What is the Bank’s involvement in the forest sector in Cambodia?
The World Bank has been involved in Cambodia’s forestry sector to help improve forest management, law enforcement, monitoring, and access to information about developments in the sector. The Bank aims at improving the way forests are managed in Cambodia, including effective monitoring and enforcement of laws; a credible system for managing the way that forest resources are used and preserved; ensuring that local community needs are adequately addressed, and ensuring that people are consulted. There have been some improvements in the Cambodian forestry sector – the area under concessions has been significantly reduced and the forest concession plans were publicly disclosed for the first time – but many serious problems remain, including continuing illegal logging, corruption, and a lack of meaningful engagement of local people in forestry decisions affecting their lives. The fight against corruption in the forestry sector requires everyone’s cooperation; yet any progress will depend on
