Programmatic Approach on Forest Management in South Asia

CHALLENGE

Countries in South Asia are increasingly committed to the improved management of the region’s forests, including for the purpose of making progress towards individual Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) for mitigating and adapting to climate change. 

However, South Asia faces significant challenges in managing its forest sector. For example, decades of conflict in Afghanistan have led to substantial forest loss, while in India, forest cover has stabilized but forest quality is deteriorating. In other countries, development pressures from expanding settlements and agriculture are driving the conversion of forestlands.

As the pressures on forests continue to grow, it is imperative to better understand and measure the current economic contribution of forests, including the costs of forest degradation. It is equally important to assess the efficacy of current regulations and policies around forests, accompanied by an assessment of institutions and technical capacity, where needed. Lack of policies on payments for ecosystem services, for instance, can hinder beneficial forest management activities for reducing sediment in the upper catchments of hydropower plants, or prevent communities from benefitting from such payment mechanisms. At the same time, weak institutions and lack of technical capacity can prevent even the most progressive forest policies from supporting inclusive and sustainable economic growth. 

APPROACH

The objective of this activity is to inform policy dialogue and strategic engagement on forests with South Asian countries as governments move towards sustainable and inclusive economic growth. This programmatic approach consists of the following activities:

• Afghanistan Capacity Development for Natural Resource Management (NRM): In Afghanistan, conflict and the lack of adequate governance structures and management and institutional capacity have heavily damaged the natural resource base that the majority of the population relies on, particularly in rural areas. This activity aims to: (i) raise awareness about the NRM role in supporting livelihoods, enhancing resilience, and reducing vulnerability to climate change and disaster risks; and (ii) assess the capacity of key institutions to implement the newly adopted NRM Strategy.

• Forests, Poverty and Resilience in Bangladesh: The World Bank is undertaking a Country Environmental Analysis focused on urban areas, to demonstrate cost-effective development pathways that tackle acute pollution levels and natural resource degradation in Dhaka, while at the same time controlling congestion and environmental externalities in newly growing cities. As part of this larger activity, PROFOR funding will support an investigation into natural infrastructure’s potential benefits for climate resilience in urban areas and peripheries. Outputs will include an analytical report on the cost of forest degradation in terms of lost revenues, incomes for local communities, and increased damage from extreme events; engagement workshops to consult key stakeholders and discuss the direction of the assessments, the preliminary findings and policy implications; and dissemination workshops.

• India Forest Sector Assessment: To better understand current and emerging challenges in forest management, this activity will assess the demand and supply of forest and timber resources in India, as well as the economic costs of the timber trade and forest fires, and the scope for forest-related agribusinesses to generate jobs. In addition, the activity will identify options for restoring degraded forests, sustainably managing forests, and strengthening forest monitoring and evaluation.

• Pakistan Forestry Sector Engagement Study: Pakistan’s diverse forest resources face rapid deterioration as a result of land conversion by large development projects, and overexploitation by poor communities who have few livelihood alternatives. In response, this activity aims to better understand the contribution of the forestry sector to achieving the country’s development priorities. PROFOR is supporting a review of forest sector policies and management practices through the collection and analysis of secondary information, as well as stakeholder consultations with federal and provincial government officials, development partners, civil society organizations and research institutions.
• Nepal Forests, Poverty and Tourism: The aim of this project is to strengthen the Government of Nepal’s capacity to better manage its natural resources, to deliver on its national goal to reduce poverty through sustainable and inclusive growth. The activity outputs will include: (i) A policy assessment of current practices in management of natural resources, including for tourism purposes and current and potential linkages between conservation, hydropower development, and tourism; and (ii) an engagement note describing the potential contributions of forests to economic growth and jobs, sustainable water resources management, and hydropower development.
• General Knowledge Management: To disseminate the knowledge generated from the various country activities, this component will share experiences and best practices among policy makers and technical experts from the region, including through workshops and study tours, and produce regional and cross-country policy briefs to inform forests investments and policy design.

