On May 27, 2014 more than 20 civil society organizations sent a letter to World Bank President Jim Yong Kim expressing concerns about two proposed new World Bank agricultural sector loans to Uzbekistan, the South Karakalpakstan Water Resource Management Improvement Project and the Horticulture Development Project.
In March 2010, Mexico presented its Readiness Plan Proposal (RPP) to the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) governance body—the Participants Committee—receiving a favorable response and triggering authorization of its Readiness Preparation Grant. The federal government did not sign its grant agreement in the intervening four years, variously explaining that the source of the delay …
On April 12, 2014, the World Bank held a session for civil society during Spring Meetings in Washington, DC entitled “Safeguards Review and Update: Setting Standards for Sustainable Development.” A full eighteen months after the World Bank initiated the review of its social and environmental safeguard policies, the review process is once again moving …
Photo: © Kemal Jufri / Greenpeace A letter from over 30 civil society organizations, delivered on May 7th 2014, urges World Bank President Kim to include Development Policy Lending (DPL) in the ongoing Safeguard Policy Review and conduct a thorough assessment of DPL performance in avoiding or mitigating social and environmental risks. The World Bank Board Committee …
Photo: Gerald Simmons CC BY 2.0 Model Proposal: Climate Change Assessment (CCA) Safeguard Policy Submission to the World Bank Safeguard Policy Review Unlike many institutions, the Bank has not yet formally integrated climate issues into its operational policies. Most notably, the current Safeguard Policy framework does not adequately address the challenges a changing climate presents …
An article published this week in The Hindu as well as one published November 7 in The Times of India featured BIC researcher Simpreet Singh and his recent study on the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). While the Bank touts achievements of the MUTP project—including reducing congestion on city streets and improving travel time for …
Community Controlled Impact Assessment and Impact and Benefit Agreements: Relevance for upward harmonization of World Bank Group Safeguard Policies Dr. Ciaran O’Faircheallaigh, Professor of Politics and Public Policy in the School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Australia met with the World Bank during the week of November 18 to advocate for the inclusion …
As the consultation period of the first phase of the World Bank safeguard policy review and update concluded at the end of April, two coalitions of civil society organizations submitted comments on Forests and Natural Habitats Operational Policies The two CSO submissions outlined opportunities, concerns, and recommendations for the revision of Forests and Natural Habitats …
BIC’s MENA program has prepared an updated list of the projects that the World Bank is currently funding or preparing to fund in Egypt. The list provides a brief description of each project, in addition to an explanatory diagram that summarizes the World Bank’s project cycles.
The World Bank‘s $4.1bn (£2.6bn) investments in forestry over the past 10 years have done little to reduce poverty, improve conservation, tackle climate change or benefit local communities in developing countries, a study by its own inspectors has found.