Environnient, K' Stainiie Development in Suh-Sah-ar …documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/308851468741618707/...Report No. 15111-AFR Tooward Environnient, K' Stainiie Development in

Report No. 15111-AFR

Tooward Environnient, K' StainiieDevelopment in Suh-Sah-ar-Ih-rr Afr1iC-(1A World Ban k Agendca1

December 1995

Afric! Rc'gi,nEnvirn icn taII Sn lst J I. 1'I I i !

T1chlni(,il Dcp,dcril:r 1t

Document of the World Bank

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Contents

FOREWORD ............................................................ V;I

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................... jx

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................... xi

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................... xiii

Environmental Issues and Challenges ........................................................... xiiiHeavy Reliance on Natural Capital ................................................................... xiiiPoorest Region with Fastest Population Growth ................................................................... xiiiUrbanization and Migration Are Transforming Africa ........................................................ ........... xivTrend to Market Economies But Environmental Policies and Regulations Needed ............. ................... xivPolitical Systems in Transition But a Continent Extremely Fragmented ........................ ......................... xivA Web of Mutually Reinforcing Constraints ..................... .............................................. xivA Diverse Continent ................................................................... xvLooking Forward ................................................................... xvChallenges for Environmentally Sustainable Development ................................................................... xv

Proposed Agenda for the World Bank ........................................................... xviiPlan ofAction ........................................................... xviii

INTRODUCTION ........................................................... 1

1. OVERVIEW ........................................................... I11. MAIN ISSUES AND QUESTIONS ........................................................... 2111. STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS ........................................................... 3

CHAPTER I KEY ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND THE LONG-TERMPERSPECTIVE ........................................................... 5

I. WHY PRESENT CONSTRAINTS MAKE SUSTAINABILITY SO DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA .......................................... 5A Heavy Reliance on Natural Capital ......................................... 5B. Poorest Region with Fastest Population Growth ......................................... 6C. Urbanization and Migration is Transforming Africa ............... .......................... 8D. Political Systems in Transition ......................................... 9E. Changing Social Systems ..................................................................................................... 10F. Interdependence of the Constraints ........................... 10

11. SUBREGIONAL SPECIFICITIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL HOT SPOTS . .1............................. 11A. The Sudano-Sahelian Belt ................................................. 12B. Humid West Africa ................................................. 14C. The Congo Basin ................................................. 16D. East Africa ................................................. 18E. Southern Africa ................................................. 20F. The Islands of the Indian Ocean ................................................. 21

111. LOOKING THIRTY YEARS AHEAD .......................... 22A. Population Dynamics and Urbanization ................................. 23B. The Food Challenge ................................. 24C. Sub-Saharan Africa in the Global Context ................................. 25D. Major Challenges Ahead ................................. 28

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CHAPTER 2 INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS: AREVIEW OF WORLD BANK EXPERIENCE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA ......................... 31

1. ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: COUNTRY AND WORLD BANK

PERSPECTIVES ..................................................................... 3 1A. National Environmental Strategies and Action Planning .................................................... 31B. Environmental Concerns in Key World Bank Documents ..................... ............................. 36

11. STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT . .42III. INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENT IN WORLD BANK-FINANCED PROJECTS . . 43

A. Environmental Project Performance ............................................ ........................... 43B. Integrating Environment into Sectoral Projects .................................................................. 46C. Environmental Assessments ....................................................................... 49

IV. ADDRESSING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ....................................................................... 52

V. BUILDING THE WORLD BANK'S ENVIRONMENTAL CAPACITY . .................................................... 56

VI. AN AFRICAN PERCEPTION OF THE WORLD BANK'S ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANCE ... 56

VII. KEY LESSONS LEARNED ....................................................................... 57

CHAPTER 3 A PROPOSED AGENDA TO PROMOTE ENVIRONMENTALLYSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ....................................................................... 61

I. OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY .61

Il. MEETING THE PROPOSED OBJECTIVES .63

A. Enhancing Food Security While Protecting Unique Ecosystems .63B. Enhanced Emphasis on Urban Environmental Management .70C Developing Human Capital While Facilitating Demographic Transition .73

111. IMPLEMENTING THE PROPOSED STRATEGY ..................................................................... 75

A. Helping Countries Build Their Capacity for Environmentally Sustainable Management... 75B. Combating Fragmentation by Focusing on Cross-Cutting Issues ....................................... 79C. Enhancing Knowledge, Information, and Communication .................................................. 83D. Focusing on Geographic Priorities ..................................................................... 86E. Addressing Global Environmental Challenges .................................................................... 88

IV. MAINSTREAMING ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS INTO THE WORLD BANK . . 89

A. Planning, Economics, and Information ..................................................................... 89B. Improving the Project Cycle for "Environmental" and "Non-Environmental " Projects ... 91C. Promoting Multisectoral Approaches .................................. ................................... 92D. Sharpening the World Bank 's Environmental Capacity ........................................................ 93

V. DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE FINANCING FOR IMPLEMENTING THE ENVIRONMENTALIY SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT AGENDA ..................................................................... 94

A. Doing Better with Scarcer Public Financing in Promoting EnvironmentallySustainable Development ..................................................................... 94

B. Financing Environmentally Sustainable Development at the Local Level .......... ................ 95C. Focusing More on the Private Sector ..................................................................... 96D. Dealing with Subregional Ecosystems ..................................................................... 96

VI. DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENTAL PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS . . 97

VII. PLAN OF ACTION .................................................................................... 99

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................... 105

ENDNOTES ...................................................................... 11.1

TABLE OF BOXES AND FIGURESBox 1: An African's View of Environmentally Sustainable Development ..................................... 2

Box 2: Risk of Sea Level Rise in The Niger Delta, Nigeria .16

Box 3: Trade and Environment .28

Box 4: A Typology of National Strategic Environmental Planning Approaches .......................... 32

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Box 5: Emerging Local Environmental Action Plans (Leaps): Cases from Burkina Fasoand Nigeria ........................................................... 36

Box 6: The Forest Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa .......................................... 37Box 7: Experience Of Integrated Coastal Zone Management . ...................................................... 38Box 8: Economywide Policies and the Environment .......................................... 40Box 9: CESPS: Examples Of Good Practices ........................................................... 41Box 10: Integrating Environment into Agricultural Services, the Madagascar Case .. 47Box 11: Pastoral Pilot Perimeter Under the Livestock National Project in Chad . .47Box 12: Agences d'Execution de Travaux d'lnteret Public (AGETIPS)/Nongovernmental

Agencies for Executing Public Works .. 48Box 13: Environmental Health In Sub-Saharan Africa: World Bank Experience . . 50Box 14: Good Practice on EA: The Takoradi Power Plant, Ghana . .51Box 15: Integration of Economics in Environmental Assessments . .52Box 16: Bank Group Policies Relevant to The Framework Convention on Climate

Change (FCCC) .. 54Box 17: Women in Environmentally Sustainable Development . .62Box 18: A "Double Green Revolution" .. 63Box 19: Addressing the Lack of Phosphorus, a Major Limiting Production Factor .. 65Box 20: Drought Planning: a Methodology .. 67Box 21: El Nino: from Curse to Blessing in Peru and Brazil . .68Box 22: Wildlife Conservancies in Zimbabwe: Development Through Conservation

and Tourism .. 69Box 23: Local Environmental Action Plans-Urban Cases .. 71Box 24: Role of Urban Agriculture in Sustaining Africa's Cities . .72Box 25: The Environmental Program of Madagascar .. 77Box 26: Environmental Risk and Climatic Change .. 79Box 27: Water Resource Management Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa . . 80Box 28: Review of Policies, Strategies, and Programs in the Traditional Energy Sector .. 81Box 29: Information Technology for Environmental Management . .83Box 30: Computer Networking with Mozambique: a New Way to Provide Assistance .. 84Box 31: Program for Environmental Information Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa .. 85Box 32: The Niger Delta: Environmental Development Strategy, an Integrated Coastal

