Romania forestry program criticised

In December the CEE Bankwatch Network asked the Bank’s Board to delay approval of the Romania Forest Development Program. The Network said the project “does not meet the Bank’s Environmental Assessment policy and thus does not provide a meaningful picture about the project’s environmental and social impacts”. It has no concrete and detailed mitigation plan or any serious analysis of illegal harvesting and corruption. “Good practices from similar projects in the region, such as the Georgian forestry project, should be applied”, commented Jozsef Felier, Bankwatch Policy Coordinator. The Board ignored civil society concerns and approved the project.

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