Romania Forestry Project

Local organizations point out that money is going to road construction, not monitoring

 

 

The World Bank approved a USD 25 million loan to the government of Romania on December 19, 2002, which is intended to strengthen monitoring, improve regulation, and increase the productivity and competitiveness of national forest industries. Local and regional NGOs have expressed concern, however, that the vast majority of funding for this project is actually slotted for road construction and rehabilitation. Such activity may increase the risk of illegal logging and poaching by increasing access into the forests. NGOs also questioned whether the project adequately addresses existing problems including: the current levels of government corruption in this sector; the financial links between forestry inspectors and logging interests; and the perceived weak enforcement of current forestry legislation.

Given this background, NGOs called for a new, comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that would address the proposed road construction plans, the cumulative impact of the overall road map, and the possible impact of consequent logging operations. The NGOs were successful in delaying the project until a new revised EIA was prepared and released to the public in September 2002. Although many local and regional NGOs still considered the new EIA to be sub-standard, the addition of a corruption study for the forestry sector was welcomed as a needed improvement. The World Bank Board approved the loan on December 19, 2002, despite claims from local NGOs that the appropriate translation and consultations requirements had not been performed. The revised EIA was also released for less than 120 days, which prompted the US Executive Director to abstain from the vote as it violated the Pelosi Amendment. See BIC’s page on the Pelosi Amendment

It should also be noted that a draft Project Appraisal Document was released prior to Board approval. This was a welcome departure from standard Bank policy and contributed to an increase in the level of informed dialogue on the project.