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Effective management of forests is an essential component of global efforts to address the climate emergency and the biodiversity crisis. Yet, despite increasing recognition of the importance and significant value of the carbon and multiple other benefits provided by forests, and especially primary forests,1,2 forest loss and degradation continue to increase, especially in the tropics.3–5 A large contributor to the decline of forests is unsustainable industrial demand for timber, beef, soy and palm oil products.6–8 However, poor forest management is also a significant cause of forest loss and degradation.9–11 Conversely, effective management can play a key role in maintaining, enhancing and restoring forests – actions that demonstrate and uphold their ecological attributes and societal values. This policy brief sets out the basis for a new framework for forest landscape management built on the three pillars of ecosystem integrity, strong governance and effective planning. This new approach is needed because the current suite of forest and land management approaches is far from ideal. The existing models are sector-specific, focusing on industrial forestry (sustainable forest management SFM), agriculture (sustainable land management SLM) or management for conservation. Each of these management systems have their merits, but all struggle to address landscape management in a holistic and integrated way, and often fail to recognise the multiple benefits and address key drive rs to forest loss and unsustainable land use change. While there is widespread agreement within policy and practice on the need for landscape approaches to address these issues,12–14 it remains unclear what a landscape approach requires and how it should be different to existing efforts. The purpose of this policy brief is to highlight tools we can use to help implement and evaluate better landscape approaches. The Three Pillars Framework (Figure 1) – outlined in Morgan et al. (2020) ‘Integrating forest management across the landscape: a three pillar framework’ 15 – addresses this complexity and ambiguity by synthesising three key sets of principles. The framework is designed to be straightforward enough to provide guidance for the development and assessment of landscapelevel management, but also flexible enough to be applicable to multiple forest, and potentially other, landscape contexts. The three pillars – ecosystem integrity, effective planning and strong governance – are essential components to ensure both healthy forest ecosystems and sustainable, just and legitimate management of the landscape. Supporting landscape approaches requires activities, policies and strategies that address all three pillars.

In May 2015, the IFC Corporate Governance Group called together 40 experts in the field and members of the IFC Corporate Governance Private Sector Advisory Group. These participants explored key changes in international corporate governance standards and codes of best practice in the wake of the recent global financial crisis and how these changes have helped draw corporate attention to sustainability issues. The group found that many issues that became evident regarding banks in the financial crisis, and led to changes in the governance of banks, also have flowed through into broader corporate governance developments. This publication arises from the issues and information from these discussions. Specifically, part A discusses developments from global or regional groups involved in corporate governance. Part B addresses developments in corporate governance practice, and part C looks at developments in corporate governance codes and standards.

This paper studies the effects of voluntary accounting information disclosure through auditing on firm access to finance, exposure to corruption, and sales growth. Relying on a data set of more than 70,000 firms in 121 countries, the analysis finds that disclosure can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, audited firms exhibit a slightly lower level of financial constraints than unaudited firms. On the other hand, audited firms face a significantly higher level of corruption obstacles. The net effects of voluntary information disclosure on firm growth are negative, which can largely be explained by the fact that most of the countries in the sample are developing countries where institutions are weak. The beneficial effect of disclosure increases as a country’s property rights protection improves. The qualitative results are robust to considerations of the endogeneity of auditing and to alternative measures of corruption and financial constraints. The findings reveal the dark side of voluntary information disclosure: exposing firms to government expropriation where institutions are weak.

The banking sector in Moldova is in the midst of structural changes with worrisome corporate governance issues at the core. Corporate governance is at the center of a stable and profitable banking sector which is essential to support economic growth and productivity. However, the banking system in Moldova suffers from critical governance weaknesses which the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) has been unable to effectively address. The illicit schemes used to gain control of the majority of the banking sector’s assets have involved raider attacks by unidentified individuals whose subsequent, de facto, related party transactions have caused the deterioration of bank balance sheets. The recent changes in controlling ownership have resulted in nontransparent appointments of board members and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs). This has led to substantial blurring of the roles and responsibilities of ownership, oversight (board), and management, resulting in no clear accountability. The legal and institutional corporate governance framework in Moldova is weak. Sound corporate governance is first and foremost dependent upon the motivations of owners and the resultant business culture they instill through their selection and appointment of board members. In Moldova, a few actors control the majority of the banking system. They demonstrate dubious motives by acting obscurely through others and through companies to own and control important banks. These actions create a system that is held captive to serve the needs and pleasures of a few at the expense of many: the depositors, general public, and ultimately, the taxpayer.

This policy paper is motivated by the Government's 'Pakistan: framework for Economic Growth (FEG) 2011' which places weak corporate governance at the top of the 'software' constraints to growth. The efforts to reform the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have stalled in Pakistan for almost five years with significant negative implications not only in terms of fiscal losses, but also deteriorated and cost-ineffective service delivery. The paper suggests a number of urgent policy measures designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of SOEs. These include basic governance reforms, revamped commercialization processes and enhanced market regulations. The paper also provides some perspectives on international experience on SOE reforms combined with some suggestions on how the Government can move forward.