In October 2002, the World Bank adopted a new policy on forests. Reversing the previous policy which had prohibited the Bank from funding projects that would destroy primary moist tropical forests, the new policy, adopted with the encouragement of the WWF, was aimed at encouraging greater involvement in forestry.
The policy was roundly condemned by many of the NGOs and Indigenous Peoples' organisations that had been involved in the lengthy consultations that had preceded its agreement. The main reasons we contested the policy were that it: