In Brazil, the World Bank is supporting the government in better managing and conserving the Cerrado forest, the second largest biome in South America, which is being deforested twice as quickly as the Amazon due to land clearing for agriculture and cattle ranching. The Cerrado is a driver of economic growth and important for food security, biodiversity conservation, water regulation and carbon sequestration. Investments underway are addressing drivers of deforestation by clarifying land rights, making agricultural production more sustainable, providing monitoring and information, and building capacity to detect, prevent and fight forest fires. Results to date include:
- More than 120,000 landholdings have been formally registered in 47 municipalities, including more than 4.00 million hectares of small landholdings registered in the rural cadaster system.
- 84,000 hectares of degraded pasture lands have been restored,
- 15,000 farmers have received training to adopt low carbon emission agricultural practices
- Sustainable agricultural practices have been adopted on 313,000 hectares of land
In China, the Shandong Ecological Afforestation Project (2010-2016) planted trees on 66,915 hectares of barren mountainous slopes and saline coastal areas, increasing forest cover, reducing soil erosion, and improving the environment and biodiversity. The project has:
- Developed and demonstrated effective and scalable afforestation models for environmentally degraded areas.
- Generated additional incomes for 26,556 farm households.
- Reduced soil erosion by 68% and provided an example for forest-based carbon sequestration.
The results of the project encouraged the government to establish 84,000 hectares of project model plantations on degraded sites outside the project area.
In Mozambique, the forestry sector employs 22,000 people and accounts for nearly three percent of GDP. Around 140,000 hectares of forest are lost each year and the World Bank is supporting the government in mobilizing resources to sustainably manage the forest sector through an integrated forest and landscape management portfolio. Through technical assistance, on-the-ground investments, results-based finance, and analytical work, the portfolio is:
- Investing in the livelihoods of thousands of small- and medium-size landholders,
- Improving the sustainability of timber, charcoal and agricultural production,
- Strengthening land rights and land use planning,
- Restoring degraded lands,
- Reducing deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions,
- Tackling wildlife poaching, and
- Conserving biodiversity.
In Mexico, where some 60% of forests are owned by indigenous and local communities, the World Bank has been supporting the Government with a series of projects that have increased sustainable forest management, forest-related jobs, and the net value of forest goods and services. Under the recently completed Forests and Climate Change Project, this effort was extended to all 32 states in Mexico, supporting an additional 1,000 communities and bringing 2 million hectares of forests under sustainable management. This $460 million project in Mexico tapped multiple sources of forest finance to strengthen community institutions and knowledge of forest management and conservation while also developing alternative sustainable sources of income, including through REDD+. Now, the Strengthening Entrepreneurship in Productive Forest Landscapes Project is building on the project’s successes and ensuring continuity in the areas of community forest management and Payment for Environmental Services (PES). It also supports innovative new approaches, including promoting the integration of productive forest management activities with forest conservation and restoration activities in the same area to increase the economic and environmental benefits of project interventions, and focusing on productivity to enable forest-dependent people and enterprises to more fully reap the benefits of forest landscapes.
Similar support in Lao PDR resulted in over 400,000 people benefiting from improved management of 1.3 million hectares of forests.
In Vietnam, more than 43,000 households have received access to micro finance and technical support to establish over 76,500 hectares of forest plantations under a World Bank-supported project from 2005-2015.
In Belarus, the World Bank provided support for the formulation of policies and strategic planning underpinning the development of the country’s afforestation capacity, yielding an increase in forested areas from 35 percent of the country’s territory in 1994 to over 39 percent in 2013. The Bank also supported activities against illegal logging and associated forest-product sales.
In Kazakhstan, the Forest Protection and Reforestation Project rehabilitated more than 46,000 hectares of forest degraded by extensive forest fires, installed a new state-of-the-art fire detection system, and established new community-based forest management approaches.
Forest-Smart Examples
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Pro-Route project reduced potential negative impacts on forests from rehabilitating a road through a forest-smart development approach that included participatory mapping of existing forest use, support for income-generating activities, and improved agricultural productivity to reduce agricultural expansion.
In the Republic of Congo, a recently finalized roadmap for balancing mining development and forest conservation supports land use planning for forest-smart development outcomes.
In Senegal, the Sustainable Participatory Energy Management Project (PROGEDE by its French acronym) helped combat Senegal’s rapidly growing demand for household fuels and the associated degradation of forests and the rural environment. The Sustainable Woodfuels Supply Management Component of the project directly benefited some 250,000 people and established a sustainable incremental income from wood and non-wood products of about $12.5 million per year, equivalent to $40,000 on average per participating village. Of that amount more than $3.7 million (30 percent) resulted from women-led economic activities.
In Liberia, the World Bank, through the Program on Forests, helped roll out a "chain of custody" system (COCS) that tracks timber from forests to the point of export through barcodes and data forms. That system combated illegal logging and assisted in securing more than $27 million in net tax revenue for the state in 2008–2012.
Currently, the COCS functions are managed by SGS, under the LiberFor programme. SGS, a service provider hired by the Government of Liberia to provide services in the forest sector, was also contracted in October 2013 on a “ build, operate and transfer” (BOT) basis to develop the necessary verification methodology and build the capacity of the Legality Verification Department (LVD), a department in the Forest Development Authority of Liberia, within an agreed five – year project period. This contract is co-funded by UKAID and by the European Union. It was envisaged that the responsibility for operating the COCS will be progressively transferred back to the LVD by the end of contract period.
In Moldova, where the majority of poor communities depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, the Moldova Agriculture Competitiveness Project is increasing the use of sustainable land management practices like forestry shelter belts, which can limit soil erosion and sequester carbon, while contributing to greater returns for farmers.
Last Updated: Apr 10,2019