RESULTS

• In Afghanistan, The development objective was achieved by taking stock of existing practices, engaging the sector’s key stakeholders in an ongoing dialogue at various levels, assessing capacity of Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), and by developing knowledge about key areas of interest to the Government counterpart. This activity was used as a process for interacting with stakeholders and development partners through informal meetings, knowledge exchange, and high-level roundtables. The MAIL delegation, through the exchange visits to India, learnt about the critical and productive role of women in the NRM sector. They noted that the Natural Resources Management practices relating to gender specific roles such as women-managed committees for better management of renewable natural resources could be replicated in Afghanistan.
• In Bangladesh, a wetland background paper has been finalized. The study is cross-sectoral and covers urban waste management and urban planning/development issues as well as urban wetlands issues. The findings have informed another ASA led by World Bank`s Urban Global Practice “Toward Greater Dhaka”. The study also identified issues and areas of priority in terms of urban environment governance. The report launch event, held on September 16, 2018, was attended by various ministries and departments of Government of Bangladesh, including Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of Water Resource, Ministry of Commerce, ERD, Planning Commission, BREB, LGED, Department of Environment (DOE), DWASA, as well as members of academia, private sector, civil society and media. The findings created avid interest among the attendees and received significant media coverage. The Government of Bangladesh showed interest in new operations around solid and hazardous waste management and the follow up TA will help better scope the potential investments through policy dialogue. 

  The regulatory and institutional analysis conducted as part of CEA informed and made recommendations to ongoing revision of Environment Conservation Rule. The CEA has also contributed to enhancing environmental aspects of the Dhaka Diagnosis led by the World Bank Urban team. The mission had meetings with the DoE on the need to continue with the CEA discussions to identify follow-on activities to address issues of pollution management in Bangladesh’s urbanizing context. The DoE expressed their need for support to assess the size of the pollution problem and to set up a continuous monitoring system. The recommended policy reforms will be followed up as part of policy notes prepared based on the CEA. 

• In India, All three objectives of the activity have been met.  (i) The recommendations of the Forest Fire Prevention and Management Report have been fully taken onboard to inform the National FFPM Plan that is under preparation.  (ii) The Forest Survey of India (FSI) is the lead agency in-charge of developing tools for forest fire detection in India. As part of the ASA, scientists at FSI had the opportunity to interact with scientists from NASA, and Australian experts on Fire Danger Rating Systems, and attend training on data and tools by NASA.  This in turn helped FSI improve its forest fire detection tool and to launch a new tool on Fire Danger Rating System.  The latter is now being tested and piloted in Indian states such as Uttarakhand.  (ii) As previously, described, a workshop with national and international experts was organized in November 2017 to share experiences with best practices on forest fire management.  This activity has been completed.

• In Nepal, Both outputs under this activity have been completed:  (i) Sustainable Tourism Development in Nepal – this report is a joint output of ENR and FCI and provides an overview of potential for tourism development in Nepal, an assessment of the main challenges, and recommendations for way forward.  (ii) Promoting Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas – this is a compilation of case studies of nature-based tourism that can benefit communities and conservation.  The Sustainable Tourism Development in Nepal report has helped inform the design of the Nepal Tourism project that is under preparation.   

  The compilation of case studies on nature-based tourism was used to organize the Conference on Sustainable Nature-based Tourism: Sharing Global Experience in Protected Areas in Nepal on January 21-22, 2019. This conference was jointly organized by ENR GP, FCI GP, and IFC with the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoFE), Government of Nepal (GoN). GoN officials were very happy with the opportunity granted by the conference to share global experiences, particularly to hear from community leaders and private sector actors on sustainable and inclusive tourism models.  One direct and immediate outcome of the conference was an announcement from the MoFE to consult a wide range of stakeholders on the draft Working Procedures.  This was a request from one of the conference participants particularly to consult tourism operators, and MoFE officials made a commitment to do so during the closing session.  The close-door session on the second day also led to a very productive discussions and a request from the GoN for WBG to provide inputs to the Working Procedures through inputs from experts and a Study Tour for park managers to expose them to innovative models of tourism in protected areas that support conservation and benefit communities.

