Frequently Asked Questions - Forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Last Updated: January 10,  2008

1. Why is the World Bank focusing on forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo?
2. What are the main threats to the rainforests in DRC?
3. What is the World Bank doing to protect rainforests in DRC?
4. Is the World Bank encouraging logging in DRC?
5. How is the World Bank working with indigenous communities, including Pygmies in the DRC?
6. What are the World Bank’s future plans in the forest sector in DRC?
7. What are the findings of the World Bank’s Inspection Panel?
8. What are the findings of the World Bank’s Inspection Panel?

1. Why is the World Bank focusing on forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has the second largest swath of rainforests in the world. With 86 million hectares of area (1 ha = 2.5 acres) covered by rainforests, DRC accounts for over half of the total remaining rainforests in the Central Africa region.

RESOURCES
	UK's Minister for Trade and Development responds to letter campaign on the World Bank’s forestry policies in the Democratic Republic of Congo
	Website: Forestry in Africa

The DRC is emerging from a decade of political instability and violent conflict that led to the near-collapse of the economy, causing annual per capita incomes to plummet to $120 in 2005 (down from $380 in 1985). Experts have described this as “development in reverse.” Elections, the first in the country’s history, took place in July and October 2006; in early 2007, a government led by President Joseph Kabila assumed power. Promoting sustainable management in this largest remaining natural swath of rain forests in Africa is critical, both for securing the well-being of millions of poor people who are forest-dependent, and ensuring the viability of these unique assets.

2. What are the main threats to the rainforests in DRC?

The main threats are poverty and political instability. Poverty-related forest degradation comes from agricultural encroachment due to slash and burn agriculture, as the increasing rural population, lacking livelihood alternatives carries out extensive agricultural practices. Another threat is the tradition of bush meat hunting, related to lack of inexpensive alternative sources of protein. Political instability further reduces opportunities for diversification and investment in more productive, sustainable farming. Indiscriminate shooting of livestock by militias also poses a different but serious threat.

3. What is the World Bank doing to protect rainforests in DRC?

The World Bank is helping the DRC Government to address the heavy legacy of forest mismanagement prior to, during, and in the aftermath of the war; improving governance and transparency, and paving the way for more equitable and sustainable use of the forests. Specifically, the World Bank’s advice to DRC Government has led to:

• Cancellation of illegal logging concessions in 2002 covering 25 million hectares (an area the size of the United Kingdom)
• Establishment of a moratorium in 2002 on awarding of new concessions subsequently reconfirmed as a Presidential Decree in 2005. The Bank has advised the DRC Government that the moratorium should stay in place until satisfactory standards of governance and management are achieved in existing concessions
• Enactment of a new Forest Code (Law). This code introduces the principles of community-based forestry and management planning and revenue-sharing with local communities, calls for an expansion of protected areas, and protects traditional rights of local communities (including Pygmies)
• Launch of a legal review of all remaining concessions including those awarded in breach of the moratorium (with World Resources Institute, www.wri.orgas an observer)
• Creation of mechanism to detect illegal logging with help of an independent third-party observer (Global Witness, www.globalwitness.org, has completed a scoping mission in December 2007).

The results are significant. While the reforms have faced resistance, total forest area under concessions has fallen to 21 million hectares today, down from a high of 43 m ha in 2002.

4. Is the World Bank encouraging logging in DRC?

No, the World Bank is not encouraging commercial logging in DRC. Our main advice to the DRC Government is NOT to expand industrial logging, and NOT to allocate any new concessions until satisfactory standards of governance and management are achieved in existing concessions and the country is able to enforce laws.

In post-conflict DRC, there is a high risk of unregulated expansion of logging driven by the return of peace and rush to rehabilitate infrastructure. The World Bank is working closely with the DRC Government to prevent this from happening. Where logging is already taking place, The World Bank is assisting the DRC Government to ensure that such logging follows sustainable practices, incorporates social provisions, and respects the rights of forest-dependent people including the Pygmies.

At present the great majority of wood harvested is from artisanal logging, accounting for about 1.5 million m 3 of harvested wood, compared with 300,000 m 3 of wood harvested by industrial loggers. Improving the management and governance of these types of logging present different challenges.

5. How is the World Bank working with indigenous communities, including Pygmies in the DRC?

Through its forest work, the World Bank is helping to raise the profile of DRC’s indigenous people locally and internationally, and establishing direct lines of communication in the field and at the policy level. It is promoting the participation of indigenous people in key decision-making activities.

