Archived press release

WORLD BANK'S ENVIRONMENTAL PLANS HAVE "LIMITED IMPACT"

26 September 1996

While the report says that the World Bank has carried out its environmental assessments(EAs) in accordance with agreed procedures [2], the extent to which this work has actually helped the environment is called into very serious question. The report, which reviews experience in eight countries, concludes that EA's have had a "limited impact" on projects because they are prepared too late, supervision has been weak, they are too bureaucratic,impractical and that less environmentally damaging alternatives to proposed projects have not been properly considered.

Tony Juniper, Deputy Campaigns Director at Friends of the Earth, said:

"Although the World Bank has mastered some beguiling green rhetoric, the environmental damage of its multi-billion dollar programme remains without proper assessment. Governments that fund the World Bank must explore new ways of spending taxpayers money to promote sustainable development in the poorer countries".

For example, the leaked report states that:

* "EA process is not living up to its full potential to influence project design because EAs are often completed too late in the project cycle". Because of this, the report adds that "when EAs are finally completed, the project design is often already finalised, thus precluding meaningful consideration of alternatives".

* "Implementation on the ground has not adequately integrated EA recommendations and

mitigation plans" and that "related Bank supervision has been weak". The report points out that "supervision reports of projects that went through an EA are lacking in detail" and that "EAs are often not understood by project implementation staff and, in many instances, not even available in project offices".

* The report says that "projects reviewed by the study often generated massive documents that are of little use in project design and during implementation".

* "most category A project EAs have failed to give serious consideration to alternative designs and technologies as called for in the Directive, and those that do, often explore weak, superficial or easily dismissed options".

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] The internal World Bank report is entitled "Effectiveness of Environmental Assessments and National Environmental Action Plans: A Process Study". The report is based on a series of case studies, internal documents and focus groups.

[2] Environmental Assessments (EAs) of World Bank lending proposals are carried out in accordance with Operational Directive (OD) 4.00 (1989) and OD 4.01 (1991). These documents formalise the Bank procedures that must be observed in carrying out project EAs. The World Bank for example states that :

"In the Bank's EA process, borrowing countries evaluate and monitor the environmental consequences of their proposed investments throughout the project cycle. The interdisciplinary team carrying out the EA identifies ways to prevent, minimise, mitigate or compensate for negative environmental and social impacts, giving priority, where it's possible, to prevention. EA is as critical to good project design as technical, economic, and institutional analysis".

From, Environment Matters At The World Bank, Summer 1989, p5. World Bank, Washington DC.

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