Zone Management Approach .. 87Box 33: The Association Nationale d'Actions pour l'Environnement Madagascar (ANAE) .. 92Box 34: lImproving Natural Resource Management in South Africa . .93Box 35: Building Up USAID/World Bank Environmental Partnership . .98Box 36: Developing Strategic Partnerships: The World Bank and IUCN . .99Box 37: A Joint Action Program for Environmental Training . .102

Figure 1: Poverty in Year 2000 ................................... 7Figure 2: Migration and Major Urban Centers ................................... 8Figure 3: Ecological Subregion .................................. 12Figure 4: Sudano-Sahelian Belt .................................. 12Figure 5: Humid West Africa .................................. 14Figure 6: Central Congo Basin and Ecological Hot Spots .................................. 16Figure 7: East Africa .................................. 18Figure 8: Southern Africa and Ecological Hot Spots .................................. 20Figure 9: The Islands of the Indian Ocean .................................. 21Figure 10: Precipitation Index for the Western Sahel (June to September) .26Figure I1: Status of NEAPs and Equivalents .33Figure 12: NEAP Follow-Up: Environmental Support Programs (ESPs) .35Figure 13: NEAP Follow-Up Projects: Lending Allocation (1990-94) .35Figure 14: Projects with Primary Environmental Objectives ............................................. .. 44

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Figure 15: Funds Allocation in World Bank-Supported Environmental Projects ........................... 45Figure 16: Transboundary Programs in SSA ................................................................................... 56Figure 17: Mainstreaming the Environment into the World Bank's Development Assistance ....... 60

ANNEX 1 SUMMARY OF THEMATIC BUILDING BLOCKS

ANNEX 2 WORLD BANK'S CURRENT PORTFOLIO OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS IN SSAANNEX 3 MAIN ISSUES IN THE CONSULTATION PROCESS

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FOREWORD

Caring about the environment in Sub-Saharan Africa is not a luxury but a primenecessity as African economies, more than on any other continent, heavily depend on theircapital of natural resources. This is even more true in the context of alleviating povertysince environmental degradation primarily affects the poor both in rural and urban areas.Reversing the downward spiral of this degradation is, therefore, a key element of astrategy to reduce poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. It requires every effort to maintainnatural capital and to use it sustainably by promoting sound environmental management.

Such is the central message of this paper. The World Bank has made progress inintegrating the environment in its development assistance to its African clients. It needs todo more to make environmental sustainability one of the cornerstones of its strategy. Theagenda proposed in this paper builds on lessons learned in the field. It is anchored toactual field operations, some of them pilot activities, that have contributed toenvironmental sustainability. We need to do more of them.

This paper has benefited from an extensive consultation process in Africa. Advicefrom African experts has substantially enriched its content. The donor community, UNagencies, and NGOs have also been broadly consulted so that this paper could be aplatform to reinforce partnership and networking in support of environmentallysustainable development in Africa.

Let us, however, remain modest. The World Bank with its international partnerswill not solve Africa's environmental problems. Nor will governments. African people-individuals, households, communities, and the private sector-will. Our commitment is tohelp them meet their priorities with the right support. We must be prepared to fulfill thismandate.

We are particularly grateful to the Government of Norway, which has greatlycontributed to financing the entire preparatory process leading to this paper.

Edward V. . JaycoxVice PresidentAfrica Region

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This paper was prepared by a team led by Fran,ois Falloux and comprising JanBojo and Robert Clement-Jones. Alfredo Sfeir-Younis contributed greatly by carrying outan analytical review of the World Bank's environmental experience in Sub-Saharan Africa(SSA). The overall work was carried out under the general direction of Kevin Cleaver,director, Technical Department, Africa Region (AFT), and Jean Doyen, chief of AFT'sEnvironmentally Sustainable Development Division (AFTES).

