Environment Department Papers
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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.
Items in this collection
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Publication
A Review of the Valuation of Environmental Costs and Benefits in World Bank Projects
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-12)The review examines the use of environmental valuation in 101 projects in the World Bank's environmental portfolio approved in fiscal years 2000, 2001, and 2002. It has three broad objectives. First, it examines the extent to which environmental costs and benefits have been incorporated in the economic analysis of projects. Second, it examines how well valuation was used. Third, it seeks to identify areas of weakness so as to feed into plans for capacity building. The results show that the use of environmental valuation has increased substantially in the last decade. Ten years ago, one project in 162 used environmental valuation. In recent years, as many as one third of the projects in the environmental portfolio did so. While this represents a substantial improvement, there remains considerable scope for growth. -
Publication
Poverty Reduction and the Millennium Development Goal on Environmental Sustainability : Opportunities for Alignment
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-09)About 50 countries have prepared interim and full Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). In this context, this paper examines Millennium Development Goal (MDG)7: Ensuring Environmental Sustainability, its targets and indicators, and responds to three questions: To what extent do PRSPs define and adopt targets and indicators that align with those of MDG7? To what extent do the available data allow tracking of progress with respect to MDG7? When data are available, what are the trends, and how can the data be effectively utilized to examine the status and trends of countries in relation to MDG7? The assessment of interim and full Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) shows that: 1) Only 12 of the 28 full PRSPs present some information on the baselines and targets in line with the MDG7; and none of the 22 interim PRSPs present discussion on the long-term perspective; 2) Within the PRSPs that present targets aligned with MDG7, attention is almost exclusively focused on water and sanitation; 3) Available data can be used to document the status and trends of relevant MDG7 indicators. -
Publication
A Critical Review of the Literature on Structural Adjustment and the Environment
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-04)This paper analyzes the available literature about the effects of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) on the environment and the convincing evidence for their success or failure. The studies covered refer to the SAPs by the World Bank as well as to general government programs that have similar policy implications. SAPs are designed to reform economies to become more liberalized and export-oriented while reducing the role of governments that have become inefficient bureaucracies. Because of the implications of policies such as debt accumulation and trade, a concise literature review on debt and trade liberalization is also included. Despite the controversy surrounding structural adjustment and the environment, the debate has been largely based on anecdotal evidence and country case studies. Most of the studies reviewed are not quantitative and have not applied rigorous statistical methods. The conclusions of studies on the effects of structural adjustment (SA) on the environment are strongly influenced by what is examined, the sectoral level, and the stage of the SA process. The infrequency of high-caliber studies is due to data scarcity and statistical limitations. There is little reason to doubt, however, that over the longer term, the sorts of changes in incentive structures and relative price changes brought about by SA lending will have an impact on the environment. Economies undergoing SA will experience both growth (assuming the success of SAPs) and structural shifts, which will affect the extraction of natural resources and the level of pollution emissions. -
Publication
Poverty Reduction Strategies and Environment : A Review of 40 Interim and Full Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-06)This review systematically assesses the focus of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) on environment-related issues. A total of 40 Interim and full PRSPs from countries in Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central and East Asia are reviewed. Four major questions: are posed: (i) What issues of environmental concerns and opportunities are identified in the PRSPs?; (ii) To what extent are poverty-environment causal links analyzed?; (iii) To what extent are environmental management responses and indicators put in place as part of the poverty reduction efforts?; and (iv) To what extent has the design and documentation of the process allowed for mainstreaming the environment? The review finds:: There is considerable variation across countries in the degree of mainstreaming: from a high score of 2.2 (Mozambique) to a low of 0.3 (Sao Tome Principe). Scores indicate the approximate level of attention given to environmental matters in the PRSPs. Some variation across countries is legitimate and to be expected, but there is no reason to believe that the lower scoring countries are free from concerns of environmental health and natural resources degradation linked to poverty. Finally, it should be recalled that a PRSP is only the written expression of an underlying and still emerging process of participation and implementation. What ultimately matters are the results on the ground, which cannot be evaluated across 40 countries at this point in time. -
Publication
Country Assistance Strategies and the Environment
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-07)This report is the outcome of a Country Assistance Strategy and Environment program that was started and aimed to identify practical constraints to incorporating environmental concerns into CASs and to develop a logical framework for doing so. The analysis is based on two key efforts: a review of CASs undertaken in fiscal year 1999, and five participatory case studies of on-going CASs. The report presents a set of practical actions to improve the environmental quality of CASs based on the learning that emerged from the case studies and the environmental review: 1) integrating environmental considerations into country activities; 2) linking environmental efforts to poverty reduction; 3) strengthening the information base; and 4) improving the CAS process. After the introduction, Chapter 2 presents a review of fiscal year 1999 CASs and ranks them according to their treatment of environmental issues. Regional differences are discussed, best practices examined, and recommendations made for future CASs. The methodology used for the review is described in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 discusses the CAS process in five countries - Azerbaijan, Dominican Republic, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Zambia. The chapter then examines practical challenges to mainstreaming environmental issues. The last chapter identifies lessons learned and presents recommendations. -
Publication
Social and Environmental Assessment to Promote Sustainability : An Informal View from the World Bank
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-01)This report compares the history of Environmental Assessment (EA) and Social Assessment (SA) in the World Bank, in order to draw "lessons learned" to improve development. The main need-to shift attention from the EA report to implementation on the ground-has been started recently (Goodland and Mercier 1999), so this paper focuses on process. The history of social and economic assessments shows how scarce social and natural capital is being converted to abundant economic capital. The EA and SA processes are examined to see the extent to which they could promote sustainability, the maintenance of capital. This means social and economic assessments can be used to prevent inadvertent consumption of natural and social capital. Following a historical section, there is a brief but more theoretical section on the substitutability between the four main forms of capital and their relevance to achieving the goal of sustainability by means of improved social and economic assessments.