Person:
Megevand, Carole
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Environment,
Forests,
Biodiversity
Degrees
Departments
Environment and Natural Resources
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Carole Megevand has 20 years of professional experience in Natural Resources Management (NRM) in developing countries. She holds two Master degrees respectively on Agricultural Economics and Environment/Natural Resources Economics. At the World Bank, she has managed complex NRM operations in various regions (including in the Congo Basin and in Latin American countries) with a specific focus on inter-sectoral dimensions and governance issues. In addition to operational responsibilities, she has been appointed as the Global Lead on Forests for the World Bank Group to strategically position the Forest agenda for the institution. Her international experience in the developing world includes two long-term assignments (Cameroon and Tunisia) and missions in more than 15 countries in Africa, Middle East-North Africa and Latin America and Caribbean.
Publication Search Results
1 - 7 of 7
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Publication
Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Agriculture
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04)The Congo Basin represents 70 percent of the African continent's forest cover and constitutes a large portion of Africa's biodiversity. Agricultural development is a central lever to help people out of poverty, as well as a key driver of deforestation. Forest-friendly agricultural development is a challenge for the region. This report describes some ways forest-friendly agricultural development can materialize in the Congo Basin. It is one of a series of reports prepared during a two-year attempt to analyze and better understand deforestation dynamics in the Basin. The report presents findings related to the agricultural sector in the Congo Basin and its potential impact on forest cover. It is based on an in-depth analysis of the sector, from previous trends through future prospects. It builds on results derived from a modeling exercise conducted by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) that scrutinized national, regional, and international trends in agricultural sectors and trade, and their impacts on Congo Basin forests. The structure of the report is as follows: chapter one gives an overview of the agricultural sector in the six countries, including an analysis of the sector's impact so far on forest cover; chapter two describes the prospects for development of agriculture in the near future and the potential impacts on forest under a business-as usual scenario; and chapter three identifies potential key levers in agricultural policy that can enable forest-friendly agriculture. -
Publication
Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Transport
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04)The Congo Basin is among the most poorly served areas in terms of transport infrastructure in the world, and it faces a challenging environment with dense tropical forests crisscrossed by numerous rivers that require construction of numerous bridges. Given such complexities, constructing transport infrastructure as well as properly maintaining it is certainly a key challenge for the Congo Basin countries. Recent studies indicate that investment required per kilometer of new roads is substantially higher than in other regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and the same applies for maintenance. The physical capital of transport infrastructure is deteriorated in the Congo Basin. The ratio of classify roads in good and fair conditions range from 25 percent in Republic of Congo to 68 percent in the Central African Republic, which is globally lower than the average for low-income countries (LICs) and resource-rich countries. Other transportation assets (railways and river system) are also limited: the railway network is essentially a legacy of the colonial era and mainly used for mineral transportation, while the river system is basically only marginal. -
Publication
Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Mining
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04)This report aims at providing stakeholders with a good analysis of the potential impacts of mining development on the Congo Basin forests. It is one of a series of outputs prepared during a two-year exercise to analyze and better understand the deforestation dynamics in the Basin. It presents the main findings of an analysis of the mining potential in the Congo Basin as well as the global trends in demand of minerals tries to identify ways to reconcile mining development and preservation of the Congo Basin forests. It is based on an in depth analysis of the sector. The report is structured as follows: first chapter gives an overview of the mineral wealth in the Congo Basin; second chapter analyses the prospects for mining development in the Congo Basin; Third chapter assesses the potential impact of mining developments on forests; and the last chapter tries to identify ways to reconcile mining development and preservation of the Congo Basin forests. -
Publication
Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Logging
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04)The Congo Basin has the largest forest cover on the African continent. Of the 400 million hectares that the Basin comprises, about 200 million of them are covered by forest, with 90 percent being tropical dense forests. The Congo Basin's logging sector has a dualistic configuration. It boasts a highly visible formal sector that is export oriented and dominated by large industrial groups with foreign capital and an informal sector that has long been underestimated and overlooked. This report is one of a series of reports prepared during a two-year attempt to analyze and better understand deforestation dynamics in the Basin. It presents findings related to the logging sector and its potential impact on forest cover, and it is based on an in-depth analysis of the sector. The paper's structure is as follows: first chapter gives an overview of the logging sector both formal and informal in the six countries and its importance in terms of employment and revenues; second chapter is the analyzes and impacts of logging activities on forest cover; and final chapter presents recommendations to foster sustainable logging activities with a particular focus on the informal sector and reduce potential adverse impact on natural forests. -
