Forest Policy Updates
ADB
FOREST POLICY
ADB’s Forestry Policy was approved in March 1995 as the policy framework to
guide the Bank’s investments in the sector. The policy provides for 1)
protection of the forests’ soil, water and biodiversity, which are vital to
present and future generations;
production of renewable resources and harvesting in a sustainable manner and
3) the participation of local communities and NGOs in policy formulation and
implementation.
Working Paper on the Forest
Policy
Forestry Policy
NGO Concerns
However, for the last two years, the Asian Development Bank has been
conducting discussions in secret about its proposed new forest policy. No
details about the Bank's discussions are available to the public. The most
recent draft of the proposed forest policy which is available to the public
is dated June 2003. The ADB's Board rejected this version in July 2003.
An review of the Forestry Policy cites the need to harmonize the Forestry
Policy with ADB’s new overarching goal of Poverty Reduction Strategy. The
review process involves the following – 1) Regional Study on Forest Policy
and Institutional Reforms- a technical assistance approved in 1999 to assess
the 1995 policy to identify investment priorities, reflecting developments
in the sector and needs of DMC-members; 2) a Project Team of national and
international consultants and experts; 3) Outputs that include ADB Portfolio
and 1995 Policy assessment report, Regional Assessment of Forestry Sector,
Four country case studies (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka); 4)
Regional Consultations in February 2002; 5) Draft Sector Strategic Framework
and Revised Forestry Policy.
In November 2004, 24 NGOs from 16 countries wrote to then-ADB President
Tadao Chino pointing out the flaws in the Bank's forest policy review
process. In response, Robert Dobias, director of the Agriculture, Natural
Resources, and Social Sectors Division at the ADB, explained that the Bank
had revised the June 2003 draft policy to "incorporate comments received
from internal and external reviewers". At some point after this, he added,
"fundamental issues were raised related to ADB's support to the forest
sector."
The Bank is now though a process of reducing number policies. The Forest
policy seems to be the first to remove under this approach.
Related NGO Documents
SECRETS AND LIES: THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK'S NEW FOREST POLICY
By Chris Lang. Published in WRM Bulletin 95, June 2005.
Founded in 1966, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) claims to be "dedicated to
reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific". The Bank's lending to the
forestry sector indicates that in fact the Bank's focus is on promoting
industry and corporations rather than addressing the needs of the region's
poor.
The ADB's first loan to the forestry sector was in 1977, since when the Bank
has lent over US$1 billion for forestry projects. More than 80 per cent of
this total was spent on establishing more than one million hectares of tree
plantations, three-quarters of which are commercial plantations. These
plantations provide few, if any, benefits to the poor.
For the last two years, the Asian Development Bank has been conducting
discussions in secret about its proposed new forest policy. No details about
the Bank's discussions are available to the public. The most recent draft of
the proposed forest policy which is available to the public is dated June
2003. The ADB's Board rejected this version in July 2003.
In November 2004, 24 NGOs from 16 countries wrote to then-ADB President
Tadao Chino pointing out the flaws in the Bank's forest policy review
process. In response, Robert Dobias, director of the Agriculture, Natural
Resources, and Social Sectors Division at the ADB, explained that the Bank
had revised the June 2003 draft policy to "incorporate comments received
from internal and external reviewers". At some point after this, he added,
"fundamental issues were raised related to ADB's support to the forest
sector."
Dobias avoided saying what the "fundamental issues" were, or who raised
them. "We currently are in the process of an internal discussion of these
concerns," he wrote. "Please be assured," Dobias added at the end of his
letter, "that we will make public the conclusions of our internal
deliberations and invite comment on them."
In January 2004, in response to my questions, Grant Curtis, an "NGO
specialist" in the ADB's Regional and Sustainable Development Department
told me that "ADB plans to make the final version of the policy paper
available to the public prior to the Board's consideration."
Details of forthcoming ADB Board meetings are secret. However, a leaked
internal Bank Memorandum dated 7 April 2005 lists a Forest Policy R-paper
(the "R" stands for restricted) for discussion and possible approval by the
ADB's Board on 5 July 2005.
The date of the Board meeting may change. Nevertheless, the leaked
Memorandum confirms that the ADB has produced another version of its forest
policy. Contrary to Dobias' and Curtis' assurances, it is not publicly
available.
The ADB started a review of its 1995 Forest Policy in June 2000. The new
forest policy was planned to be completed by the end of 2002. By this time,
according to Jan van Heeswijk, then-Director General of the ADB's Regional
and Sustainable Development Department, "the studies and drafting of a
policy document were completed". After six months of "internal review and
refinement of the document" the ADB produced the June 2003 draft of its
proposed forest policy.
For a while, via its web-site, the Bank asked for comments on this draft,
without mentioning that the Bank's Board had rejected it in July 2003. Then
the ADB stopped asking for comments and promised that it would release a
revised draft in July 2004.
In September 2004, when the revised draft had still not appeared (and the
Bank's web-site was still promising that the draft would be released two
months previously, in July 2004) I wrote to Javed Mir, ADB's Senior Natural
Resources Specialist (Forestry) and the Mission Leader for the new forest
policy, to ask him, among other things, when we might expect the next draft
to be released. Mir declined to reply.
Then, on 27 October 2004, the Bank posted the following explanation on its
web-site: "Following internal and external consultations, a draft working
paper (W-paper) was prepared and discussed during the second half of 2003. A
revised draft of the paper was expected to be posted here for public
comment. However, recent (August 2004) internal discussions have raised
fundamental issues related to ADB's support to the forest sector. Further
progress on the draft policy will depend on the results of these
discussions, which are ongoing."
I wrote to Javed Mir again in March 2005. I asked him why the Bank did not
release the working paper from the second half of 2003 and who, exactly,
discussed the draft. I asked whether notes of these discussions were
available. I asked what happened between the second half of 2003 and August
2004. I asked what "fundamental issues" were raised, and by whom. I asked
when the Bank anticipated releasing the next draft of its proposed forest
policy. Once again Mir declined to answer my questions.
After receiving the leaked ADB Memorandum which states that the Board will
discuss the forest policy in July, I wrote to Rolf Eckermann, the Executive
Director for Germany at the ADB. I asked him about the current status of the
Bank's proposed new forest policy and when the Bank anticipates producing
the new policy. I asked what documents the Bank had produced since July
2003. And I asked Eckermann to ensure that Javed Mir, or someone else at the
Bank, answers my letters from September 2004 and March 2005. Eckermann
declined to reply.
The Bank's claim that its proposed forest policy is based on a
"participatory review process" is nonsense. The Bank's process exposes the
ADB for the secretive, dishonest, undemocratic institution that it is.
Related articles
• December 2004 - The Asian Development Bank's proposed new forest policy:
Why should we care?
• November 2003 - Banking on the forests: The politics of the ADB's
involvement in Asia's forests
• September 2003 - ADB's draft forest policy: The politics of participation
• May 2003 - ADB's draft forest policy: Putting profits before people
• More information about the ADB's forest policy on WRM's web-site.
www.wrm.org.uy/actors/adb