Publication:
Linking to Successful Bank-Financed Projects : Argentine Republic's Environmental and Social Regulatory Framework

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (13.47 MB)
598 downloads
English Text (443.4 KB)
49 downloads
Published
2014-06
ISSN
Date
2015-01-06
Editor(s)
Abstract
The government of Argentina and the World Bank desire to improve the efficiency and results of the environmental and social outcomes of jointly financed development projects. As part of a workshop in November 2010 attended by officials of the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance of Argentina, World Bank staff, and representatives of implementing units of projects being co-financed by the Bank, several issues with regard to the implementation of the World Bank safeguard policies and the existing Argentine environmental and social management regulatory frameworks were identified. The workshop agreed to conduct a technical study of the regulatory consistency between the Bank safeguard policies and Argentina s environmental and social legislation to serve as a vehicle for dialogue between the Bank and the government of Argentina in order to strengthen joint strategies that address environmental and social issues in development projects. The technical study involved the following (and the corresponding report section): comparison between the principles of eight of the World Bank safeguard Operational Policies (OPs) and the national and provincial regulatory frameworks in force, using the framework for equivalence analysis contained in Bank OP 4.02 as a guideline for the assessment (section two); identification of some representative key issues or lessons learned related to the operational principles of Bank safeguard policies in Argentine projects based on the experience of the Argentine implementing units and the Bank (section three); development of strategies to move forward more effectively and efficiently in Bank-financed projects in Argentina related to environmental and social management and more broadly to non-Bank-financed projects and also projects in other countries (section four); synthesis or conclusions on opportunities to promote more effective and efficient environmental and social management in development projects (section five).
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank Group. 2014. Linking to Successful Bank-Financed Projects : Argentine Republic's Environmental and Social Regulatory Framework. © http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21108 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Making It Work
    (Washington, DC, 2010) International Finance Corporation; Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency; World Bank
    This report is an output of the Better Regulation for Growth Program between the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and IC, the Investment Climate Advisory Services of the World Bank Group. The reports identifies a set of minimum requirements for a well-functioning Ria light system that is tailored to the requirements of developing countries. Embracing the overall objectives and relevance of RIA, the paper explores the fundamental set of building blocks and activities required to establish and maintain a RIA light system, taking into account what it is considered as good practice. The paper argues that the following five basic criteria have to be in place for a functioning RIA system, which is referred to as "RIA light": 1) political commitment to establish and operate an effective and self sustaining RIA process; 2) a unit or group of regulatory reformers - preferably based in a central area of government - which oversees, comments and reports on the quality of regulatory proposals before decisions are made about regulation; 3) clear and consistently applied criteria and rules employed to screen regulatory proposals; 4) a transparent regulatory policy development process, which includes consultation with stakeholders; and 5) a capacity building program, involving preparation of guidelines; training of officials preparing RIA and facilitating the required cultural changes, and establishing monitoring, evaluation and reporting systems.
  • Publication
    A Practical Handbook for Environmental Regulators and Legislators Working in Situations Affected by Fragility, Conflict and Extreme Violence
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015) Pohl, Wolfhart; Humphry, Ella
    This handbook is the product of a workshop held in June 2014 with about 25 environmental regulators from over 10 FCV-affected countries (Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Sudan) that was financed by the Korean Trust Fund (KTF) and organized and hosted by the World Bank Group (WBG). Over the course of one week the participants went through a dense program consisting of presentations, discussions, participatory exercises, field trips and the preparation and presentation of case studies from their own countries. The materials processed and harvested during the workshop were extremely rich, and it seemed logical to capture them in a form that will be of continued practical use for the participants. This handbook is intended as a handy toolkit with practical tips that is borne out of experiences garnered from years of working in FCS, including post conflict situations. The structure of this handbook was conceived during extensive discussions towards the end of the workshop and seen as a ‘road map’ towards the best chance for environmental regulators to make a difference in practice.
