Civil Society Organizations Offer Input on World Bank Forests and Natural Habitats Safeguards

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As the consultation period of the first phase of the World Bank safeguard policy review and update concluded at the end of April, two coalitions of civil society organizations submitted comments on Forests and Natural Habitats Operational Policies

Oaxaca Forest

The two CSO submissions outlined opportunities, concerns, and recommendations for the revision of Forests and Natural Habitats safeguard policies. Although the submissions touched upon some divergent themes, both emphasized the importance of considering cross-sectoral impacts on natural habitats & forests; engaging with, and respecting the rights of, indigenous and forest dependent peoples; improving monitoring and evaluation of World Bank performance in the forest sector; and expanding the scope of the safeguard review to include programmatic loans such as Development Policy Loans.

For more information, see PDFs of the submissions:

Submission endorsed by the Bank Information Center, Center for International Environmental Law, Global Witness, Greenpeace, Rainforest Foundation Norway, and Urgewald

Submission endorsed by World Wildlife Fund, Rainforest Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society, and The Nature Conservancy