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World Resources Institute has produced a Working Paper reviewing 25 “Readiness Plan Idea Notes” (R-PINs) from the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. The review looks at R-PINs already approved by the FCPF trust fund committee and finds serious omissions in the way many of the R-PINs address questions of good governance of forests. The Working Paper can be downloaded here (pdf file 100 kB). A colleague recently asked the question: What is the possibility of plantations being included in REDD schemes under the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility? It’s an excellent question. The response from FCPF’s Management is extraordinary, since they chose one of the most controversial potential REDD schemes to illustrate the supposed “benefits” of plantations. If it were to go ahead, this REDD scheme would involve paying APRIL, a company which is responsible for destroying vast areas of forest in Indonesia. This appears not to concern FCPF management at all.
“Honest Engagement“, a December 2008 briefing by London-based NGO Global Witness, points out the central importance of transparency and participation in REDD schemes. The briefing notes that “Almost all previous attempts to reform the forest sector have failed when these basic principles have been ignored in decision-making.” The briefing gives examples of both bad (Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and PNG) and good (Peru) practices, and explains what lessons can be learned from both the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the EU-Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade process. The briefing also sets out some “minimum requirements” for both transparency and participation. The Bank Information Center has set up an NGO listserv focussed on the World Bank’s FCPF. Details of how to join (NGOs only) below…. At a side event in Poznan yesterday (4 December 2008), the World Bank, the Norwegian government and various UN agencies presented their plans for REDD. In response to a comment about the World Bank’s record in the forests and the new Forest Carbon Partnership Facility the Bank’s Benoit Bosquet said, “I expect that we will make mistakes.” Not a very promising sign for forest dwelling people or the forests in the tropics. A new report from Belgium and UK-based NGOs FERN and the Forest Peoples Programme casts a heavy new shadow over the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). Based on a assessment of nine FCPF ‘Readiness Plan Idea Notes’, the groups conclude that the Bank has been cutting corners, failing to consult properly, and has ignored its own internal safeguard policies. In a joint press release, given in full below, Marcial Arias, from the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change also called for the “suspension” of all REDD activities and carbon market initiatives in indigenous areas until such time as the inhabitants’ rights were recognised. The government of Papua New Guinea has warned that NGOs and carbon traders will be prosecuted if they start developing REDD activities without its permission. In a strongly worded public notice, the Office of Climate Change and Carbon Trading in Port Moresby has said that “It has come to this office’s knowledge that certain NGO’s are organizing seminars, workshops in discussing Draft Payment System for environmental services including payments for Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). . . . It appears that there are endless groups of NGO’s and Carbon Traders coming to PNG with ideas on REDD and proposal for benefit sharing. This dynamic is not constructive for either the government or the rural communities. Any matter regarding Climate Change and Carbon Trading is ONLY to be dealt with by the Head Office in Port Moresby with the authority of the Executive Director.” In October 2008, groups in Paraguay learned that the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility had approved the Government of Paraguay’s Readiness Plan Idea Note (R-PIN). This is the document that government must submit to the Bank in order to receive funds from the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. The Bank approved the Paraguayan R-PIN despite the fact that there had been no consultation with Indigenous Organisations in Paraguay about the plan. At the October 20-22, 2008 meeting of the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) in Washington DC, the facility’s board approved funding for an additional ten countries to develop plans for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). This newest round of approvals, which included Cameroon and the Republic of Congo among others from Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, brings the total number of countries that have access to the Bank’s fund to 25 – ten of them in Africa. But while the governments of forested countries scramble to get at this fresh pot of REDD funds, many outstanding questions remain about who decides who gets the money, how the decisions are made, what the funds will pay for, and who stands to gain. The appointment of The Nature Conservancy to the governing board of the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) highlights the growing distance on climate policy between a small number of mostly US-based conservationist organisations and the mainstream of environmental, indigenous and progressive green groups worldwide, and will also serve to undermine recent claims by the World Bank that the FCPF is not only being used to kick-start forest carbon markets. |
 
 
 
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