The paper is based on a series of thematic "building block" papers (see anilex 1).We are grateful to their authors, including Asbjorin Aaheim, Jock Anderson, JanisBernsteini, Terje Bernstzeni, Inger Bertilsson, Jan Bojo, Andrew Bond, Ninia Chee, RobertClement-Jones, Pierre Crosson, Arne Dalfelt, Fran$ois Falloux, Cyprian Fisiy, AlbertGreve, Marea Hatziolos, Helga Hernes, Bjart Holtsmark, Julian Lampietti, Joe Leitmann,Carl Lundini, Jean-Roger Mercier, Lars Otto Nass, Valentinia Okaru, Yves Prevost, AnnuRatta, Rolf Selrod, Jac Smit, Paul Spector, Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, and Jean-Louis Venard.We are also thankful to the Futures Group, which helped develop population projectionsoftware, and to Resource Analysis, whicil helped prepare a simulation model forintegrated coastal zone managemenit. Final editing and design of the building blocks weredone by Lawrence Mastri.

TH e staff of AFTES provided valuable contributions. We are particularly gratefulto Jean H. Doyen, Cyprian Fisiy, Jacques Fremy, Ian Heggie, Kristine Ivarsdotter, KoffiKouakou, Sylvain Latarget, Jin Listorti, Christinia Maliberg Calvo, ShimwaayiMuntemba, Letitia Obeng, Valentina Okaru, Francois Rantrua, Narendra Sharma, LeeTalbot, Christian Taupiac. Robert Tillman, and Denise Vaudaine.

Other Bank/IFC staff were also strongly involved in preparation and review of thepaper. We are grateful to Lakhdeep Babra, Ed Bos, Catherine Cassagne, Kevin M.Cleaver, Cynthia Cook, Peter Dewees, John Dixon, Victoria Elliott, Patrice Harou, OlivierLafourcade, Jeff Lewis, Tom Merrick, David Moffat, Abdelkrimn Oka, Christian Pieri,Colin Rees, Martyn Riddle, Andrew Steer, Townsend Swayze, Nils Tcheyan, UlrichThumm, Chris Trapman, Isabel Valencia, and Jack Van Holst Pellekaan.

The paper was extensively reviewed through a broad consultation process:

In Africa. We are particularly grateful to Emilienie Anikpo, Ndinga Assitou, AchokaAwori, Prabha Bjardwaj, Jose Brito, Harry Chabwela, Florence Cheneweth, Tabeth MatizaChiuta, Osseynou Diop, Clement Dorm-Azobu, Mersie Ejigu, Felix Kaluma, YemiKaterere, Mangetane Khalikanie, Idris Kikula, Michael Koech, Harrison Kojwang, CraigMackenzie, Christopher Magadza, David Mbewe, David McDevette, Jochen Meppen, A.N. Minjas, Olivia Muchena, Kay Muir-Leresche, Namukolo Mukutu, Marshall Murphree,Wangu Mwangi, Steven Njugune, Bede Okigbo, Haroub Othman, Samidou Pale, GeorgePangeti, Edward Rugumavo, Harry Swart, Thobeka Thamage, and Eldad Tukahirwa. Wealso waiit to thank the Scandinavian Seminar College (Denmark), Telemark College(Norway), and the University of Zimbabwe, which facilitated the African consultationunder the leadership of Leif Christoffersen, assisted by Faye Benedict, Nina Chee, andTone Torgersen. We are thankful to Gabriel Kariisa, director, Central Project Department,African Development Bank.

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* In the UN agencies. We are particularly grateful to L. S. Botero, Henri Carsalade, andAbdoulaye Sawadogo (FAO); John Ohiorehnuan and Maxine Olson (UNDP); Maria G. deArnorim and Franklin Cardy (UNEP).

