Environment Department Papers
52 items available
Permanent URI for this collection
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
1 - 10 of 11
-
Publication
Clean Air and Healthy Lungs : Enhancing the World Bank's Approach to Air Quality Management
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-02)This report specifically deals with air pollution, which was reported, by the World Health Organization (WHO), as the single largest environmental health risk globally in 2012 (WHO, 2014a). Air pollution from outdoor and household sources jointly account for more than 7 million deaths (3.7 million from ambient air pollution and 4.3 million from household air pollution). The following sections of this chapter present the objectives of, and key aspects of the institutional context for, this report followed by an examination of some of the major drivers of deteriorating ambient air quality in developing countries; air pollution sources and impacts; and the status of air quality management in developing countries. Chapter two presents the results of a desk-based portfolio review of World Bank projects that are relevant to reduction of air pollution. This is followed, in chapter three, by an examination of case studies of World Bank projects whose objectives include addressing ambient air pollution, highlighting good practices and lessons for future work of the Bank in supporting clients. Chapter four presents possible approaches for enhancing future Bank support in helping clients to improve air quality and reduce the associated adverse health outcomes. Chapter five presents overall conclusions and recommendations. -
Publication
Reducing Disease Risk in Aquaculture
(Washington, DC, 2014-06)There are thousands of rickettsial, viral, bacterial, protozoan, and metazoan parasites that cause disease in farmed aquatic animals. While the basics of farm-level disease management are known, the interconnectedness among aquaculture installations and between aquaculture and the external environment means that only a few careless farms can ruin an industry. Considering the gravity and frequency of fish disease outbreaks, guidelines on the development and implementation of national policies for their prevention, detection, and management are urgently needed. Hampering this is the lack of a comprehensive overview of the practical ways and means of regulating aquaculture that will permit both governments and aqua culturists to: (1) calculate the cost-benefit ratio of investments in disease control, and (2) find a cost-effective strategy for the implementation of best practices. The study is based on review of published and unpublished data supplied by the Chilean, Vietnamese, Malagasy, and Mozambican authorities, researchers, and local aquaculture investors and other stakeholders. The selection of case studies was guided by the need to explore disease outbreaks in a range of geographical and industrial development scenarios. The three case studies capture the breadth and depth of experience among farmers and governments confronted with catastrophic disease outbreaks in aquaculture. The overarching lesson is that successful aquaculture depends on the capacity of biological systems to support it. Defining the capacities of bodies of water is essential in order to regulate the number of farms and to set limits on the maximum production in farming areas. -
Publication
Learning from World Bank History : Agriculture and Food-Based Approaches for Addressing Malnutrition
(Washington, DC, 2014-06)The purpose of this paper is to provide forward-looking recommendations for linking agriculture and nutrition by looking back over the 40 years since both nutrition and rural development began at the Bank in 1973. This paper sets out to explore whether what is currently being suggested has been attempted in the past; in what circumstances, with what sort of support or commitment, by what actors, and with what results. Throughout, the World Bank is a case study set within the larger development aid architecture due to its role as one of the largest actors in agriculture and nutrition investments in developing countries around the nutrition initially was housed in the Population department (1972-75), and then moved to Agriculture and Rural Development (1975-79). Since 1979 it has been housed with health and other human development world. The initial motivation was to showcase the depth of historical resources available in the World Bank Group Archives, and to demonstrate how they can be used to inform current practice. Several lessons learned primarily from the World Bank experience are applicable to the Bank's current commitment to nutrition-sensitive agriculture, as well as to the development community at large, that is tackling the same agenda. -
Publication
Reducing Climate-Sensitive Disease Risks
(Washington, DC, 2014-04)Disease risks to humans, animals, and plants are determined by interconnected environmental variables that affect incidence, transmission, and outbreak. Climate change affects many of the environmental variables that lead to disease. Regardless of the species involved, the impacts can ultimately affect the health, livelihood, and economic security of humans. The objective of this World Bank economic and sector work is to build on scientific and operational knowledge of early action tools to help practitioners reduce the risks of key climate-sensitive infectious diseases by strengthening risk management systems for disease outbreaks. The report includes an assessment of known interventions such as the establishment of surveillance systems, the development of region and nation-specific disease outlooks, the creation of climate-sensitive disease risk maps, and the construction and implementation of early warning advisory systems. This research highlights the need for better understanding of the evolving interactions between the environment and emerging and reemerging disease pathogens. It also points to the inseparable interactions between animal health and human health, which climate change appears to be reinforcing and even diversifying. The assessment looks at investments that can lead to the development of these tools, working toward reducing global climate-sensitive disease risk. Because of the breadth of species affected by climate-sensitive disease, it has been helpful to select a model through which the specific impact of climate change and disease can be traced. In this instance, livestock has been chosen, given its significant global presence, economic importance, and susceptibility to disease outbreak. The livestock sector plays a vital role in the economies of many developing countries. Globally it accounts for 40 percent of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP). -
