Ukraine

Olexi Pasyuk, CEE Bankwatch Network, Ukraine

Lars Løvold, Director, Regnskogsfondet/Rainforest Foundation Norway, Norway

Göran Eklöf, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Sweden

Miriam Anne Frank, Netherlands Centre for Indigenous Peoples (NCIV), The Netherlands

Leni Hurley, The Netherlands

Jim Stada, The Netherlands

Marian Buijs, Rainforest Medical Foundation, The Netherlands

Tadashi Shimizu, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Marileen Reinders, Utrecht University/Tropenbos, The Netherlands

Gudrun Henne, Forest Advisor, Greenpeace International, The Netherlands

Pia Olsen, The Danish Society for the Conservation of Nature, Denmark

Frederic Castell, Forest Campaigner, Friends of the Earth, France

Raphaëlle Gauthier, Climate Action Network, France

Georges Riffault, Secrétaire Exécutif, Réseau Foi et Justice Afrique-Europe, France

Guillaume Fontaine, France

Jutta Kill, FERN-Brussels, Belgium

Jan Bargen, Life/the Ecocreactive platform, Luxemburg

Patricia Borraz, Indigenous Peoples' International Participation Co-ordinator, ALMACIGA, Spain

Guido Fernández de Velasco, Responsable - Proyectos Internacionales, Fundación Natura, Spain

Jaroslava Colajacomo, Reform the World Bank Campaign, Italy

Antonio Onorati, Centro Internazionale Crocevia, Italy

Michael J. Scoullos, Mediterranean Information Office for Environment, Culture and Sustainable Development, Greece

Hubert Theuma, Malta Ecological Foundation - Malta

Elsbeth Vocat, Cea-Cisa, Switzerland

John Kunzli, Bruno-Manser-Fonds - Society for the peoples of the rainforest, Switzerland

Miriam Walther, Weltwirtschaft, Ökologie and Entwicklung (WEED), Germany

Theodor Rathgeber, Society for Threatened Peoples, Germany

Wolfgang Kuhlmann, Working Group on Rainforests and Biodiversity, Germany

Reinhard Behrend, Director, Regenwald, Germany

Bernhard Henselmann, EarthLink - The People and Nature Network, Germany

Pro REGENWALD, Laszlo Maraz, Germany

Frieder Stede, OroVerde - Die Tropenwaldstiftung, Germany

Susanne Lehmann, OroVerde - Die Tropenwaldstiftung, Germany

Michael Metz, OroVerde - Die Tropenwaldstiftung, Germany
Ralf Klinger, OroVerde - Die Tropenwaldstiftung, Germany

AK Regenwald, Germany

Peter Gerhardt, Robin Wood, Germany

Andreas Wenck, Rettet den Regenwald e.v., Germany

Clarita Müller-Plantenberg, University of Kassel, Germany

Marcus Colchester, Director, Forest Peoples Programme, UK

Simon Counsell, Director, Rainforest Foundation-UK

Saskia Ozinga, FERN, UK

Paula Vandergert, Director, Forests Monitor Ltd, UK

Ed Matthew, Friends of the Earth - England, Wales and Northern Ireland, UK

Alex Wilks, Director, Bretton Woods Project, UK

Frances Carr, campaigner, Down to Earth: the International Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia,UK

Luc Cimatche Nguematcha, University of Strathclyde, Scotland, UK

Helen Newing, University of Kent, UK

Jacinta French, Forests Policy Officer VOICE -Voice of Irish Concern for the Environment, Ireland

David Rothschild, Director, Amazon Alliance, USA

Korinna Horta, Environmental Defense, USA

Carol Welch, Friends of the Earth-US, USA

Laurie Parise, Director, Rainforest Foundation-US, USA

Randy Hayes, President, Rainforest Action Network, USA

Patrick McCully, Campaigns Director, International Rivers Network, USA

Bill Barclay, Greenpeace International Forests Campaign, USA

Alfredo Quarto, Director, Mangrove Action Project,USA

Janet Chernela, Florida International University, USA

Katherine Cameron Porter, Human Rights Alliance, USA

Atossa Soltani, Amazon Watch, USA

Kay Treakle, Director, Bank Information Center, USA

Arnold Newman, Director, International Society for the Preservation of the Tropical Rainforest, USA

Tara Letwiniuk, First Peoples Worldwide, USA

Glen Barry, President, Forests.org, Inc., USA

Joe Franke, First Nations Health Project, Inc., Bend, Oregon, USA

Beth Burrows, Director, The Edmonds Institute, USA

Reed Schuler, Bu Hao Club, USA

The Pachamama Alliance, USA

Stephen Danhauer, USA

Steven M. Tullberg, Indian Law Resource Center, USA

Barbara Rose Johnston, Chair, Committee for Human Rights, American Anthropological Association, USA

Valerie Hickey, USA

Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Pesticide Action Network, USA

Alexandra Fischer, TRAX Project, Ecology Action Centre, Nova Scotia, Canada

Charles Restino, Forest Alliance Nova Scotia, Canada

Tadashi Ogura, Japan

cc: President James Wolfensohn and 24 Executive Directors of the World Bank Group