Environment Department Papers

52 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18025

These discussion papers are produced primarily by the Environment Department, on occasion jointly with other departments. Papers in this series are not formal publications of the World Bank. They are circulated to encourage thought and discussion. The use and citation of this paper should take this into account. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank.

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Analysis of Community Forest Management in Madagascar

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-09-24) World Bank Group

The major role tropical forests play in biodiversity and climate change has led the world to search for effective ways to slow down deforestation. Community forest management (CFM) is an example of the broader concept of community-based natural resources management (CBNRM). As part of the decentralization policy in many countries, mainly in Africa and Asia, CFM was expected to promote: (i) a more effective stewardship of the resources by involving the local communities in the management of the resources, and (ii) a more locally-driven development with them tapping most of the derived benefits. The precursors of CBNRM and CFM in Madagascar are the centrally-led compensation-based mechanisms to conservation. Madagascar is one of the first countries in the southern hemisphere to have put in place a legal framework for CBNRM and CFM. The CBNRM implementation process starts with the creation of a local natural resources management group. The government has identified the protection of natural capital and the harnessing of its value as a key pillar in its national development plan for 2015-2019. The plan identifies poor governance as a major constraint to achieving the country’s development objectives. It puts strong emphasis on the roles of both natural capital and the necessity for a more inclusive economy to achieve sustainable development. This report will help the Bank take stock of the nearly two-decades of implementation of the national environmental action plan and provide nation-wide facts that will inform future investment in renewable natural resources management, biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction, and local development in the future. The present work is targeted to decision makers and stakeholders involved in CFM policy with the objective of taking stock of almost 20 years of implementation and advise on future directions in policy formulation. The report is organized as follows: section one presents community forest management (CFM) in Madagascar. Section two provides the result of an impact evaluation analysis conducted on the application of CFM policy. Section three provides an analysis of the legal and institutional aspects of the application of CFM policy in Madagascar. Section four presents recommendations for the short, medium, and longer term. Section five concludes.
Biological Resource Management : Integrating Biodiversity Concerns in Rural Development Projects and Programs

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-01) Grimble, Robin ; Laidlaw, Martyn

The aim of this study is to improve understanding of how biological resource conservation concerns can be better incorporated into projects and programs that primarily address the objective of rural development rather than environmental conservation. A multi-disciplinary study team was assembled and six background papers produced, along with the main overview paper. The six papers were on: 1) measuring biodiversity, predicting impacts, and monitoring change; 2) integrated pest management and biodiversity conservation; 3) biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes in Britain: relevant issues for developing countries; 4) reconciling biodiversity and development issues in practice; the search for a win-win situation in Ghana's coastal wetlands; 5) strategies for biodiversity conservation: examples from Tanzania; and 6) participatory initiatives in biodiversity conservation: lessons from experience. A study was also made of World Bank policies and procedures relating to biodiversity management and rural development together with three portfolio reviews. These findings were incorporated into this paper. This paper argues that bioresources and people's livelihood systems are intricately interrelated, and opportunities for intervention for development purposes must start from good understanding of different people's access to and use and management of these resources, and also the incentives, constraints, and institutional factors governing the process.
Beating the Resource Curse : The Case of Botswana

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-10) Sarraf, Maria ; Jiwanji, Moortaza

The endowment of natural resources has often been associated with disappointing economic development. This phenomenon is referred to in the literature as the "resource curse," which hypothesizes that economies experiencing resource booms, either through price increases or new discoveries, will experience unsustainable growth rates. There are various mechanisms through which a resource-boom can negatively impact on an economy. For instance, it can lead to excessive government expenditure during the boom period and drastic cuts when the boom ends; detrimental impacts on non-boom tradable sectors; inefficient investment beyond the absorptive capacity of the country; and rent seeking behavior. By exploring the case of the mineral boom in Botswana, this paper will demonstrate that the resource curse is not necessarily the fate of resource abundant countries. The adoption of sound economic policies and the good management of windfall gains have allowed Botswana to continuously manage growth and to become one of the great success stories of developing countries.
Country Assistance Strategies and the Environment

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-07) Shyamsundar, Priya ; Hamilton, Kirk ; Segnestam, Lisa ; Sarraf, Maria ; Frankhauser, S.

This report is the outcome of a Country Assistance Strategy and Environment program that was started and aimed to identify practical constraints to incorporating environmental concerns into CASs and to develop a logical framework for doing so. The analysis is based on two key efforts: a review of CASs undertaken in fiscal year 1999, and five participatory case studies of on-going CASs. The report presents a set of practical actions to improve the environmental quality of CASs based on the learning that emerged from the case studies and the environmental review: 1) integrating environmental considerations into country activities; 2) linking environmental efforts to poverty reduction; 3) strengthening the information base; and 4) improving the CAS process. After the introduction, Chapter 2 presents a review of fiscal year 1999 CASs and ranks them according to their treatment of environmental issues. Regional differences are discussed, best practices examined, and recommendations made for future CASs. The methodology used for the review is described in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 discusses the CAS process in five countries - Azerbaijan, Dominican Republic, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Zambia. The chapter then examines practical challenges to mainstreaming environmental issues. The last chapter identifies lessons learned and presents recommendations.