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The Forest Action Plan FY16&ndash 20 (FAP) which will guide forest-related interventions in the WBG for the next 5 years confirms the aim of the World Bank Group (WBG) to strengthen the role of forests in achieving the WBG goals of ending extreme poverty and increasing shared prosperity in a sustainable manner by 2030. The FAP seeks to support countries willing to fully embed forests in their development priorities, by focusing more deliberately on the positive contributions that forests make to poverty reduction, food security, economic development and climate action agenda. The FAP responds to recent forest ambitions reflected on in key documents, including the Sustainable Development Goals.
Sustainable socio-economic development is at the center of the FAP involving a variety of actors, including local communities and indigenous peoples groups, other CSOs, the private sector, government agencies, and state-owned enterprises. Sustainable forest management calls for enhancing community involvement in decision-making processes related to the use of forests, increasing investments in planted forests, working in partnership with the private sector to make their business models forest-smart, and strengthening forest governance to foster responsible investments and combat illegal logging. Some two billion hectares of lost or degraded forests and landscapes could be restored, yielding tremendous benefits in terms of economic opportunities, while sequestering a significant quantity of carbon from the atmosphere.
Clear ownership, access, and management rights over forests are vital for good governance and sustainable management of the resources. While most forests remain publicly owned, forest ownership by private actors, communities, and individuals has increased over the decades. A growing body of research also shows that the transfer of rights over forests (or forest use) to forest users creates effective incentives for improving forest conservation and management, with significant productivity and yield increases and with more equitable access to and ownership of forest resources. Forest dwellers can and will sustain or sustainably enhance forest productivity if they have long-term security for their access and user rights, a clear tenure situation, and access to affordable credit lines. Access to affordable finance allows forest dwellers to be engaged at different stages of the value chain for instance, by adding value to timber and non-timber forest resources in the form of semi-finished or finished products that can be marketed at a higher price.
Interventions described under Focus Areas 1 and 2 can only yield full and long-lasting impacts on population welfare if rights of use and access to forest and trees are clear and secured. Uncertainties in these areas pose a significant constraint to their ability to manage these resources and to be involved in the value chain. Despite a growing recognition of the role women play in forest-related activities, they still face inequalities in terms of rights over forest resources, representativeness in relevant decision-making bodies, and access to credit lines. Empowering women in the forestry sector can create significant opportunities and generates important spill-over for households and communities.
A substantial share of the Bank's forest-related portfolio over the last decade has supported forest land tenure reforms, including significant shifts toward community-based forestland. Building on good experiences, the World Bank will work with clients willing to strengthen and expand local rights of use and access over forest resources, with a particular focus on indigenous groups. It will help them improve land tenure laws and regulations and modernize land administration systems. The focus on decentralized forest management and on community-based and participatory forest management.

The WBG Management team has seen significant progress in the application of community based forests enterprise in many Regions. In fact, there are now 14 countries with Dedicated Grant Mechanisms (DGM) for Indigenous People Forests Activities Community Forestry components are presents in most of WB forest projects, for example, Liberia, Mexico, Peru, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Laos and Indonesia. Two international workshops were done for Indigenous People and CSO, the last one just this months. This workshop was very highly attended by World Bank OPCS VP and Acting Senior Director ENR and Director Climate Change CCSA. In addition, thanks to the partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration, now various team are reaching out to FAO Forest and Farm Facility to give TA to IP and Forest Dependent Communities on community based forests enterprises. PROFOR has supported financial and technical assessments of community based forest initiatives in Vietnam, Mexico and Mozambique. PROFOR also supported a IP tenure assessment in Central American countries, financed a number of market assessments on timber for local initiatives (Congo Basin). PROFOR is also working with FAO on a new review on concession management, including transfer of rights to forest communities.