3 February:

On the fourth day of IFF-4, Working Group 1 continued to negotiate bracketed text on TFRK and briefly addressed underlying causes of deforestation, protected areas and forest research. Delegates met in contact groups on transfer of ESTs, finance, and trade and environment to continue deliberations.

<< Regarding developing national level legislation and policies to achieve objectives under various CBD articles, CANADA proposed deleting a reference to developing a legal framework for the CBD articles at the international level.

Side-event: Global Forest Information Service
Uma Lele (right) of the World Bank's Operation Evaluation Department (OED) introduced the comprehensive review of the Bank's 1991 Forest Strategy. She said direct forest project lending had stagnated and efforts to increase forest cover had been modest except in China and India. She noted only partial implementation of the forest policy and a sharp decline in the commitment to Africa. She said the Bank had refrained from supporting initiatives in accordance with a commercial logging ban. She underscored the involvement of World Bank in the IPF and IFF process but noted that more could be done, especially since the Bank had favored other sectors, including agriculture. She exposed the Bank's strategy and recommendations for action, including: better conciliation of conservation and development; inclusion of more types of forests; and increased concessional assistance for countries that produce forest-based international public goods.

Odin Knutsen (left), of the World Bank's Department of Ecologicaly and Socially Sustainable Development, outlined the Bank's future targets, including: bridging the gap between rhetoric and action on the ground; focusing activities on the poor; compensating for risk taking; dealing with concessional financing issues; and dealing with the logging ban. He identified solutions, including: ad hoc consultation with governments, NGOs and the private sector; regional assessments of forest status; and extensive consultations in all regions.

The OED's report is available online at http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/essd/forestpol-e.nsf/mainview

One delegate indicated that the Co-Chairs' text on Category III may have succeeded in reaching a reasonable compromise, with one delegate described the text as having a little bit of something for everyone. Others have suggested the "reasonable compromise" is simply due to a universal level of dissatisfaction with it.