Forests Sourcebook - HCV Resource Network

forestry activities was counterproductive, from a poverty
reduction as well as from a conservation perspective.
To promote a more proactive World Bank role in forest
management and conservation activities in developing countries,
the Board in 2002 approved a new Forests Policy (OP
4.36) and a revised Forests Strategy, following a long and extensive
consultation process with numerous stakeholders, including
environmental NGOs. The new OP 4.36 differs from the
previous Policy on Forests in several key respects, including (i)
a focus on all types of World Bank–supported investment
operations that involve forests, not just forestry; (ii) emphasis
on all types of forests in developing countries (including temperate
and boreal forests), rather than principally tropical
forests; and (iii) permitting World Bank support for commercial
harvesting within tropical or other forests, provided that
the forests in question are not critical forests (or related critical
natural habitats) and the harvesting is carried out according to
specific high standards, normally including independent certification
(see below for further details). The new OP 4.36 has
been rewritten to ensure consistency with the Natural Habitats
OP 4.04, although the Forests Policy is more detailed with
respect to forestry activities.
The following are three safeguard policies that apply to
almost every World Bank–financed investment project 1
involving forests:
Environmental Assessment. The World Bank’s Environmental
Assessment Policy (OP/BP 4.01) 2 governs the environmental
assessment process that all World Bank–supported
projects—that is, all investment operations, including those
of the World Bank’s debt financing (IBRD) and concessional
financing (IDA) arms, as well as those involving the Global
Environment Facility (GEF)—must follow. Most projects
involving forests are classified as either Category A (requiring
a full environmental impact assessment, EIA) or B
(requiring an environmental analysis that is usually more
limited in scope than a full EIA), according to criteria that
are discussed further below.
Forests. The Forests Policy (OP/BP 4.36) covers all projects
that affect natural or planted forests, whether positively or
negatively (see chapter 9, Applying Forests Policy OP 4.36).
Natural Habitats. The Natural Habitats Policy (OP/BP
4.04) covers projects that affect natural forests or other nonforest
natural ecosystems, with special focus on those projects
that might lead to significant loss or degradation of natural
habitats (details below).
SCOPE OF THE FORESTS AND NATURAL
HABITATS POLICIES
Because the Forests Policy was rewritten in 2002 in a manner
that would ensure consistency with the Natural Habitats
Policy, these two safeguard policies overlap extensively in (i)
the types of ecosystems they cover, (ii) the types of projects
that are subject to their requirements, and (iii) the main
requirements that relevant projects need to follow.
Types of ecosystems or land-use systems. Forests OP
4.36 applies to projects involving all types of natural (primary
and secondary) forests (defined in OP 4.36, annex A,
to include a rather broad range of wooded ecosystems), as
well as forest plantations. Natural Habitats OP 4.04 applies
to projects involving all types of natural ecosystems, including
natural forests as well as the full range of nonforest natural
ecosystems (terrestrial, freshwater, and marine). Thus,
both of these safeguard policies apply to projects that somehow
involve natural forests (broadly defined). However,
only the Forests Policy would apply to projects with nonnative
plantation forests, if these are planted on land that
does not (and did not recently) contain natural habitats.
Conversely, only the Natural Habitats Policy would apply to
projects affecting exclusively nonforest natural habitats
(such as natural grasslands, freshwater lakes, beaches, or
coral reefs).
Types of projects. The new Forests OP 4.36 covers all
forestry projects, as well as a broad range of other projects
that may affect (positively or negatively, directly or indirectly)
the health and quality of forests of any type. These
projects can include, among others, investments in (i)
transportation (highways, rural roads, large bridges, railways,
airports, ports, river navigation works); (ii) electric
power (hydroelectric dams, power transmission lines, wind
farms on forested ridges, thermal power plants emitting air
pollution harmful to forests); (iii) industry (mining, oil
and gas, manufacturing industries requiring fuelwood);
(iv) agriculture (crop cultivation, agroforestry, cattle and
other livestock, fisheries involving mangrove or other
forests, land administration and land reform involving
forested areas); (v) water supply (reservoirs, canals,
abstraction of ground or surface water affecting forests);
(vi) urban development involving wooded areas; (vii)
tourism (resort development, ecotourism in forested
areas); (viii) telecommunications (transmission towers and
access roads on mountaintops or other forested areas); (ix)
privatization of state-owned forested lands; and (x) natural
288 CHAPTER 8: INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD BANK FORESTS POLICY