Download Report - Independent Evaluation Group - World Bank

Summary
In the year 2000, the Government of Brazil intends to issue a major
forest policy. That policy will likely include an improved conservation
effort, improved enforcement of forest regulation to address the extent
of “irregular” harvesting of forests, a plantation strategy focused on
small farmers to reduce pressure on natural forests, as well as an export
strategy that proposes to meet the growing import demand for tropical
timber in Asia. The response of the Government of Brazil (see Annex F)
also makes it clear that the government does not approve of international
compensatory mechanisms that the OED review suggests as a
way of meeting the gap between the global and national (including local)
benefits because they would place an “unnecessary burden on Brazil’s
national forests.”
At the Brasilia workshop, Brazil’s Executive Secretary of the Ministry
of Environment stated that the Bank’s presence in the country’s forest
sector is limited not by the Government of Brazil but by the Bank’s forest
strategy, which is conservation-oriented and does not support production
activities. The Bank’s policy against financing production activities,
he said, has left little room for negotiations in the forest sector and resulted
in widening the gap between modernization/development and conservation
activities. Brazil’s forest policy targets the economic use of resources
and the government could use assistance with funding sustainable
development in the context of conservation. The Government of
Brazil is willing to accept help in the development and implementation of
such a model. The Executive Secretary concluded by saying that Brazil’s
efforts in the forest sector are not just on paper but have actually become
a part of the fiscal budget and that the Bank can help in several aspects of
the country’s forest sector but has chosen to “keep its hands clean.”
A representative of the National Confederation of Industry also emphasized
the need to find a balance between conservation and development.
Sustainable forest management, he said, is essential for the survival
of the forest industry—and the Bank can play a very important
role. He considered the potential shortage of raw material, the fact that
market prices do not include reforestation prices, and the high interest
rates as some of the key issues facing the forest industry.
An NGO representative said at the workshop that the key issue is the
sustainability of the forests and the risks involved in forest management.
She further said that NGO contributions have been very effective
in terms of coordination between various agents in the forest sector.
The EMBRAPA representative emphasized the need for development
of an interface between environment and agriculture involving a holistic
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