Forests Sourcebook - HCV Resource Network

management and biodiversity conservation, provide
support to forest law enforcement and governance
initiatives, and maintain well-managed environmental and
social safeguard reviews.
Europe and Central Asia. Support transformation of
forest management organizations into efficient service
delivery institutions capable of meeting the challenges of
multifunctional, landscape-level forest management;
support decentralization of management to subnational
entities through adequate public financing mechanisms and
increased responsibilities for the private sector and local
communities.
Latin America and the Caribbean. Support improved
forest governance and institutions, sustainable harvesting
and forest management, forest landscape restoration, and
development of industrial plantations.
Middle East and North Africa. Enhance policy and
institutional reforms to position forests in a wider context
of sustainable natural resource management.
South Asia. Support the rural poor through greater access
to forest resources and stronger property rights, and foster
greater participation of the private sector in productive
enterprises in rural areas, for local value addition and
employment.
Key challenges for the World Bank
Mainstream forests. Strengthen forests’ role in the World
Bank’s agenda through greater inclusion of forest sector
issues in PRSPs and CASs and better alignment of Poverty
Reduction Support Credits and GEF and IFC resources with
the overall lending program to address poverty and
livelihood issues.
Implement safeguards and due diligence. Ensure
efficacious application of the World Bank’s safeguards
policies (especially on the social side) in traditional forest
lending projects, and strengthening due diligence for forest
concerns in DPL, through increased participation, better
knowledge management and communication, and focused
staff training.
Strengthen forest governance. Integrate forest
governance into World Bank policy dialogue and projects to
achieve concrete outcomes in client countries.
PURPOSE OF THE FORESTS SOURCEBOOK
The purpose of the Forests Sourcebook is to be a resource for
World Bank clients, task managers, and other stakeholders
in the design and implementation of projects in line with
the Forests Strategy as they tackle the challenges ahead. The
sourcebook draws on experiences from within and outside
the World Bank in implementing innovative approaches for
integrating the three pillars of the strategy. The sourcebook
distills key points from frontier guidance material supported
or published in specific subject areas, either by the
World Bank or other partner organizations.
The sourcebook offers guidance to program and project
managers by (i) highlighting the key issues in each chapter,
(ii) suggesting approaches for implementing projects and
analytical work in line with the strategy, (iii) providing links
to more in-depth sources of information, and, where possible
and relevant, (iv) describing tools for addressing these issues.
NOTES
1. In 2002, the World Bank estimated that total forest sector
private investment in developing countries and countries in
transition was in the range of US$8 billion to US$10 billion
per year. In the opinion of the review team for the World
Bank’s independent midterm review of the Forests Strategy
implementation, the 2007 figure is substantially higher
(Contreras-Hermosilla and Simula (2007)). According to the
FAO (2006), the plantation area in developing countries is
increasing at about 1.8 million hectares per year. This represents
investments of US$3 billion to US$4 billion per year.
Improvements in existing forest management should be
added to this, but reliable estimates do not exist. In plantation-based
projects, industrial investments represent 80–90
percent of the total. Applying this coefficient—with plantation
investments being 20 percent of the total—total forest
investment in developing countries should be at least US$15
billion.
2. Successful implementation requires (i) being selective in
World Bank activities in forests with country ownership and
commitment, as broad criteria for engagement; (ii) developing
partnerships (with other donors, nongovernmental
organizations, and the private sector) to enable the World
Bank to address forest issues through a broad spectrum of
policies and in collaboration with national governments;
(iii) financing the strategy by encouraging blended financing
arrangements through multiple sources, including the
development of markets and financial payments for environmental
services from forests; (iv) increasing economic
and sector work to initiate the process of building analysis,
awareness, and then demand for forest investments (and for
incorporation of forestry issues) into CASs and PRSPs; and
INTRODUCTION: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN THE FOREST SECTOR 11