Forests Sourcebook - HCV Resource Network

harvesting forest products that are open access or common
property resources from unmanaged natural forests.
Another rationale for prioritizing poverty reduction
through forests is the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs). Countries that have adopted these goals have set a
target of halving global poverty by 2015, and for institutions
such as the World Bank, reducing global poverty is the main
challenge. While economic growth appears to be the means
to lift the poor out of extreme poverty in the developing
world, the capacity of the poor to participate in economic
growth must be enhanced if they are to share in its benefits.
PAST ACTIVITIES
Between 2002 and 2005, 28 World Bank forestry projects
had components focused on poverty reduction. Poverty
alleviation activities included in the project portfolio varied
from strengthening of land tenure rights, reform of policies
and discrimination against the poor and Indigenous Peoples,
development of community fuelwood plantations,
increased productivity of pastures and forest lands, erosion
control, and training in ecotourism, to promotion of fuelefficient
technologies for households. Investments in these
projects were approximately US$130 million. See boxes 1.2
and 1.3 for successful examples.
The design of poverty reduction activities in forest projects
tends to be difficult, and mixed results ensue because of
the complexity of the issues involved. Of a set of 40 projects
that were examined for the “World Bank Forest Strategy:
Review of Implementation” (Contreras-Hermosilla and
Simula 2007), it was found that 16 contained activities that
were highly relevant to poverty alleviation, while 12 had
activities that were substantially relevant. Eight other projects
were moderately relevant in their consideration of
forests and poverty alleviation; in three projects the consideration
was negligible.
KEY ISSUES
Donor engagement in forestry with a direct or indirect aim
of alleviating poverty concentrates mainly in three areas:
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Increasing local users’ participation in forest management
to make management more responsive to their
needs, and to increase benefits flowing to them
Supporting management strategies that include growing
trees on farms
Exploiting income-generating opportunities from production
and trade in forest products in the nonfarm
rural economy
Activities in these areas have had mixed results. Much
donor attention has been placed on local participation—
often resulting in false perceptions of participation rather
than true participation. Tree-growing schemes have resulted
in little additional planting taking place, in some cases
Box 1.2
The Role of Forests in Benefiting the Rural Poor: An Example from the World Bank’s China Loess
Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation Project
This watershed rehabilitation project included activities
in the forest sector among its several project components.
More than 1 million farmers in the project
area directly benefited from the project, with annual
grain output raised from 427,000 tons to 698,600 tons
and fruit production from 80,000 tons to 345,000
tons. Farmers’ annual incomes per capita also
increased from 360 Chinese yuan to 1,263 Chinese
yuan (about US$43 to US$152).
The various project components contributed to the
significant reduction of poverty and tripling of net
incomes by addressing a range of short-, medium-, and
long-term income-generating and income-stabilizing
measures. The project supported diversification of
production to reduce variability in income. For example,
trees were used to provide an income buffer during
difficult times.
Large tracts of land in the project area were severely
degraded and past agricultural practices were clearly
unsustainable as a result of uncontrolled grazing, fuelwood
gathering, and cropping on slopes that were too
steep for sustainable farming. The project succeeded in
taking a large proportion of these areas entirely out of
production for natural regeneration and in planting
trees and shrubs on unstable slopes to protect soils and
provide sustainable returns. This practice secured
long-term productivity of those areas and raised
incomes for the local people.
Source: World Bank Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation Project (P003540). Board approval: May 26, 1994; closed: December
31, 2002.
18 CHAPTER 1: FORESTS FOR POVERTY REDUCTION