* In the bilateral agencies: We are particularly grateful to Erik Fiil (Denmark), LaurentBonneau, Pierre Clavel, Bertrand Galtier, Christian de Gromard, Christian Leveque, andJacques Weber (France), Hans Peter Schipulle (Germany), Ola Dvergsdal, Erik Hellsand-Hansen, Olav Hesjedal, Kari Hirth, Aud Kolberg, Frode Lieungh, Ture Lund, OttoSimor.ett, Haakon Thaulow, Trond Vedeld, and Erik Whist (Norway), Christer Holtsberg,Rune Ryden (Sweden), John Gaudet and Tony Pryor (USA), and Jean-Marie Cour andGunther Winckler (OECD).

* In the internalional nongovernmental organization community: We are particularlygrateful to Christine Elias, Tom Fox, and Peter Veit (WRI, wlich coordinated thisconsultation); Christie Fera (African Wildlife Foundationi); Joseph Kenniedy(AFRICARE); Chad Dobson (Bank Information Center); Kate Newman (BiodiversitySupport Program); Kristin Schafer (Committee for Agricultural Sustainability inDeveloping Countries); Marcus Colchester (Forest Peoples Programme); Naresh Singh(International Institute for Sustainable Development); Asif Shoikh (InternationalResources Group); and Achim Steiner (IUCN).

* From universities: We are grateful to Len Berry (University of Atlantic Florida),David Campbell (University of Wisconsin), and Don Wilhite (University of Nebraska).

Regarding the paper's research and organization, we are grateful to NicolasVernier, who helped organize and monitor the preparation of the building block papersand participated in the analytical research with Nina Chee and Valentina Okaru. Weparticularly thank Marie-Laure Cossa who prepared the paper for publication and SylvainLatarget who prepared the maps. We also thank our editor, Pamela S. Cubberly, whogreatly improved the style and presentation of the document.

Finally, we want to thank the Government of Norway, whicih contributedsubstantially to the financing of the overall process.

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ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

AfDB African Development BankAFT Africa Technical Department, The World BankAFRICATIP Association des Agences Africaines d'Execution des Travaux

d'Interet Public (Association of African Agencies for ExecutingPublic Works)

AFTES Environmentally Sustainable Development Division, TechnicalDepartment, Africa Region, The World Bank

AGETIPs Agences d'Execution des Travaux d'lnter& Public(Nongovernmental Agencies for Executing Public Works)

AGR Agriculture and Natural Resources Department, The World BankAIDS Acquired Immune-Deficiency SyndromeAMCEN African Ministerial Conference on the EnvironmentANAE Association Nationale d'Actions pour l'Environnement,

MadagascarARPP Annual Report on1 Project Performance, The World BankBCSD Business Council for Sustainable DevelopmentBP Bank ProceduresCASs Country Assistance StrategiesCEMs Country Economic MemorandaCESPs Country Environmental Strategy PapersCGLAR Consultative Group on lnternational Agricultural ResearchCILSS Comite Inter-etats de Lutte Contre la Secheresse au Sahel

(Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in theSahel)

CIRAD Centre International de Recherche Agronomique pour leDeveloppement

CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of WildFlora and Fauna

CSPs Country Strategy PapersEA Environmental AssessmentEDI Economic Development Institute, World Bank GroupEIS Environmental Information SystemsENSO El Nihio Southern OscillationENVLW Land, Water and Natural Habitats Division, Environment

Department, rhe World BankESD Environimentally Sustainable DevelopmentESMAP Energy Sector Management Assistance ProgramFAO Food and Agricultural Organization of the United NationsFCCC Framework Convention on Climate ChangeFGEF French Global Environment Facility (Fonds Fran,ais pour

l'Environnement Mondial - FFEM)GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and TradeGCA Global Coalition for AfricaGDP Gross Domestic ProductGEF Global Environment FacilityGIS Geographic Information SystemsGLASOD Global Assessment of Soil Degradation

