Some of the wording of the OPs has been re-sequenced,
summarized and highlighted: please check against originals if you
want to cite the OPs.
| Safeguards
in OP 4.36: Forestry (1993) |
Safeguards
proposed by Technical Advisory Group for Revised OP on Forests
(December 2000) |
Safeguards
in Draft OP 4.36: Forests (June 2002) (bracketed text summarises
draft language to save space) |
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Footnote: ‘Bank’ includes IDA and ‘loans’ includes credits.
(The policy was not adopted by IFC until 1999).
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The safeguard policy applies to all members of the World
Bank Group.
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Footnote: ‘Bank’ includes IDA. ‘Borrower’
includes the member country guarantor of a loan made to a
non-member. Comment: The Bank has apparently rejected the TAG’s
advice that the OP should also apply to IFC and MIGA.
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1b. 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.
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The policy also applies to all Bank operations including
structural adjustment lending, Economic and Sector Work and
Country Assistance Strategies.
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3. This policy applies to the following
types of Bank-financed investment projects: .a. projects which have or may have an impact on the
health and quality of forests and/or the welfare of people
affected by these impacts; and/or .b. projects which are aimed at bringing about changes
in the management, protection, and/or utilization of natural
forests or plantations, whether they are publicly, privately
or communally owned. Footnote: This policy does not apply to adjustment lending.
(The Bank expects OP 8.60 (forthcoming) to address operational
policy aspects of adjustment lending). 4. The Bank routinely uses environmental assessments,
poverty assessments, social analyses, public expenditure reviews
and other economic and sector work undertaken by the Bank
to identify the economic, environmental and social significance
of forests in its borrowing countries. Where the Bank identifies
the potential for a significant impact of its country assistance
strategy (CAS) on forests, it integrates strategies for addressing
these impacts in the CAS for that country. 5. The potential impact of each Bank-financed investment
project on forests is addressed through the project EA in
accordance with OP/BP 4.01 (Environmental Assessment) Comment: The policy does not apply to structural
adjustment and programmatic lending. The measures to be undertaken
by staff to address impacts of CAS are not at all clear. The
policy does apply to IBRD and IDA operations in other sectors
which impact forests but the only safeguards for non-forestry
project are those already
in OP 4.04..
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The policy should apply to all forest
types.
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(Draft Definitions a. the term ‘forest’
is used without qualification implying the policy applies
to all forest types.)
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1a. The Bank does not finance commercial
logging or purchase of logging equipment for use in primary
moist tropical forests.
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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). 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. Include an outright ban on negative impacts in forests
defined as High Conservation Value Forests.
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6. Where the Bank determines that a
project would involve significant conversion or degradation
of critical forest areas or other critical natural
habitats, the Bank will not finance such a project. If the
project, however, involves the significant conversion or degradation
of natural forests or other natural habitats that the Bank
determines are not critical, and the Bank determines that
there are no feasible alternatives to the project, the Bank
may finance the project provided that it incorporates appropriate
mitigation measures (in line with OP 4.01 Environment Assessments
and OP 4.04 Natural Habitats). 11. The Bank may finance projects involving commercial
harvesting operations only where the Bank has determined on
the basis of the applicable environmental assessment, or other
relevant information, that the areas affected by harvesting
are not critical forests or other critical natural habitats.
… Comment: Instead of adopting a participatory approach
to determining which forest are of ‘high value’ or ‘critical’
the Bank determines these values unilaterally.
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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.
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(Draft Definitions c: Critical forest
areas are existing and proposed protected areas, areas
initially recognized as protected by traditional local communities
(eg sacred groves) and sites that maintain conditions vital for
the viability of these protected areas; or areas listed by
the Bank based on systematic evaluations of such factors as
species richness; the degree of endemism; rarity, and vulnerability
of component species; representativeness; and integrity of
ecosystem processes)
Comment: The
Bank is promoting a very
non-participatory approach to the definition of critical forests
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1a. 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.
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No changes proposed.
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8. If a project proposed for Bank financing
involves any investment in forests, the Borrower furnishes
the Bank with relevant information on the forest sector concerning
the Borrower’s overall policy framework, national legislation,
institutional capabilities, and the poverty, social, economic
and environmental issues related to forests. This information
should include information on
the country’s national forest programmes or other relevant
country-driven processes. Based upon this information and
the project’s environmental assessment, the Borrower incorporates
measures necessary to achieve the project’s objectives. These
measures address, among other issues, the respective roles
and rights of the government, the private sector and local
people.
Comment: The requirement for Borrowers to have a commitment retain forests and to sustainable management
has been dropped.
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1c. 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.
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Ensure inclusive and participatory
decision-making.
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1d. Bank support 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:
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Ensure borrower or client adoption of
policies and an institutional framework consistent with sustainability.
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- Ensure conservation and sustainable
management of existing forests
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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.
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BP 5. During project preparation, the
Borrower provides the Bank with an assessment of adequacy
of land use allocations for the management, conservation and
sustainable development of forest, including any additional
allocations needed to protect critical forest areas.
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- Promote active participation of local
people and the private sector in the long-term sustainable
management of natural forests
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Ensure borrower or client adoption of
a participatory approach to the management of natural forests.
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(Participation is now only required for project involving
certification.)