The World Bank has consistently sought to protect the interest and rights of local communities and the Congolese people at large, by:

• Organizing the First International Central Africa Indigenous Peoples Meeting in April 2007 and facilitating the participation of DRC Pygmy representatives at this event
• Facilitating the participation of Pygmies to the Brussels Conference, February 2007
• Organizing a high-level event on Congolese Forests at the Spring Meetings of the World Bank in April 2007, chaired by the World Bank President
• World Bank support to a coalition of NGO networks has identified 111 local representatives (including 14 Pygmies) to participate in the Inter-Ministerial Committee for reviewing the legality of all logging concessions.

Since 2005, Bank teams have visited Pygmy groups in the newly-reunified eastern provinces in Beni, Mutsora, Rumangabo, and Epulu.

The Bank is committed to intensifying and broadening its support to indigenous people in DRC, including the Pygmies who are estimated to number anywhere between 300, 000 to 600,000 people out of a total DRC population of 60 million. The World Bank recognizes that assisting them to fulfill their socio-economic and cultural aspirations poses a considerable challenge, and that solutions to their development needs will not come from the forest sector alone. The Bank also intends to intensify and broaden its support to Indigenous People in DRC in the context of its Poverty Reduction Strategy for DRC and its work relating to vulnerable groups.

6. Will the creation of new protected areas damage the rights of indigenous people?

No. In helping preserve biodiversity the Bank also promotes participatory mapping and local consultations prior to creating new protected areas. In existing protected areas, the Bank promotes greater participation of local communities including indigenous peoples in decision-making and management-. PThe Bank believes that participatory forest mapping must secure the traditional rights of local, forest-dependent people including Pygmies, and that the creation of new protected areas in the DRC should follow the principle of free, prior and informed consent of local people. . The old paradigm of park management where all social and economic activities were banned and inhabitants forced to leave should be replaced with a more sensitive approach that focuses on participatory management and on preserving indigenous people’s traditional rights. . Moreover, protecting the rights of indigenous people in forest-rich countries will be central in the ongoing debate on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD).

7. What are the World Bank’s future plans in the forest sector in DRC?

The World Bank’s future assistance will focus on strengthening the capacities of Congolese institutions and civil society organizations so that they can better implement, enforce and monitor the new policies contained in the Forest Code. It will do so through a forest sector grant from the International Development Association (www.worldbank.org/ida), a Global Environment Facility (www.TheGEF.org) grant for national parks, and a multi-donor trust fund that is being established with European Union, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, and Luxembourg. These operations will support participatory land use planning (important for securing social and environmental forest values, and preventing conflict over natural resources), development of community-managed forests and participatory, sustainable management plans while strengthening enforcement capacity for areas managed as forest concessions, and improved management of artisanal logging. And, importantly, they will help develop transparent, accountable forest institutions that would work with local communities, government and non-government organizations and forest industry to develop and enforce good forest management practices.

The World Bank is helping the DRC to engage in innovative financing mechanisms that help reward local communities and the country for carbon storage and large-scale forest conservation. It is also helping the DRC Government to access the new Forest Carbon Finance Partnership (FCFP) and develop conservation concessions.

The World Bank will continue to support forest reforms in DRC that are described in a publication “Forests in Post-Conflict Democratic Republic of Congo: Analysis of a Priority Agenda,” prepared by World Bank staff with 14 civil society and research organizations (available online at http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/publications).

The World Bank adheres to the “Brussels Declaration” that was issued at the end of a major conference on Congolese Forests hosted by the Government of Belgium in February 2007; a group of NGOs, including pygmies participated in this meeting (meeting documentation is available at www.confordrc.org).

The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is sponsored a special event to discuss alternative forest uses at Chatham House during December 17-18, 2007.

8. What are the findings of the World Bank’s Inspection Panel?

The World Bank Inspection Panel, an independent entity established in September 1993, received a request on December 1, 2005 from a group of NGOs working with DRC’s Pygmies who were concerned that World Bank safeguards had not been adequately applied in two operations, namely the Emergency Economic and Social Reunification Support Project (EESRSP, a $167 million IDA credit approved on September 11, 2003), and the Transitional Support for Economic Recovery Operation (TSERO, $90 million IDA development policy loan approved on December 27, 2005). These two projects supported three forest-related operations: the moratorium on new concessions, the legal review, and a pilot participatory zoning activity that was dropped.

As a knowledge institution, Bank Management welcomes the learning opportunity that Inspection Panel findings provide. On January 10, 2008, the World Bank’s Board discussed the management response and approved the action plan. Full documentation is available at www.worldbank.org/drc.