Forest Policy Analysis


Book Description

Professor Max Krott, Director of the Institute of Forest Policy and Nature Conservation at the University of Göttingen, Germany, introduces the most important political players and stakeholders, including the forest owners, the general population, forest workers and employees, forest associations and administration, as well as the media. He illustrates the political and regulatory instruments using examples in current forest policy. Forest Policy Analysis places a special emphasis on the informal processes that are indispensable in understanding practical politics. References made to current English and German-language publications on forest policy studies enable further information to be found with concern to special issues.




The World Bank Forest Strategy


Book Description

This report assesses progress since the World Bank first issued its comprehensive Forest Strategy in 1991. It finds that the effectiveness of the strategy has been modest, and the sustainability of its impact is uncertain. The Report identifies seven factors that would make the World Bank forest strategy more pertinent to current circumstances as well as strengthening its ability to achieve its strategic objectives in the forest sector. It recommends that the World Bank use its global reach to address mechanisms for mobilisation of concessional international resources outside its normal lending activities. It also advises the World Bank to be proactive in establishing partnerships with all relevant stakeholders, governments, the private sector, and civil society to meet both its country and global roles. The focus on primary tropical moist forests should be broadened to include all types of natural forests of national and global value. The report suggests that illegal logging needs to be reduced through the promotion of improved governance and enforcement. Other recommendations are to give consideration to forest issues in all relevant sector activity and macroeconomic work, address the employment needs of all poor people while continuing to protect the rights of indigenous people, and to realign the World Bank resources with their objectives in the forest sector.




The Wicked Problem of Forest Policy


Book Description

Provides a global analysis of policies to address deforestation, an important driver of climate change.




The Struggle for Accountability


Book Description

After a history of funding environmentally costly megaprojects, the World Bank now claims that it is trying to become a leading force for sustainable development. For more than a decade, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and grassroots movements have formed transnational coalitions to reform the World Bank and the governments that it funds. The Struggle for Accountability assesses the efforts of these groups to make the World Bank more publicly accountable. The book is organized into four parts. Part I describes the NGOs and grassroots movements that are the book's central focus. Part II presents case studies of four projects that provoked the emergence of transnational advocacy coalitions: Indonesia's Kedung Ombo dam, the Mt. Apo geothermal plant in the Philippines, Brazil's Planaforo Amazon development project, and the remarkable campaign of Ecuador's indigenous people to influence national economic policy that led to their participation in the design of a development loan. Part III looks at the origins and politics of reform in four areas of broader World Bank policy: the rights of indigenous peoples, involuntary resettlement, water resources, and the World Bank's institutional reforms that are supposed to encourage public accountability. In the last section, the editors discuss issues of accountability within transnational coalitions and assess the impact of advocacy campaigns on World Bank projects and policies. Contributors L. David Brown, Jane G. Covey, Jonathan A. Fox, Andrew Gray, Margaret E. Keck, Deborah Moore, Antoinette Royo, Augustinus Rumansara, Leonard Sklar, Kay Treakle, Lori Udall, David A. Wirth.




Sustaining Forests


Book Description

The World Bank's Forests Strategy, adopted in October 2002, charts a path for the Bank's proactive engagement in the sector to help attain the goal of poverty reduction without jeopardizing the environmental values intrinsic to sustainability. This strategy replaces the Bank's 1991 Forestry Strategy, and was developed on the basis of the findings of an independent review of the 1991 strategy and a two-year consultative process with development partners and stakeholders around the world. The revised strategy, Sustaining Forests, is built on three guiding pillars: harnessing the potential of forests to reduce poverty, integrating forests into sustainable economic development, and protecting global forest values. Recognizing the key role forests play in contributing to the livelihoods of people living in extreme poverty, government and local ownership of forest policies and interventions are emphasized along with the development of appropriate institutions to ensure good governance and the mainstreaming of forests into national development planning. The strategy also aims to support ecologically, socially and economically sound management of production forests by ensuring good management practices through application of safeguard procedures and independent monitoring and certification. Implementation of the strategy will center on building and strengthening partnerships with the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and other donor agencies to promote better forest conservation and management at country and global levels.




Greening International Institutions


Book Description

Environmentally sustainable development has become one of the world's most urgent priorities. But countries cannot achieve it alone: it depends on international coordination and action. Greening International Institutions, the latest in a series of highly-acclaimed publications devoted to environmental and developmental law, assesses how far and how successfully intergovernmental organizations have responded to the challenge. The organizations analyzed include: the UN General Assembly, the new Commission for Sustainable Development, UNEP, UNDP and UNCTAD, WTO, GATT, NAFTA, the Bretton Woods institutions and several regional bodies, as well as treaty bodies and the mechanisms for avoiding and settling disputes. For each, the contributors provide an accessible overview of the organization's mandate and structure, examine substantive policy initiatives and assess the need and scope for procedural and institutional reform. Drawing together a collection of essays by lawyers and researchers from various backgrounds, Greening International Institutions is stimulating reading for students and policy-makers, as well as anyone concerned with the development of international institutions. Jacob Werksman is an attorney, a Programme Director at FIELD, and Visiting Lecturer in International Economic Law at the University of London. Greening International Institutions is the fifth volume in the International Law and Sustainable Development series, co-developed with FIELD. The series aims to address and define the major legal issues associated with sustainable development and to contribute to the progressive development of international law. Other titles in the series are: Greening International Law, Interpreting the Precautionary Principle, Property Rights in the Defence of Nature and Improving Compliance with International Environmental Law. 'A legal parallel to the Blueprint series - welcome, timely and provocative' David Pearce Originally published in 1996




Decentralization and Biodiversity Conservation


Book Description

The global phenomenon of school decentralization is a highly political process. It involves substantial shifts in power, affecting the influence and livelihood of groups such as teachers and their unions. School systems are also vehicles for enhancing political influence and carrying out the programs and objectives of those in power. This report identifies the political dimensions of school decentralization and discusses the methods and problems of building a broad public consensus to support it. Country case studies and examples of best practices are provided.







Assessing the International Forest Regime


Book Description

Provides an assessment of the international forest regime, in reponse to calls from many quarters, including the UN Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF) and the World Commission on Forests and Sustainable Development, as well as several NGOs. The focus is mainly on action taken by countries at the global level, in the framework of legally binding instruments and institutions. It builds on previous analyses of the international forest regime by looking beyond the legal mandates to begin exploring the actual performance of the components against their mandates. With the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (IPF) Proposals for Action as the point for departure, the effectiveness and impact of individual legal instruments and global instutions are analyzed, as is the potential for synergy between them.