Inter-American Development Bank assistance for forest conservation and management in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Latin America and the Caribbean have more than half of the world's tropical forests. The rate of deforestation is high: some 7.5 million ha of forest disappear yearly. Central America and Mexico have the highest rates of deforestation; 1.6% of the remaining forests are being destroyed annually.The Inter-American Development Bank has analyzed the causes of deforestation and launched actions that contribute to curbing it both directly and indirectly. The actions include helping the countries to set appropriate sectoral and macroeconomic policies in order to remove factors that cause degradation of natural resources. The Bank has long been a financial resource deployer but it is gaining importance also as a resource mobilizer. The total IDB forestry-related loan funding amounts to some US$ 843 million for programs with a total cost of US$1980 million during the past 20 years.The Bank has been a strategic investor in highly visible projects such as the creation of parks and extractive reserves in the Amazon. It has provided financing to protect and manage some 4.7 million ha of existing forests sustainably. It is an important source of financing for recovering deforested areas through agroforestry investments and reforestation especially in degraded watersheds, but also in the context of coastal resources management and urban greening. The total reforestation goal for Bank financed projects is some 0.8 million ha.The Bank also finances other actions that are essential to proper protection and management of forest resources such as land use zoning studies, forest resource inventories, research, environmental education and institution building. Total Bank nonreimbursable technical cooperation financing was US$31 million for 72 projects during the last 15 years.There is a need to create an atmosphere of collaboration between the North and South in natural resource management and environmental matters. The IDB has been quite successful in this role through organizing new commissions for cooperation and a tradition of consultations in the region. It is maintaining transparency through its information disclosure policy that helps make information on the environmental aspects of bank programs available to interested parties. The Bank is promoting public participation in the design and execution of programs that it finances. Key words: International financing, deforestation, sustainability, Latin America, The Caribbean