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Information on World Bank Plans in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh |
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Forest Alert India Despite years of controversy
surrounding World Bank forestry projects in India, the World Bank
is pressing ahead with major plans to make the way for large loans
for further forestry projects in several States. Activists and forest
movements are alerted to the following:
1)
Madhya Pradesh: At
the end of June 2004, the World Bank and the Japanese Government
approved a grant for a pilot “Capacity Building for Community
Forestry Management” project which may lead to a state-wide Community
Forest Management (CFM) project in Madhya Pradesh**. The pilot project
will run for 24 months from the start of the grant (the grant agreement
is still being finalised). This grant will supposedly support village
level training in dispute resolution, financial management, community
resource assessment, micro planning, small and medium-sized enterprise
development, and participatory monitoring and evaluation. It is
not clear how this pilot project will be articulated with existing
Forest Department programmes, for instance whether or not it will
be linked to the infamous Village Forest Protection Committees or
Ecodevelopment Committees that have been so vehemently rejected
by tribal communities in so many parts of MP. *There is no readily
available information on the net to clarify these key points and
activists in MP report that they have no knowledge whatsoever of
this proposal, let alone any information on which villages might
be affected. As one MTO coordinator commented on hearing this startling
news: “MTOs in MP know nothing of this proposal. It seems that the
Bank and the MPFD have not properly informed MTOs and tribal groups
in MP about the project.” In 1996, 1999 and 2000, the MTOs in MP
mobilised in widespread protests against the World Bank’s previous
forestry project that was criticised for empowering the FD, further
marginalising communities, placing unwanted restrictions on traditional
resource rights and undermining customary livelihoods in many parts
of MP. ** Although the pilot project is approved for
Madhya Pradesh, on 30 September 2004, the World Bank’s website
indicates that in the meantime the proposed state-wide forestry
project has been “dropped” (for now). See:
2)
Jharkhand:
In mid-July 2004, the Bank gave the internal green light for implementation
of a USD 2,000,000 (9 Crore Rupees) pilot Participatory Forest
Management (PFM) project in Jharkhand, which will affect 50 villages
in 5 districts. At the same time, the Bank gave the go-ahead for
16 months preparation work for a state-wide PFM project that is
likely to be financed by a loan of over 100 million US dollars.
Tribal leaders, activists and civil society in Jharkhand are questioning
the whole process by which the pilot phase has been approved internally
by the Bank. On learning of the approval of the pilot project, a
spokesperson for Jharkhand Save the Forest Movement stated that
the organisation intends to query the Bank about how it consulted
the traditional authorities and Gram Sabahs in the five chosen districts.
At this stage, activists have not even been able to obtain information
about which districts will be affected. For its part, the Bank claims
that specific villages have still not been identified, and will
be selected on a “demand” basis. However, there is no clarity on
how such demand will be judged to be truly coming from the grassroots
and to what extent the position of Gram Sabahs and traditional authorities
will be respected. Despite very persuasive and arguably misleading
language about empowerment, scrutiny of the Bank’s Project Information
Document for the PFM project has alarmed tribal leaders and activists
in Jharkhand as it proposes an “Action Restriction Process Framework”,
a “Physical Displacement Policy Framework” as well as “site-specific
resettlement Action Plans”. Tribal representatives question how
the Bank can promote a project that reinforces the states JFM policy
which has been widely repudiated by the tribal movement in Jharkhand
in both a memorandum to the government in November 2002 and in the
Khunti Declaration of November 2003. In relation to the Bank’s plans
in Jharkhand, one Mundari leader of Ranchi District asks: “How can the Bank justify plans for this top-down project?” For
a copy of the PID for the proposed state-wide project in Jharkhand
see: http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?page
3)
Chhattisgarh:
There are also reports from MTOs in Chhattisgarh, including Nadi
Gadi Morcha, that the World Bank has been proactively consulting
with Government and NGOs about the possibility of implementing a
so-called Community Forest Management (CFM) project across the state.
An outline project proposal is contained in an official Bank Project
Information Document (PID), see: Despite the indications of Bank interest in Chhattisgarh and the existence of an official concept document, in July 2004, Bank officials denied any definite plans in the state. In September 2004, information from the Bank’s website advises that the project has been “dropped”. It is noteworthy, however, that the Bank’s track record has sometimes been one of denying specific plans, while behind the scenes negotiations proceed, after which projects may again quickly come on line for official approval in a very short space of time – catching movements and communities unawares and on the back foot. Is the Bank learning lessons?Consistent with its publicly declared “learning approach” to development, the Bank is launching the aforementioned forest pilot projects in MP and Jharkhand, in accordance with its stated approach to forest-related lending in the Bank’s Draft Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for India. In this latter document, the Bank proposes that major forestry loans will be preceded by pilot projects that would inform the design of any state-wide intervention. But is the Bank really learning lessons? Will even these pilot projects genuinely respect the rights and wishes of forest-dependent communities? Or will they, as in the past, primarily support state government forest policies that remain largely unacceptable to tribal and other forest communities across India? Early signs from Andhra Pradesh are that the Bank remains slow to learn from past mistakes, where its current CFM project has been criticised by prominent forest-related NGOs as “old wine in a new bottle”. What is clear is that the World Bank has become ever-increasingly sophisticated at deploying seductive language in their project documents and of downplaying the negative impacts of forestry projects and flawed conceptual design of these interventions that ultimately aims to “reduce the dependence of the tribal on the forests”. Despite much rhetoric on empowerment and devolving decision-making power to communities, forest management decisions still lie firmly in the hands of state government – much to the disillusionment of participating communities. To see the Bank’s portfolio
in India, see:
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