• In Pakistan, a forest sector review (Policy Note) to highlight available information about the forest sector in Pakistan, its key economic and ecological contributions and challenges faced by the sector has been completed and published here. The forest sector review has identified major issues of the forest sector in the country. It also highlighted challenges and opportunities for promoting forest investments in major ecological zones (different forest types) and poor communities of the country. Lessons learned from previous and ongoing forest investments in the country has been analyzed. It has helped the World Bank to recognize importance of forests, and opportunities it provides in supporting local livelihood, national economy, climate change resilience, gender balance and maximizing finance for development.  As a result, the Bank might engage with the federal government to develop a forest project.  A more detailed report prepared by FAO was launched on August 1, 2019 by the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam and FAO Representative in Pakistan, Minà Dowlatchahi. Two more studies financed by other sources are being finalized, which build on the findings of the forestry sector review.  A study on value chain of key NTFP is ongoing. Another study on catchment management case on the Mangla Dam is also linked with the regional KGGTF catchment study and will be finished by June 2019. 

For stories and updates on related activities, follow us on twitter and facebook, or subscribe to our mailing list for regular updates.

Last Updated : 06-09-2020

Lessons from Indian Watershed Management Projects

CHALLENGE

What lessons can other countries of the world  learn from successful examples of integrated watershed management in arid zones, rain-fed lowlands, and higher elevation sites in India?  

1. The three projects have demonstrated that a fully staffed and equipped Project Management Unit (PMU) is necessary for smooth and effective management of an integrated watershed-based livelihoods project. Such personnel should be adequately trained and retained for at least 3 years. This is not the duration of the project but this is an optimum time period for the personnel to have an effective tenure since it takes time to understand the project and be effective in the field.
2. A micro project (sub-watershed level or micro-watershed level) should be planned for at least 5-7 years in order that sufficient social capital is built up. It takes time and close accompaniment to develop vibrant and representative local institutions which are most necessary to ensure continued maintenance of created assets in the post project period.
3. Capacity building is crucial for sustainable outcomes to be achieved and progressed. And it should be comprehensive, progressively undertaken and involving all stakeholders in accordance with their requirements.
4. Performance based payments systems, in order to be effective, must involve all stakeholders in their design and formulation and should be fairly administered, transparent, and sensitive to emergent and unanticipated events. All parties to the agreement, including government functionaries, should be held equally responsible and accountable.    Since disputes will inevitably arise, there should be a conflict mediation mechanism set up at all the relevant levels coinciding with the introduction of such a payment system. In order to reduce discretion and arbitrariness, the system should be supported by an IT-enabled Decision Support System introduced at all decision making various levels.
5. The manner in which agency personnel interact with the community sets the tone for the project and determines its outcome. Respect, commitment and integrity bring forth enthusiasm, cooperation, and transparency from the community. However, for this dynamic to be realized at the field level, it must also permeate the entire delivery structure and mechanism of the project. One can expect participatory processes at the village level only if the underlying values and behavioral patterns of the entire project delivery mechanism, from the higher to lower levels, reflect mutual respect and inclusion. A participation-based project must be sensitive to this aspect and make special efforts to inculcate these values into its procedures, interactions and "way of doing business".
6. Transparency and public accountability, especially in regard to works and monies, is the key to smooth implementation and harmonious social relations. As the post project impact study of Sujala (this study was conducted for Karnataka as part of the ICR in late 2003) has indicated, all CBOs that have continued to function effectively post project have consistently re-affirmed that is the transparent functioning and accountability of all members of the group, especially the leaders, that have kept the groups together and functioning.
7. Effective conflict resolution mechanisms that are representative and respected by the community or related stakeholders have to be established at all levels to handle disputes and complaints that often do arise. They should be perceived as responsive, transparent and fair in functioning.
8. The inclusion, empowerment and mainstreaming of women, the poor and  vulnerable groups in the decision making processes of the project as well as in the institutional life of the village is not only a moral imperative, but also crucial to the sustainability of the project. Generally, these groups draw upon common pool resources for their survival and unless they directly benefit from the development of these resources, they will have no incentive to protect or sustainably manage these assets. Furthermore, as income or quality-of- life enhancing benefits increasingly  accrue to  all groups in a community, especially the poor, not only is social capital enhanced, but the economic, cultural and political life of a community also improves.
9. Networking and linking the village with local developmental agencies (civil society, government, private agencies) is vital for value addition as well as for continued accessing of additional resources in the post project period.
10. Projects involving multiple agencies work best where institutional arrangements leverage the comparative advantages of each of the partners. In a situation where good NGOs are available, as in the case of the  Sujala and Gramya projects, it is preferable to engage NGOs to mobilize and build the capacities of the villagers; where NGOs have the requisite technical and managerial expertise, then it is preferable to give them the entire task as they can then efficiently calibrate and dovetail various aspects of a project and be held accountable for outcomes, not just deliverables as would normally be the case where responsibilities pertain only to specified components. This would leave project authorities free to focus on monitoring and overall management of the project.

