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Brazil - Forests in the balance: challenges of conservation with development Vol. 1 (English) |
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The World Bank has clearly diminished its lending presence in the
Amazon in the past decade. It has moved from the " big projects " era
of the 1960s through the 1980s and strong economic and sector work to a
more careful approach at the end of the century with attempts once
again to focus on strategic issues and smaller projects, including
pilot activities. This seems due both to the poor performance of
earlier projects-which prompted a more risk-adverse Bank strategy
following the intense international scrutiny and criticism contributing
to the cautious approach urged by the 1991 Forest Strategy-and to a
lack of demand in Brazil for Bank funds. Brazil ' s macroeconomic
difficulties-its balance of payments and fiscal deficits-have led the
government to be selective as well as to shift lending to
quick-disbursing activities. This is evident in the most recent land
reform programs. Controlling deforestation is not easy given the large
number and level of national and global forces and actors affecting it.
If the Bank is to be a facilitator for balancing the needs of
stakeholders (i.e., the poor and the indigenous people) and national
and global interests, it must be seen as an objective bystander. The
1991 Forest Strategy emphasizes the primacy of the rights of the
indigenous people-and by implication their rights have primacy over
those of the local poor. But the Bank cannot be a facilitator unless it
is viewed by both parties as not serving the interests of only one
party.
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