  • Publication
    Social Accountability Review : Forestry Sector in Moldova
    (Washington, DC, 2013-11-11) World Bank
    The forestry sector in Moldova faces significant governance and sustainability challenges. The insufficient level of forest coverage in Moldova has a serious impact on environment and overall economic growth in the country. The situation is exacerbated by the reportedly intense pressure on forest resources exerted by the human factor. Illegal logging and grazing are considered as significant factors that contribute to forest loss. There is a lack of public demand for sustainable forest management. Social accountability (SA) has been recognized as an effective mechanism to improve government service delivery and enhance developmental impact. SA mechanisms entail a broad range of approaches that enable citizens to access governmental information, lodge grievances and receive redress, oversee the provision of governmental services, and take an active part in management and decision-making processes. This report aims to review SA mechanisms that are currently available in the forestry sector in Moldova and identify opportunities for improvement.
  • Publication
    Innovative Approaches for Multi-Stakeholder Engagement in the Extractive Industries
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-06) Sheldon, Christopher Gilbert; Zarzar Casis, Alonso; Caspary, Georg; Seiler, Verena; Ruiz Mier, Fernando
    Extractive industries (oil, gas, and mining) have the potential to generate significant wealth for developing countries and to serve as important catalysts for growth. They generate large revenues-through royalties, taxation, and exports-and create employment. In some cases, however, resource wealth is associated with political turmoil, deteriorating standards of living, civil conflict, and elite capture. The management's response to the Extractive Industries Review (EIR) and accompanying evaluations signaled a critical turning point in the World Bank Group's (WBG's) engagement in the sector, which had hitherto focused primarily on exploration and development activities, sector policy reform, and commercialization of state-owned enterprises. This publication presents four of the finalist case studies, selected on the basis of project: 1) scalability; 2) replicability; 3) innovation; and 4) level of multi-stakeholder collaboration. In an effort to better document and showcase the variety of ways in which country teams are working with different actors on the often sensitive topic of good governance in the oil, gas, and mining sectors, the World Bank Institute and the World Bank Oil, Gas and Mining Unit (SEGOM) initiated an internal case story competition in 2011.
  • Publication
    Regulatory Quality Indicators
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010) International Finance Corporation; Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency; World Bank
    In this first working paper the authors present and compare systems of indicators of regulatory quality, analyzing their conceptual underpinnings, technical properties, and usage by governments, stakeholders and academics. After having discussed the datasets and the types of data available, they authors consider a set of critical aspects related to the design, data gathering and utilization of indicators, providing suggestions for improvement. The authors' major findings and proposals are the following: systems of indicators have been developed ad hoc, by organizations pursuing different objectives over time and across the world. Conceptual underpinnings, modalities of data-gathering, and types of usage reflect different operationalizations of regulatory quality. In the construction of regulatory indicator datasets, the first essential step is to gauge the quality of data, in order to construct insightful and meaningful measurements. Especially in developing countries, the consideration of the quality of data is preliminary to any technical and statistical discussion on how to treat data. Western governments tend to use single measures with the specific purpose of improving methods of regulatory analysis (through studies that analyze the conduct of regulators). The authors have not found systematic attempts to measure how regulatory reform is changing the attitudes towards regulation of regulators and policy officers who develop legislation. Aggregation should reflect basic technical rules, but more importantly, it should be performed in a way that conveys messages to those who are supposed to make use of the composite measures. To illustrate, if the goals of regulatory reform are institutionalization, economic growth, accountability, interaction with the stakeholders and communication, aggregation should be performed along these four dimensions, not in relation to abstract technical properties.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Implementation of Environmental Policies
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-03) Triana, Ernesto Sanchez; Ortolano, Leonard; Dezfuli, Ghazal; Kanakia, Rahul; Ruta, Giovanni
    The Bank's environmental agenda has evolved gradually since the 1970s. During the 1970s and 1980s, the main focus was on mitigating the potential environmental damage associated with investment projects using environmental impact assessments (EIA). This approach was formalized in the Bank's environmental assessment (EA) requirements, which today consist of a set of individual environmental policies and procedures. Recent evaluations of the Bank's safeguards policy implementation reveal that shortages in environmental safeguards specialists and inadequate skills mix, among other factors, are affecting the quality of safeguards implementation. This report recommends strengthening the environmental safeguards career track to help elevate the profile of safeguards specialists and provide opportunities for career advancement in the course of doing safeguards work. The report also recommends that there be an organizational restructuring to enhance the Bank's capabilities for conducting effective safeguards work. Furthermore, the report recommends developing a comprehensive training program that will enhance the safeguards skill mix and increase the effectiveness of safeguards support at the Bank. This report also recommends adopting a categorization methodology that reduces reliance on procedures requiring subjective judgments. Next, the report recommends the creation of a systematic program for measuring, reporting, and evaluating the effects of safeguards implementation. It also recommends a move towards substantive compliance and environmental sustainability principles for the safeguards framework. This report also recommends disseminating knowledge of policy instruments, besides environment impact assessments, that are able to produce similar or better outcomes than the Bank's safeguard policy requirements. The design and implementation of instruments for environmental policy can be pursued with a more risk-based and differentiated approach, based on country or borrower capacity. In addition to the mitigation of negative impacts, this report recommends institutionalizing the enhancement of positive impacts and client capacity building measures into the safeguards framework.
