World Bank vows to improve its forestry program in Cambodia

Updated:2006-06-30 02:17:19
World Bank vows to improve its forestry program in Cambodia
By MICHAEL CASEY
AP
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The World Bank on Friday pledged to overhaul a
much-criticized forestry program in Cambodia, saying it would increase
local participation and better address environmental concerns in future
projects.

The comments came in response to an internal review that found the
bank's US$4.6 million (3.7 million) forestry program in Cambodia
allowed illegal logging to flourish, failed to alleviate poverty and
largely ignored the concerns of local residents.

"Many poor communities depend on access to forest products for their
livelihoods," Ian Porter, Country Director for Cambodia, said in a
statement. "This is too critical an issue for the World Bank to simply
walk away."

According to the World Bank review, the program did not investigate
complaints of illegal logging of resin trees by one of the logging
companies taking part in the program and also failed to examine the
"negative impact" the deforestation was having on local people.

Cambodia's tropical rain forests were dramatically depleted during
decades of civil conflict, when warring factions sold timber to finance
their activities. Later, in the 1990s, the government handed out
contracts to politically connected logging companies that further
contributed to forest destruction.

The World Bank's program, which ran from 2000 until last year, was
ostensibly set up to help logging companies meet government
requirements to encourage sustainability.

But the U.K-based Global Witness and other non-governmental
organizations say the program lent credibility to a system that handed
out concessions to government cronies and allowed illegal logging to
continue.

The NGOs filed a complaint in 2005 over the program.


On the Net: Global Witness: http://www.globalwitness.org


World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org/kh

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