Environment Department Papers

52 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18025

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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Agricultural Development under a Changing Climate: Opportunities and Challenges for Adaptation

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-08) Padgham, Jon

Climate change presents a profound challenge to food security and development. Negative impacts from climate change are likely to be greatest in regions that are currently food insecure and may even be significant in those regions that have made large gains in reducing food insecurity over the past half-century. Adaptation in the agricultural sector is being given a high priority within this effort because of the inherent sensitivity of food production to climate and the strong inter-linkages that exist between climate, agriculture, and economic growth and development. The purpose of this report is to review the major effects of climate change on the agricultural sector; to examine the causes of vulnerability; and to suggest a range of potential options and investment opportunities for supporting adaptation efforts and, more generally, for building adaptive capacity. This report primarily focuses on appropriate strategies for adapting to climate change impacts that are projected to occur over the next one to two decades, although several issues covered in this report are important for long-term adaptation needs as well. This report also describes opportunities for linking adaptation and mitigation, and it discusses the importance of mainstreaming adaptation into development.
Mainstreaming Environment and Climate Change in the Implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategies

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06) Griebenow, Gonzalo ; Kishore, Sunanda

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.
Climate Change and Sea Level Rise : A Review of the Scientific Evidence

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-05) Dasgupta, Susmita ; Meisner, Craig

Sea-level rise (SLR) due to climate change is a serious global threat: the scientific evidence is now overwhelming. The rate of global sea level rise was faster from 1993 to 2003, about 3.1 mm per year, as compared to the average rate of 1.8 mm per year from 1961 to 2003 (IPCC, 2007); and significantly higher than the average rate of 0.1 to 0.2 mm/yr increase recorded by geological data over the last 3,000 years. Anthropogenic warming and SLR will continue for centuries due to the time scales associated with climate processes and feedbacks, even if greenhouse gas concentrations were to be stabilized. This paper reviews the scientific literature to date on climate change and sea level rise. There appears to be a consensus across studies that global sea level is projected to rise during the 21st century at a greater rate than during the period 1961 to 2003 and unanimous agreement that SLR will not be geographically uniform. Ocean thermal expansion is projected to contribute significantly, and land ice will increasingly lose mass at an accelerated rate. But most controversial are the mass balance loss estimates of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets and what the yet un-quantified dynamic processes will imply in terms of SLR. Recent evidence on the vulnerability of Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheets to climate warming raises the alarming possibility of SLR by one meter or more by the end of the 21st century.
Strategic Environmental Assessment : Improving Water Resources Governance and Decision Making - Case Studies

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-04) Hirji, Rafik ; Davis, Richard

The overall goal of this report is to help water resources and environment professionals within the Bank and client countries use strategic environmental assessment (SEA) to effectively implement the principles of integrated water resources management (IWRM). The report contains four elements: (1) a review of SEA support for IWRM; (2) an analysis of 10 case studies and four water policies; (3) an in-depth pilot study of water sector reform in a developing country; and (4) a framework for enhancing the use of SEAs in integrated water resources management. This SEA provides important lessons on the usage of SEA rather than on the technical aspects of conducting them. It illustrates how an environmental instrument can be used to further development and poverty alleviation as well as environmental protection by putting its findings and recommendations in terms that are meaningful to politicians and senior decision makers. This includes use of economic and financial arguments and linkages to national goals such as poverty reduction and millennium development goals (MDGs). It also illustrates the importance of building support among a wider constituency than just the lead agency and working patiently over a number of years to implement reforms. The influence of an SEA can be felt a number of years as opportunities arise to implement components of a reform program. Finally, it clearly illustrates that an SEA need not be costly or time consuming to be influential if it is focused on the core questions, builds a constituency, and presents its findings in a way that is relevant to decision makers.
Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects : Case Studies

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-04) Hirji, Rafik ; Davis, Richard

The overall goal of this report and the accompanying report summarizing the findings and recommendations, both based on the economic and sector work (ESW), is to advance the understanding and integration in operational terms of environmental water allocation into integrated water resources management. The specific objectives of the reports are the following: 1) document the changing understanding of environmental flows, both by water resources practitioners and by environmental experts within the Bank and in borrowing countries; 2) draw lessons from experience in implementing environmental flows by the Bank, other international development organizations with experience in this area, and a small number of developed and developing countries; 3) develop an analytical framework to support more effective integration of environmental flow considerations for informing and guiding: (a) the planning, design, and operations decision making of water resources infrastructure projects; (b) the legal, policy, institutional, and capacity development related to environmental flows; and (c) restoration programs; and 4) provide recommendations for improvements in technical guidance to better incorporate environmental flow considerations into the preparation and implementation of lending operations.
Transitioning to Climate Resilient Development : Perspectives from Communities in Peru

