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
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
Environmental Flows in Water Resources Policies, Plans, and Projects : Case Studies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-04)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. -
Publication
Transitioning to Climate Resilient Development : Perspectives from Communities in Peru
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-05)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. -
Publication
Strengthening Policy Dialogue on Environment : Learning from Five Years of Country Environmental Analysis
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-02)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. -
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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. -
Publication
National and Regional Legislation for Promotion and Support to the Prevention, Control, and Eradication of Invasive Species
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-02)One of the most difficult issues to be addressed in enabling, and conducting invasive control measures, is simply the need to apply practical legislative reasoning to the process. It is difficult because of the fact that introduction of new species cannot simply be prohibited; and, due to lack of current scientific ability to know in advance which species will become invasive. The report addresses these issues, and stipulates legislation of invasive species issues must always involve a balancing of interests-the interests mandating introduction, balanced against the interests involved in protecting natural, and agricultural ecosystems from destruction by such species. This paper is designed to consider questions of "motivation, capability, and reality," and to consider possible legislative approaches for developing countries. It comprises five parts as follows. Part I provides a conceptual and scientific summary and introduction, and Part II provides a very brief overview of some of the key global developments in the field, while Part III examines in greater detail the legislative tools available for use in the control of specie introduction, and invasive species. Part IV discusses some of the special concerns relating to the process of building one, or more legislative frameworks utilizing the legislative tools described in Part III, and, provides, in some cases, a brief identification of how the selection and use of those tools might differ within the developing country context from their use in other places. -
Publication
Models for Recognizing Indigenous Land Rights in Latin America
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-10)This paper represents an important dimension in filling Latin America history's gaps through the lens of land rights. The continent was populated by many nations, functioned in harmony with nature, had a variety of cultures and languages, and, developed many different socio-economic systems (nationally and locally). These nations were sovereign and recognized from Alaska to Patagonia. Indeed, among all of them, we know they had very advanced, and well established institutional arrangements and organizations (formal and informal), created and nurtured with the view to respond to the needs, and challenges of the time. With a variety of forms of governance, these societies did assign rights, and responsibilities to the different actors, and groups in order to maintain an acceptable level of social cohesion, to establish important political consensus. As the political systems of some countries are now becoming more democratic to listening, and embracing the views of minorities, issues of land rights have clearly surfaced. Issues of sovereignty, customary law and, simply, of traditional norms-from the national to the household levels-are being put on the table of what is clearly a complex social dialogue. The paper is an excellent source of basic information, sharing an easy and practical understanding about land tenure/titling, as discussed above. In addition, the paper represents a genuine attempt to: a) recognize the existence of these complex land rights and land titling systems across Latin America; b) study the content at the country level, so that international experiences/comparisons may spark a move towards policy coherence and legislation; and, c) demonstrate that land is not only a physical asset with some economic and financial value, but an intrinsic dimension, and part of peoples lives and belief systems. There is also a human rights dimension to all of the above. And it is essential to understand this human rights dimension of land rights, not just as a legal obligation, but as a key element of economic and social development. -
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.