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.
Items in this collection
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Publication
Paying for Biodiversity Conservation Services in Agricultural Landscapes
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-05)This paper describes the contract mechanism developed for the Regional Integrated Silvopastoral Ecosystem Management Project, which is being implemented with financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The project is testing the use of the payment-for-service mechanism to encourage the adoption of silvopastoral practices in three countries of Central and South America: Colombia, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. The project has created a mechanism that pays land users for the global environmental services they are generating, so that the additional income stream makes the proposed practices privately profitable. -
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
Tourism and the Environment in the Caribbean : An Economic Framework
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-03)While tourism is one of the most important economic activities in the Caribbean, its reliance is based uniquely on the natural environment, indicating the resource base upon which all of this economic activity is based, is however fragile. Thus, sustainable tourism, and its economic benefits require ensuring that the environmental resources the sector relies on, are managed responsibly by the countries of the Caribbean, the tourism/travel industry, and the visitors themselves. The study examines the links between tourism, and environment, pointing at the magnitude of environmental threats, and the role of information, at creating strong incentives, addressing environmental problems certification schemes, to allow credible advertisement of its environmental quality. Capturing tourism economic "rents" - defined as an excess return to an asset - is viewed as a policy question for governments, on how to use these rents effectively. Mechanisms to capture rents include charging user fees when accessing a particular environmental resource, however, when environmental resources are public goods, user fees do not provide a practical means of capturing generated rents, thus more general taxation schemes are required. Based on this analysis, recommendations include the establishment of corporate income taxes, and moderate tariff rates for tourism inputs, establishing taxation, to be partly, and explicitly identified for environmental, and/or resource user fees.