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-05) Sperling, Frank ; Validivia, Corinne ; Quiroz, Roberto ; Valdivia, Roberto ; Angulo, Lenkiza ; Seimon, Anton ; Noble, Ian

The livelihoods of communities in rural areas of Peru are predominantly dependent on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture. Given their close connection with the environment, the understanding of how these communities perceive risks and how they adapt to and cope with climate hazards is important for identifying entry points for efforts aimed at building resilience. In this context, it is assumed that the successful use of climate information will depend on appropriate information formats that fit the decision-making structure of communities as stakeholders and also have their trust. In connection with collecting information of community knowledge on environmental predictors of weather and climatic conditions and recommendations for capacity-building needs, it is hoped that the report will provide valuable, initial guidance on which elements play an important role in strengthening the adaptive capacity of communities to climate variability and change. The objective of part one is to place climate variability and change into the broader development of Peru and outline risk management structures. This overview will then be contrasted with the perceptions of risks and vulnerabilities and coping and adaptation strategies at the community level described in part two for Northwestern Peru and the altiplano, which are regions considered highly vulnerable to climate-related hazards. The report concludes by developing a set of overarching and locale-specific recommendations.
Strengthening Policy Dialogue on Environment : Learning from Five Years of Country Environmental Analysis

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-02) Pillai, Poonam

The objective of this paper is to review experience with completed country environmental analysis (CEAs) to improve the effectiveness of CEAs as a strategic analytical tool. Through in-depth analysis of the process, methodologies, costs, and results of completed CEA pilots, the paper assesses how effective CEAs have been in informing and providing strategic guidance to the Bank and client countries on environment-development issues and the extent to which they have facilitated donor coordination. The analysis carried out in this paper also provides feedback on when to prepare a CEA, how to prepare and structure CEAs, and how to use specific methodologies and processes in influencing policy dialogue with partner countries. The findings are of potential interest to World Bank sector managers, country directors, CEA task teams, and environmental staff, but also to development partners who carry out work similar to CEAs. The paper is based on a desk review of completed CEAs and on interviews with task managers and members of CEA teams. Several reports, including a fieldwork-based assessment of the Ghana, India, and Guatemala CEAs commissioned by the Environment Department; a review on Tunisia by the Quality Assurance Group (QAG); and a report commissioned by the Latin America and Caribbean Region, based on in-country assessments of completed CEAs, have also informed this study. A detailed case study analysis of each completed CEA was prepared for this exercise; it substantively informed the review and is available as a background paper. The original CEA concept note proposed that CEAs have three main building blocks: (a) establishment of environment-development priorities linked with growth and poverty reduction, (b) assessment of the environmental implications of sector policies, and (c) institutional analysis. Assessing CEAs against this building block structure, the review highlights several findings.
Mainstreaming Environment in the Implementation of PRSPs in Sub-Saharan Africa

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-05) Kishore, Sunanda

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.
Environment in 2005 Country Assistance Strategies

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-11) Kishore, Sunanda

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.
The Aid Trade : International Assistance as Pathways for the Introduction of Invasive Alien Species

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-03) Murphy, Sean T. ; Cheesman, Oliver D.

It is now recognized that invasive alien species (IAS) pose a major threat to agricultural and natural ecosystems, and to human health and livelihoods. These non-native species, which are accidentally or intentionally introduced into new areas, range from microbes to mammals. This report examines the precise origins of many existing IAS problems, particularly in the developing world, which remain poorly understood. This complicates assessments of the relative importance of different vectors and pathways for IAS introductions, and the prediction of future risks. International assistance programs can facilitate both deliberate, and unintentional IAS introductions. Such misjudgments and accidents are costly; indeed, their negative effects may be far greater, and more long-lasting than the positive impacts of the aid programs from which they arose. It is thus suggested that knowing how, and from where, IAS are being introduced are important first steps in the development of effective prevention and early detection schemes. An urgent, and fuller, assessment is needed on the nature and severity of IAS threats associated with international assistance programs. Particular attention needs to be paid to vectors and pathways of movement. Part of the focus should be on case studies, in order to elucidate more fully constraints in relation to existing prevention schemes. Nonetheless, some actions should be considered in advance, including awareness raising to aid agencies, and promoting the development of voluntary codes of conduct, and risk assessments.