World Bank2012-03-192012-03-192010-06-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2866Around the world, it is increasingly being recognized that for sustainability goals to be reached, efforts need to go beyond compliance with standards and mitigation of adverse impacts, to identifying environmental sustainability as an objective of the development process. This requires a focus on policies that promote integration of environmental, sustainability, and climate change considerations into development strategies and sector reform. Because sector reform brings about significant policy change involving adjustments in laws, policies, regulations and institutions, it is a sensitive political process often driven by strong economic interests. Policy makers are subject to a number of political pressures that originate in vested interests. In situations such as these, the recommendations of environmental assessment are often of little relevance unless there are constituencies that support them, and with sufficient political power to make their voices heard in the policy process. While strong constituencies are important during the design of sector reform, they are even more important during implementation. It follows that effective environmental assessment in sector reform requires strong constituencies backing up recommendations, a system to hold policy makers accountable for their decisions, and institutions that can balance competing and, sometimes, conflicting interests.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO INFORMATIONACCOUNTABILITYBANKSBILATERAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCIESCAPACITY DEVELOPMENTCIVIL SOCIETYCIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONSCLIMATECLIMATE CHANGECLIMATE CHANGE ISSUESDECISION MAKINGDEFORESTATIONDONOR COMMUNITYECONOMIC ACTIVITYECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTECONOMIC GROWTHENVIRONMENTALENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATIONENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICSENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCEENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTSENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATIONENVIRONMENTAL ISSUESENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENTENVIRONMENTAL POLICYENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMSENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCESEXPLOITATIONFINANCIAL SUPPORTFORESTFOREST MANAGEMENTFORESTRYFORESTSGLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGEGOOD GOVERNANCEGOVERNANCE DIMENSIONSGOVERNANCE PROGRAMGOVERNMENT AGENCIESGOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTSGOVERNMENT OFFICIALSIMPLEMENTATION OF POLICIESINCOMEINITIATIVEINVESTIGATIONSJUSTICELAWSLEADERSHIPMEDIAMINESMULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKSNATIONAL GOVERNMENTSNATURAL RESOURCENATURAL RESOURCESPARTNERSHIPPOLICY ACTIONPOLICY AGENDAPOLICY CHANGEPOLICY DECISIONSPOLICY DESIGNPOLICY DEVELOPMENTPOLICY DISCUSSIONPOLICY FORMATIONPOLICY FORMULATIONPOLICY IMPLEMENTATIONPOLICY IMPLICATIONSPOLICY INTEGRATIONPOLICY INTERVENTIONPOLICY INTERVENTIONSPOLICY MAKERSPOLICY MAKINGPOLICY PROCESSPOLICY PROCESSESPOLICY REFORMPOLICY-MAKINGPOLITICAL ECONOMYPOLLUTIONPOLLUTION CONTROLPUBLIC PARTICIPATIONREGULATORY FRAMEWORKREGULATORY FRAMEWORKSRESOURCE MANAGEMENTRESOURCE USERIVERRULES OF CONDUCTSEASEASSET ASIDESUSTAINABILITY OF DEVELOPMENTSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTSUSTAINABLE POLICIESTRADEOFFSTRANSPARENCYWATER RESOURCESWorld Bank10.1596/2866