External funding

Of the total World Bank aid of $9.9 billion for agriculture development in India upto 1990, about $350 million went to forestry. Since then, projects worth $282 million have been finalised and projects amounting to about $400 million are in the pipeline. The Bank funding in India had begun in 1975 with its $4 million project on forestry technical assistance.

The period between 1988 and 1991 was a little sluggish because all the 8 Bank-aided social forestry projects came to an end. The United States Agency for International Development withdrew from the forestry sector completely in 1988 due to a change in its global policy. SIDA withdrew its support from 2 projects because it was dissatisfied with their implementation.

In view of this, a serious crunch was anticipated in the forestry sector. But things looked up again when the Bank decided to review its forestry strategy to address the mistakes of social forestry projects and stepped up its funding. SIDA is also negotiating its future projects after a thorough review of the existing ones.

Meanwhile, countries such as Japan and UK have come forward, largely guided by the global environmental concerns for biodivesity conservation and climate change.