  • Publication
    Corporate Governance
    (Washington, DC, 2015-04) International Finance Corporation
    Emerging markets are becoming important engines of global growth. These markets, such as the transition economies in Europe and Central Asia, are viewed with increasing interest by foreign investors as private sector participation grows, as regulatory reforms take effect, and as individual firms focus on elevating their business practices to align with international standards. In fact, foreign direct investment inflows to transition economies increased by 28 percent to reach $108 billion in 2013, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Sound corporate governance is a critical element in helping these emerging markets meets their full economic potential. Good corporate governance, defined as the structures and processes by which companies and banks are directed and controlled, helps firms operate more efficiently, improves access to capital, mitigates risk, and safeguards against mismanagement. Good governance also facilitates appropriate consideration of other critical issues for enterprises, including environmental and social responsibility. It is the foundation for long-term business growth and sustainability, adding value for investors and contributing lasting dividends for economies. Companies and banks, particularly those in emerging markets that are focused on improving their corporate governance can look to a growing body of evidence that such efforts matter, yielding bottom line benefits, reputational enhancements, and competitive differentiation. In one study of note, the Emerging Market Investor Survey, 100 percent of the investors interviewed said they will pay a higher premium for good governance in an emerging market firm than what they would pay for a similar firm in a developed market. As companies and banks in Europe and Central Asia find their place on the world’s economic stage, efforts to enhance governance practices are helping them reduce their business risks, improve performance, and set the course for long-term success and profitability.
  • Publication
    Inflation in Emerging and Developing Economies
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019) Ha, Jongrim; Kose, M. Ayhan; Ohnsorge, Franziska; Ha, Jongrim; Kose, M. Ayhan; Ohnsorge, Franziska; Ivanova, Anna; Laborde, David; Lakatos, Csilla; Martin, Will; Matsuoka, Hideaki; Montiel, Peter J.; Panizza, Ugo; Pedroni, Peter; Stocker, Marc; Unsal, Filiz D.; Vorisek, Dana; Yilmazkuday, Hakan
    Emerging market and developing economies, like advanced economies, have experienced a remarkable decline in inflation over the past half-century. Yet, research into this development has focused almost exclusively on advanced economies. This book fills that gap, providing the first comprehensive and systematic analysis of inflation in emerging market and developing economies. It examines how inflation has evolved and become synchronized among economies; what drives inflation globally and domestically; where inflation expectations have become better-anchored; and how exchange rate fluctuations can pass through to inflation. To reach its conclusions, the book employs cutting edge empirical approaches. It also offers a rich data set of multiple measures of inflation for a virtually global sample of countries over a half-century to spur further research into this important topic.
  • Publication
    Digital Africa
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13) Begazo, Tania; Dutz, Mark Andrew; Blimpo, Moussa
    All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.
  • Publication
    Review of MIGA's Experience with Safeguards and Sustainability Policies (1999-2008)
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011) Liebenthal, Andres
    The objective of this study is to respond to the overarching question posed for the Independent Evaluation Group's (IEG) evaluation of the World Bank Group's (WBG) experience with safeguards and sustainability policies (1999-2008), based on experience of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (IEG 2010): how effective has the safeguards policy framework of the WBG been in preventing and mitigating adverse environmental and social impacts? The study is organized in four Chapters. Chapter one introduces the objective of the study, outlines the evolution of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's (MIGA) sustainability framework, summarizes highlights from earlier evaluations and describes the approach for the study. Chapter two reviews MIGA's implementation of the sustainability framework's processes, including the projects initial screening and review, monitoring and supervision. Chapter three reviews the outcomes from MIGA's implementation of its environmental and social policies, to the extent that they can be discerned from the available information. Chapter four presents some concluding reflections.