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ICRAF International Center for Research in AgroforestryICZM Integrated Coastal Zone ManagementIDA International Development AssociationIDA-9 International Development Association, Ninth ReplenishmentIDA-10 International Development Association, Tenth ReplenishmentIFC International Finance CorporationIFDC International Fertilizer Development CenterIIED International Institute for Environment and DevelopmentIPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic ChangeIUCN The World Conservation UnionLEAPs Local Environmental Action PlansLPG Liquefied petroleum gasLTPS Long-Term Perspective StudyMDP Municipal Development ProgramMELISSA Managing the Environment Locally in Sub-Saharan AfricaNAPs National Action ProgramsNCS National Conservation StrategyNEAP National Environmental Action PlanNESDA Network for Environmentally Sustainable Development in AfricaNGOs Nongovernmental OrganizationsNORAD Norwegian Agency for International DevelopmentNRM Natural Resource ManagementOD Operational DirectiveOECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and DevelopmentPEISA Program for Environmental Information Systems in AfricaSSATP Sub-Saharan Africa Transport ProgramUNDP United Nations Development ProgrammeUJNEP United Nations Environment Programme

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This paper aims to define the World Environmental Issues andBank's medium- and long-term agenda to Challengesimprove its assistance to Sub-SaharanAfrican countries on their road toward More than anywhere else in the world,environmentally sustainable development Sub-Saharan Africa relies on its(ESD). It briefly assesses key features of environmental resource base, from both anthe environmental situation and long-term economic and social perspective. Itstrends in Africa, draws lessons from environment is at risk, however, due toWorld Bank experience, and outlines interdependent issues.future directions.

Heavy Reliance on Natural CapitalThe paper starts with the premiseenunciated by the Earth Summit in 1992: Most economies in Sub-Saharan Africawithout improving environmental depend heavily on their natural capital.management, development will be About two-thirds of the population lives inundermined and, without accelerated rural areas, deriving their main incomedevelopment in poor countries, the from agriculture. Land degradation,environment will continue to degrade. deforestation, lack of access to safe water,While acknowledging the formidable and loss of biodiversity compounded bydifficulties facing most African countries climatic variability are the major concernsin the coming decades, the paper still aims that consistently arise from Africanto convey a sense of realistic hope for countries' own assessment of their naturaldevelopment. The major challenge is to environment.make this development environmentallysustainable. Poorest Region with Fastest Population

GrowthAlthough this paper is primarily targetedto World Bank staff, it is also addressed to Poverty is both a cause and effect ofa much wider audience in Africa and the environmental degradation. Of the thirtyinternational community. It revolves poorest countries of the world, twenty-onearound three questions: are African, and the entire region had an

average income level of about $500 per* What are the key environmental issues capita in 1992, and a negative per capita

and challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa? income growth rate during 1980-92.Poverty is exacerbated by a demographic

* How has the World Bank so far explosion unprecedented in human historyresponded to those challenges, and with a current annual average growth ratewhat are the lessons learned? of about 3 percent.

* What should the World Bank do toimprove its assistance to Africancountries to make their developmentmore sustainable?

Unless otherwisc noted, dollar amounts in thisdocument are given in U.S. currency.

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Urbanization and Migration Are are pursuing economic adjustment toTransforming Africa redress macroeconomic distortions. This

evolution is positive for economic growthSub-Saharan Africa is the fastest and, based on evidence from around theurbanizing region in the world. Thirty world, holds great potential for improvingyears ago only one city had more than a environmental management, providingmillion inhabitants; by 1990 eighteen had that appropriate environmental policiesattained that size. Although cities provide and regulations, including the use ofmany economic opportunities, they also market-based instruments, are in place andconfront a range of environmental enforced-not yet the case for mostproblems: the inability of physical countries in Africa.infrastructure and services to keep pacewith population growth, the health Political Systems in Transition But aconsequences of crowding and increased Continent Extremely Fragmentedexposure to concentrated wastes,unsustainable resource consumption, and Sub-Saharan Africa is in politicalgreater settlement on ecologically transition. For countries progressingsensitive areas. In addition, this steadily toward political pluralism (the majority ofdeteriorating situation has had a them), the change to more open societiesdisproportionate impact on the urban poor. has a positive impact on the environment

