Cambodia Forestry Sector: Background Note and Statements

The World Bank has been involved in Cambodia's forestry sector to help improve forest management, law enforcement, monitoring, and access to information about what’s happening in the sector. Our engagement in forestry has been difficult and frustrating. There have been some improvements – the area under concessions has been significantly reduced and the forest concession plans were publicly disclosed for the first time – but many serious problems remain, including continuing illegal logging, corruption, and a lack of meaningful engagement of local people in forestry decisions affecting their lives.

Our goal has been to achieve three things:

1. To improve the way forests are managed in Cambodia, including effective monitoring and enforcement of laws; a credible system for managing the way that forest resources are used and preserved; ensuring that local community needs are adequately addressed, and making sure people are consulted. These fundamental improvements are essential for any system of forest management to work. Without improved governance we are not likely to overcome the obstacles posed by corruption and a lack of capacity.
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2. Because we are dealing with serious, long-term challenges like corruption, there is no quick fix or easy solution to the problems in the forestry sector. To change this requires everyone to work together. (One of the objectives of the Independent Forest Sector Review was to provide a platform for bringing the various groups and agencies together to work together from a common understanding of the problem.) But in the end, it is important to note that any progress will depend on the willingness of the Government to confront these issues and take further credible steps to improve the governance of forest resources.
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3. Finally, for our own part, we are working to be more transparent so that we can equip people with the information they need to contribute to the solution. That is why we have been actively translating information into Khmer, making more information publicly available, briefing people on what we are doing, and talking to a wider range of people to hear their concerns and ideas.

The Bank, along with other donors including ADB, FAO, UNDP, IMF and others, has tried to help the Government improve the concession system because this was the dominant and expanding system for managing forest in Cambodia in the 1990s. We documented the rampant abuses identified through our joint work in the late 1990s - and were all insistent that this system be reformed and reduced to only those companies willing and able to work consistent with "new rules of the game" which prescribe criteria for transparency, technical assessments and community engagement as specified in the Subdecree on Forest Concession Management.

In coordination with these partners, we agreed to provide support to the Government to implement this process of rationalization of the concession system. Both the number and area of concessions has been reduced significantly. Requirements for concessionaires to prepare publicly available management plans, including consultation with local communities have been introduced for the first time in Cambodia. Technical standards for evaluating the plans have been established - again for the first time in Cambodia. An independent monitor with regular, public reports has been introduced for the first time in Cambodia. Taken together, these steps represent a major effort to change the way public resources are managed in Cambodia. Not surprisingly, given the issues at stake, these steps have not been implemented as well as we or anyone else would want. We do believe, more broadly, that the concession system will only work with strong government commitment to implement the process as stated in its own subdecree while addressing broader governance aspects including transparency, accountability, local consultation, etc.

Regarding recent press stories around the World Bank and six concession companies, we do need to clarify that the World Bank is not calling for the acceptance of those six plans - nor has the Government made a decision yet on whether the six companies, which have emerged from the original twenty-four, should be recommended to go forward. Nor are we actively supporting the companies. What the Bank did support was a process in which concession companies had to prepare and disclose their plans for operating the concessions. Whether these companies now seeking concessions receive approval is not up to us. The critical thing, as we see it, is for concessions or any other system of forest management to operate within the law, and in a way that benefits the people of Cambodia. While the companies' plans have gone through an internal review process with Forestry Administration officials and forestry consultants, another round of review is ongoing - as part of the Independent Forest Sector Review (IFSR) - and we are still awaiting the results of that independent review.

We believe that the Independent Forest Sector Review provides an excellent basis for all parties to discuss and consider the future management of Cambodia's forests. We approach the Review and its recommendations with no preconceived view of the outcome - except that it should lead to the development of a consensus on how the Government, donors and civil society (and importantly, the people of Cambodia) can work together to ensure the forests are managed sustainably, for the benefit of all Cambodians. We are committed to supporting this process, just as we are committed to turning our new Country Assistance Strategy, with its emphasis on governance and partnership, into credible actions in support of better forest management.

August 23, 2004

More Information:
   Statement from Peter Stephens, Communications Manager for the East Asia and Pacific Region, World Bank, Singapore, August 17, 2004
   Statement from Peter Stephens, Communications Manager for the East Asia and Pacific Region, World Bank, Singapore, August 4, 2004
 (16kb pdf), December 18, 2003