For stories and updates on related activities, follow us on twitter and facebook, or subscribe to our mailing list for regular updates.

Author : World Bank in India [1] [1] http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/INDIAEXTN/0,,menuPK:295589~pagePK:141159~piPK:141110~theSitePK:295584,00.html
Last Updated : 02-24-2017

Examining Land Management Policies in the Brazilian Amazon

CHALLENGE

There is enough land in the Amazon region to satisfy Brazilian society's demands for economic development, environmental management of a resource base of global importance and the challenges of agrarian reform. Yet Brazil has been unable to create a fully coherent and manageable land policy and administration system for the region which permits sustainable development goals to be achieved while reconciling special interests and uses. Instead, resource waste, private appropriation of the public domain and social conflict have characterized land relations in the region.

As the region becomes increasingly accessible for a variety of economic activities, and more central to Brazil's economy, the resolution of the land questions looms large as a foundational element for reconciling and ordering economic development, resource management and social priorities. A better understanding of the dynamics of land grabbing and land speculation as well as of the impact of current policies and of the institutions mandated to implement them could help to influence and design new policies to better manage the race for property rights in the Amazon.

APPROACH

Along with other donors, PROFOR helped finance a study focusing on land management policies in the Brazilian Amazon. The study was conducted by Malcolm Childress, Senior Land Administration Specialist at the World Bank.

FINDINGS

The study revealed that large-scale users, agrarian reformists, conservation interests, and others are racing to claim property rights in the Amazon. With illegal occupation, fraudulent and inconsistent land records, and flawed land laws, the resulting land administration is chaotic. Some actions have begun to bring more order to land administration. An effort to re-inspect and document land records, called recadastre, has uncovered illegal occupation, but is incomplete. Creation of new protected areas has slowed illegal occupation, however these areas still face threats of encroachment. And other factors contribute to the problem: the federal budget process gives land administration low priority and inconsistent support, with predictable results.

The study suggested the creation of a new social and political pact to reform land administration. The reformed system of administration would seek to reclaim illegally occupied lands, rationally identify and allocate lands suitable for agrarian reform, recognize and regularize rights of good-faith occupiers, and expand and consolidate protected areas. The pact would lead to local agreements among a broad range of interest groups and officials, backed by federal enforcement. The goal would be a fair, transparent, and workable allocation, recorded in a multipurpose land information system.

RESULTS

Some of the study's recommendations were reflected in a land regularization program which has brought more order in the Amazon.

For stories and updates on related activities, follow us on twitter and facebook, or subscribe to our mailing list for regular updates.

Author : Malcolm Childress, Senior Land Administration Specialist at the World Bank
Last Updated : 02-24-2017

Measuring Poverty Impacts of Forest Programs in India

CHALLENGE
In India, states share the rights and responsibilities with communities for managing forests through joint forest management arrangements. Although preliminary findings indicated that this process, together with associated project investments, was having a significant impact on poverty, there was no systematic and rigorous assessment of the poverty-forests nexus in 2003.

APPROACH
PROFOR worked to improve the capacity of state governments to measure forestry program impacts on poverty reduction in a systematic way by supporting the development of a monitoring methodology. This work was carried out in Jharkhand state (where the Bank was preparing a lending project to improve forest livelihoods), with CIFOR leading the work in partnership with national experts, Jharkhand-based NGOs and research institutions.

RESULTS
A comprehensive literature review was completed and tools designed for use by communities. Training sessions for applying the tools were held in 2006 with Forest Department staff. PROFOR subsequently developed a more comprehensive tool: the Poverty-Forests Linkages toolkit. 

For stories and updates on related activities, follow us on twitter and facebook, or subscribe to our mailing list for regular updates.

Author : CIFOR, World Bank South Asia, State Forestry Department of Jharkhand
Last Updated : 05-23-2017