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
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
Public Consultation in Environmental Assessments 1997-2000 : Findings from the Third Environmental Assessment Review
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-06)According to internal and external reviews of the public consultation process, public consultations have increasingly become a standard part of the environmental assessment process in Bank operations. However, the current challenge for Bank operations focuses on the quality of public consultations and the extent to which they influence project design and effect project impact. In an attempt to evaluate how projects were meeting this challenge, the Third Review assessed whether qualitative and quantitative improvements in EA public consultations had taken place for Category A and B Bank-financed projects (A project is classified as Category A if it is "likely to have significant adverse environmental impacts that are sensitive, diverse or unprecedented." On the other hand, a project is classified as Category B if it will not have significantly adverse impacts on human populations or environmentally important areas including wetlands, forests, grasslands, and other natural habitats.) In order to provide guidance for improving public consultation in future EA processes, the review also identified challenges and best practices, and briefly examined whether these improvements were similarly reflected in the work of financial intermediaries and regional and sectoral environmental assessments (SEAs). -
Publication
A Decade of Environment Management in Chile
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-07)This publication presents an evaluation of the Environmental Institutions Development Project in Chile, selected by Bank management to be part of an intensive learning process in final project evaluation, given its contributing factor to the Bank's knowledge base on environmental institutional development projects. The first part of the publication focuses on the project as catalyst for culture change, and contains excerpts from lessons learned, with extensive input from the Project's implementing agency - Comision Nacional del Medio Ambiente (CONAMA) - government officials, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and academia. Such lessons indicate that in the absence of a national policy framework, particularly where a tradition of coordination in the subject does not yet exist, it is necessary to limit the project's objectives, but include an aggressive awareness promotion, and consensus on environmental issues, with a direct focus on human resources development in respect to environmental decision-making in sector agencies. The second part, reflects on the evolution of environmental institutional development, through working papers presented at, and compiled from the Seminar on Environmental Management, covering issues such as design, and progress in environmental management, the roles of the public, and private sectors, as well as that of civil society's perspectives. Further subjects acknowledge international influences from an industry's perspective on environmental quality, and impact, and, address how to strengthen the ties between environmental institutions, and the international community. -
Publication
Climate Information and Forecasting for Development : Lessons from the 1997/98 El Nino
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-12)Human welfare and development are heavily influenced by climatic factors. As many as 95 percent of all disaster-related casualties occur in developing countries, and after an event the recovery often takes years. Natural disasters can significantly derail the process of social and economic development. The Bank has always supported reconstruction in countries affected by natural disasters. A forward-looking approach to disaster management is needed, in which natural hazards are screened, analyzed, and dealt with in an integrated fashion and in as routine and efficient a manner as are other risks affecting development. This paper argues that the effective use of climate information and forecasting should become an integral part of the new paradigm of comprehensive disaster management. Longer-range forecasts of many phenomena can now be produced at a time scale, reliability, and spatial resolution that make them useful for planning purposes. Forecasts of El Nino Southern Oscillation events are one such example, and their use for disaster management is the main focus of this paper. The use of climate information and forecasts requires strong local institutions, well-functioning procedures for information dissemination, and the trust and motivation of end-users. -
Publication
Environmental Costs of Fossil Fuels : A Rapid Assessment Method with Application to Six Cities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2000-10)Among the key external effects of fossil fuel contribution are urban air pollution, and changes in global climate. A study of six cities in developing countries, and transition economies estimates the magnitude of these effects, and, examines how various fuels, and pollution sources contribute to health damages, and other environmental costs. The study develops a simple, but robust method for rapid assessment of these damages. By linking the damage to a particular fuel use, or pollution source, the method makes possible cost-benefit analysis of pollution abatement measures. The findings show very high levels of environmental damage, and reveal large sectoral differences. By far the greatest share of the total damage, is that to human health, from exposure to ambient particulates, caused mainly by small pollution sources, such as vehicles, and household stoves. Large industries, and power plants account for a smaller proportion of health damage, but are the major contributors to carbon dioxide emissions, which have an impact on global climate. The complex relationships between pollution sources, and environmental effects, highlight the need for a skillful mix of policy instruments, built on rigorous analysis. The damage assessment method proposed herein, provides a useful analytical tool, to be easily applied to other urban areas.