Environment Department Papers
52 items available
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These discussion papers are produced primarily by the Environment Department, on occasion jointly with other departments. Papers in this series are not formal publications of the World Bank. They are circulated to encourage thought and discussion. The use and citation of this paper should take this into account. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank.
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Publication
Mainstreaming Environment and Climate Change in the Implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06)Poverty reduction strategies (PRSs) provide a central framework for macroeconomic, structural, and social policies in developing countries. Because of the numerous and complex links between environment and poverty, it is important that environmental issues are taken into account in the PRS process. This paper follows six previous assessments of the degree of mainstreaming environment in the PRS process using a similar methodology to present trends and provide an understanding of the effectiveness of environmental interventions in reducing poverty. However, it goes beyond previous assessments in three important ways. In-depth country case studies of the evolution of environmental mainstreaming in the PRS process over time. Many countries have now gone through several iterations of their poverty reduction strategies and have received a sequence of credits designed to implement key aspects of these strategies, making it possible to see how the process of mainstreaming environment in the strategies has evolved over time. In this assessment, the authors conduct detailed case studies of this evolution in Ghana, Albania, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. The choice of countries was based on the maturity of each country's PRS process, taking into consideration country size, lending volume, and vulnerability to climate change. An assessment of climate change mainstreaming in the PRS process in the same four countries. Like environment as a whole, the potential impacts of climate change have often been considered separately, if at all rather than as an integral part of development policies. An evaluation of environmental development policy loans (DPLs) in several middle income countries (Brazil, Gabon, and Mexico). DPLs represent an important opportunity to mainstream environment and climate change into middle-income countries' growth and development. This review assesses the process by which environmental DPLs have been prepared and the effectiveness with which they have been implemented. -
Publication
Mainstreaming Environment in the Implementation of PRSPs in Sub-Saharan Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-05)The current assessment builds on previously published reviews of poverty reduction strategy programs (PRSPs), and is the sixth report in a series. This paper aims at presenting a clearer picture of how PRSPs influence the developmental agenda in 11 African countries by assessing the level of environmental mainstreaming in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Process. The paper includes the following headings: introduction; framework for assessment; implementation of environment priorities; and conclusions and recommendations. -
Publication
Environment in 2005 Country Assistance Strategies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-11)Country Assistance Strategies (CASs) have been periodically reviewed from a variety of different perspectives. This review assesses how environment is integrated in CASs for 2005 and also compares the progress made by 37 countries over the period of 1999-2005. Five themes are used to assess the 23 CASs across an established methodology also used in previous reviews. The five themes are: issues identification, treatment, mainstreaming, environmental policy and poverty- environment linkages. The review finds that the treatment of environment in CASs has only marginally improved. However, the positive aspect is the increase in the number of good practice cases as illustrated by high scores of individual countries under the five different themes. These good practice cases provide lessons and serve as tools for strengthening future CASs. Poverty environment linkages continue to remain the weakest aspect of CASs.