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- 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
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Ensure adequate provisions to safeguard
the interests of local people, including forest dwellers and
indigenous peoples.
Comment: 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 emphasized during the 2nd TAG.
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BP 5. The Borrower assesses the need to make provisions
to safeguard the interests of local communities, specifically
their rights of access to and use of designated forest areas….
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- Undertake social, economic and environmental
assessments of forests being considered for commercial use
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No changes proposed.
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(Emphasis is placed on OP 4.01 Environment
Assessment)
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- 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
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Secure the tenure rights of forest-dwellers
as a precondition to Bank operations affecting forests.
Comment: In the 2nd TAG meeting this recommend-ation was felt
to be too strong, but the need to secure the tenure rights
of forest-dwellers was stressed. Likewise, 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 by the 2nd TAG.
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Comment:
The Bank has rejected the proposal to require regularizing the tenure rights
of forest-dwellers, instead invoking OD 4.20 on Indigenous Peoples. However,
there are two serious problems with this. First, the revised OP 4.10 on
Indigenous Peoples no longer requires borrowers to regularize tenure of
indigenous peoples. Secondly, OP 4.10 only applies to Indigenous Peoples
who, according to the Bank’s own figures, only make up around 180 million of
the world’s 1 billion forest dependent people.
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-Establish institutional capacity to
implement and enforce these commitments
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No changes proposed.
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This requirement has been dropped.
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1e. The Bank distinguishes investment
projects that are exclusively for environmental 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.
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No changes proposed.
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11c. (The Bank will finance forest harvesting
where the operations are to) be conducted by small-scale landholders, or be under
community forest management or joint forest management arrangements
by local communities, and be monitored by the Borrower with
the meaningful participation of the locally affected communities.
BP 7. Where the Bank is considering support for community-based
forest management and development, the relevant project design
will take account of the broader role of trees outside forest
areas in rural livelihoods; the institutional, policy and
conflict management issues involved in improving the participation
of indigenous people and the poor in the management of trees
and forests; any special market considerations, including
market conditions relevant to indigenous people and the poor
living inn or near forests; opportunities for promoting the
involvement of women; and the development of relevant research
to support these developments.
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1f. In areas of high ecological value,
the Bank finances only preservation and light, non-extractive
use of forest resources.
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No changes proposed.
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See 11. above.
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1f. In areas where 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.
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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.
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11… In addition, for each harvesting
operation, one of the following three conditions must be met.
The operation must:
.a. meet standards for responsible forest management
and use, based on independent forest certification systems
acceptable to the Bank; or
.b. include a time-bound, phased action plan acceptable
to the Bank for achieving independent certification standards;
( or c) above)
12. … a forest certification system for each such commercial
harvesting operation should be based upon the following principles
and criteria:
.a. compliance with relevant laws; recognition, under
the Borrower’s legislation of the documented land tenure and
use rights as well as the rights of indigenous peoples and
workers; good community relations; encouragement of environmentally
sound multiple benefits accruing from the forest; prevention
or minimization of the environmental impacts from forest use;
rigorous forest management planning; active monitoring and
assessment o relevant forest management areas; and the maintenance
of critical forest areas and other critical natural habitats
affected by the project.
.b. The certification system should be adapted to national
laws and institutions, and be based upon performance standards
that are defined at the national level and are compatible
with generally accepted principles of sustainable forest management.
The system should be based upon objectives and measurable
parameters, and should incorporate independent assessment
of forest-management performance. In addition, the system
should be developed with the meaningful participation of local
people and civil society, including the private sector, and
NGOs representing consumer, producer, and conservation interests.
Certification systems decision-making procedures should be
cost-effective, fair transparent, and be designed to avoid
conflict of interest.
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Any proposed
Bank-funded logging operation would have to demonstrate clear
poverty alleviation benefits and local benefit sharing.
Comment:
This was stressed in the2nd TAG meeting. It was emphasised that this
provision should also apply to the IFC and MIGA.
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Comment: This proposal was ignored
by the Bank.
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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.
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Comment: This proposal was ignored
by the Bank
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1f. The Bank finances plantations only
on non-forested areas (including previously planted areas)
or on heavily degraded forestland.
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No changes proposed.
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10. The Bank does not finance plantations
that involve the significant conversion or degradation of
critical natural habitats. Where the Bank finances plantations,
preference is given to siting such projects on unforested
sites or lands already converted
(excluding any lands which have been converted in anticipation
of the project).
Comment:
Plantations may now be established in
cleared forests though the Bank
‘prefers’ not to.
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2. The Bank does not finance projects
that contravene applicable international environmental agreements.
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The Bank does not finance projects that
contravene applicable international environmental and human
rights agreements.
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(The requirement has been dropped) Comment: The Bank has not only rejected the proposal that it should require borrowers to respect their human rights obligations
but it has dropped the requirement that they adhere to applicable
international environmental agreements..
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Improved monitoring and evaluation.
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BP
9. (Resources are made available for effective supervision.
Supervision reports will be publicly disclosed in the case
of Bank support for harvesting operations… BP 10 Progress
with implementation of mitigation measures will also be disclosed).
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Establish adequate enforcement mechanisms.
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Comment: No additional accountability
or enforcement mechanisms are required by the draft policy.
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