Publication
Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin: Wood-Based Biomass Energy
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-04-01)Congo Basin countries rely more on wood-based biomass to meet their energy needs than most other countries in the world. Wood fuel production is increasing in Congo Basin countries. Urbanization often produces a shift from fuel wood to charcoal consumption, because charcoal is cheaper and easier to transport and store. Charcoal is produced mostly using traditional techniques, with low transformation efficiencies. Under a business as usual scenario, charcoal supply can represent the single biggest threat to Congo Basin forests in the coming decades. This report aims at providing some thinking on how Congo Basin could meet their energy needs in a forest-friendly manner. It is one of a series of outputs prepared during a two-year exercise to analyze and better understand the deforestation dynamics in the Basin. It presents the main findings related to the wood fuel sector in the Congo Basin and its potential impact on forest cover. It is based on an in-depth analysis of the sector (past trends and future prospects). It also builds on results derived from a modeling exercise conducted by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) that examined the national and regional trends in in wood-based biomass energy use and the impacts on Congo Basin forests. The report is structured as follows: chapter one gives an overview of the wood fuel sector in the six Congo Basin countries, including an analysis of its impact so far on forest cover; chapter two presents the prospects of energy needs and production in the near future, and the potential impacts on forest under a business as usual scenario; and chapter three identifies potential key levers in the wood fuel sector that could limit adverse impacts on forest cover. -
Publication
Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin : Reconciling Economic Growth and Forest Protection
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2013-02-20)The Congo Basin forests have been mainly “passively” protected by chronic political instability and conflict, poor infrastructure, and poor governance. Congo Basin countries thus still fit the profile of high forest cover/ low deforestation (HFLD) countries. However, there are signs that Congo Basin forests are under increasing pressure from a variety of sources, including mineral extraction, road development, agribusiness, and biofuels, in addition to subsistence agricultural expansion and charcoal collection. Congo Basin countries are now at a crossroad – they are not yet locked into a development path that will necessarily come at high cost to forests. They need to find new ways of development that can simultaneously respond to the dual challenge of developing local economies and reducing poverty while limiting the negative impact of growth on the region’s natural capital, and forests in particular. They can define a new path toward “forest-friendly” growth. The question is how to match economic change with smart measures and policy choices so that Congo Basin countries sustain and benefit from their extraordinary natural assets over the long term – in other words how to “leapfrog” the traditional dip in forest cover usually observed in the forest transition curve. The report Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin: Reconciling economic growth and forest protection is the output of a two-year exercise implemented by the World Bank at the request of the COMIFAC (Regional Commission in charge of Forestry in Central Africa) and the highly-forested countries in the Congo Basin (namely Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Republic of Congo). The study is informed by economic modeling complemented with sectoral analysis, as well as interactive simulations and workshop discussions. This study on Deforestation Trends in the Congo Basin: Reconciling economic growth and forest protection analyzes the current and future pressures exerted by different sectors of the economy on Congo Basin forests, and highlights policy options to limit deforestation while pursuing inclusive, green growth. Emerging environmental finance mechanisms, such as reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) under the climate change negotiations, may provide additional resources to help countries protect their forests. But there are already a number of “no-regret” actions that countries can take to grow along a sustainable development path. -
Publication
The Rainforests of Cameroon : Experience and Evidence from a Decade of Reform
(World Bank, 2009)In 1994, the Government of Cameroon introduced an array of forest policy reforms, both regulatory and market-based, to support a more organized, transparent, and sustainable system for accessing and using forest resources. This report describes how these reforms played out in the rainforests of Cameroon. The intention is to provide a brief account of a complex process and identify what worked, what did not, and what can be improved. The barriers to placing Cameroon's forests at the service of its people, its economy, and the environment originated with the extractive policies of successive colonial administrations. The barriers were further consolidated after independence through a system of political patronage and influence in which forest resources became a coveted currency for political support. These deeply entangled commercial and political interests have only recently, and reluctantly, started to diverge. In 1994, the government introduced an array of forest policy reforms, both regulatory and market based. The reforms changed the rules determining who could gain access to forest resources, how access could be obtained, how those resources could be used, and who will benefit from their use. This report assesses the outcomes of reforms in forest-rich areas of Cameroon, where the influence of industrial and political elites has dominated since colonial times.