Overview

Protecting the Rain Forests of Central Africa: World Bank’s Role

Central Africa is home to the second largest block of rainforests on earth, the planet’s second lung. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) alone contains over half of the total remaining tropical forests of the region.

Congolese forests are a vital resource, both for the Congolese people and the global environment. About 40 million rural Congolese depend on the forests for their food, income, energy, shelter, medicines and cultural needs. Indigenous groups, including the Pygmies rely almost entirely on the forests. The Congolese forests serve a public good by storing carbon on a global scale, and rank fifth in the world for animal and plant diversity, with endemic species such as Bonobo chimpanzees and the Okapi.

Forest Threats

The potential of forests to contribute to national, local and global welfare is hampered by the following threats:

• Expansion of subsistence agriculture into forest lands
• Unsustainable and illegal logging practices
• Expansion of mining into biodiversity reserves
• Trade in bush meat and protected species
• Erosion of traditional forest rights and increased vulnerability of forest communities and indigenous people

Therefore, promoting sustainable forest management in this largest remaining natural swath of forest is critical, both for securing the well-being of millions of poor people who are forest-dependent, and ensuring the viability of these priceless assets.

World Bank Assistance

The International Development Association (IDA) portfolio in DRC consists of 11 emergency and multi-sector investment projects with a total commitment of $1.9 billion. It covers four strategic elements: security and social stability, high and shared growth, governance and institutional strengthening, and social development.

Forestry Sector

In the forestry sector, World Bank assistance has focused on addressing the heavy legacy of mismanagement, improving governance and transparency, and paving the way for more equitable and sustainable use of the forests. In doing so, the World Bank is gradually expanding from a strictly advisory role to also provide technical assistance, support for capacity building, and strengthening of Congolese institutions.

The World Bank does not encouraging commercial logging in DRC.

As a leader of a strong coalition of donors and international and national NGOs supporting the DRC in transforming its forest sector agenda, the World Bank has supported the 2002 moratorium on new logging concessions, the cancellation of 25 million hectares of noncompliant concessions and helped launch a legal review of the remaining concessions.

We have linked actions by the Government to address these issues to our development assistance, and worked with them to strengthen the capacities of public institutions to monitor and enforce the laws and regulations. We have encouraged the DRC to adopt new legislation which recognizes the multiple uses of forests and the rights of forest dwellers, calls for an expansion of protected areas, and introduces new social and environmental obligations into forest production operations

The World Bank has ensured participation of local communities and forest people, including Pygmies, at a number of international meetings. Successive Bank missions have visited Pygmy communities, to establish direct lines of communications with them, with the involvement of our Indigenous Peoples Advisor.

Looking Ahead

The World Bank will continue its policy dialogue with the DRC Government, and help clean-up the legacy of mismanagement in the forest sector, an effort that began in 2002. It looks forward to the successful completion of the ongoing legal review and the full and effective implementation of its conclusions. It is also exploring the establishment of forestry benchmarks in DRC for future policy lending.

The Bank’s future assistance in the forestry sector will comprise a range of capacity-building and technical assistance programs including:

• Strengthening the capacity of DRC forest-related institutions through a multi-donor trust fund (initially $5 million over 3 years)
• Preparing an IDA-financed project to support forestry and wildlife institutions in enforcing the new legal framework while empowering local communities and securing traditional rights ($50 million)
• Implementing a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded project to help restore and manage some of DRC’s oldest and most threatened national parks such as Virunga and Garamba ($7 million)

Among others, these operations will support participatory land use planning which is important for securing social and environmental forest values and preventing conflict over natural resources.

The Bank is helping the DRC Government access the new Forest Carbon Finance Partnership (FCFP) for its role in mitigating climate change and avoiding deforestation. It is also assisting DRC to develop conservation concessions as an instrument to get country and local communities rewarded for large-scale forest conservation.

More information is available at www.worldbank.org/drc