by decentralizing decision making andMigration is on the rise: Sub-Saharan empowering people in managing theirAfrica contains about 35 million natural resources. On the contrary,transnational migrants, including some 4 countries suffering from politicalmillion refugees. These population breakdown and civil strife suffer highmovements, which are likely to grow, put environmental costs.tremendous strain on traditional socialfabrics and concentrate the environmental Extreme fragmentation of the continentpressure in certain hot spots. and lack of effective mechanisms for

regional cooperation hamperAfrican coasts are attracting increasing environmental management. The currentnumbers of people. Much of the division into forty-eight countriescontinent's urban population now lives in seriously impedes the addressing ofcoastal cities. Coastal zones are often subregional issues, such as watershedaffected by a wide range of interdependent management for the major river basins,environmental issues relating to conservation of marine and coastalagriculture, forestry, and fisheries and ecosystems, and protection of primary rainwater management at the interface forest. It also limits the capacity of eachbetween marine and freshwater government to deal with the environment.ecosystems, as well as infrastructure,urban, and industrial development. A Web of Mutually Reinforcing

ConstraintsTrend to Market Economies ButEnvironmental Policies and Regulations The above constraints are interdependentNeeded and make sustainable development

difficult to achieve. Poverty and highMost countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are population growth often induce landevolving toward a market economy with degradation and deforestation, which leadan increasingly selective role for the to growing food insecurity and loss ofpublic sector. In parallel, many countries biodiversity. These results contribute to

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migration into rural areas often less influenced by urban policy andsuitable for agricultural expansion and into infrastructure development, will persist;urban areas often lacking physical, social, by 2025, the urban population is expectedand economic infrastructure. to triple to about 700 million, more than

half of SSA's total population.The severity of this population-agriculture-environment nexus is Challengesfor Environmentallycompounded by low investment in human Sustainable Developmentcapital, which often restricts individuals tocontinued reliance on their own unskilled It is under these circumstances thatlabor and short-term exploitation of African countries must make theirnatural resources as the only feasible transition to environmentally sustainablesurvival option. development. Specifically, they will face

six major environmental challenges:A Diverse Continent

* Achieving food security throughSub-Saharan Africa features a great sustainable agricultural intensification bydiversity of ecosystems-from sparsely promoting environmentally soundpopulated rain forests to densely populated technologies, while maintaining and insavannahs and drylands and from flat some cases rebuilding natural capital,coastal zones to plateaus and highlands. especially soilsThis diversity calls for specific strategiesand programs. Accordingly, this paper, * Facilitating a demographic transition towhile providing a regional perspective, a more stable population level, therebyalso discusses the geographic specificities easing pressure on the environment andand environmental priorities of six allowing living standards and educationsubregions based on Food and levels to improveAgricultural Organization of the UnitedNations (FAO) ecological zoning and * Influencing migration toward a bettercorresponding to a compromise with population distribution that geographicallyadministrative boundaries: matches development potential while

mitigating environmental cost* The Sudano-Sahelian Belt* Humid West Africa * Making urbanization sustainable by* The Congo Basin improving planning and services, building* East Africa on the positive aspects of market growth* Southern Africa in cities, and mobilizing labor and* The Indian Ocean Islands people's participation, while interrupting

the downward spiral of deteriorating livingLooking Forward conditions

In the next three decades, population * Managing energy, water, and othergrowth, migration, and settlement will natural resources in an integrated fashiondramatically change the face of Sub- to ensure their long-term sustainabilitySaharan Africa. By the year 2025 thepopulation of Sub-Saharan Africa will * Speeding Africa's development oftotal more than a billion people and modern education, information, andcontinue to grow, with resulting increases communication systems, since knowledgein food requirements and environmental that combines science and technology withpressures. Urbanization, although local know-how, cultural values, and

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diversity is and will remain vital for made, human, and social capital to ensureaddressing environmental issues sustainable development. Addressing this

fundamental gap remains an importantLessons from World Bank challenge.Experience

Fourth, addressing environmental issuesThis paper provides a comprehensive requires cross-sectoral and transboundaryreview of the World Bank's experience in approaches and operations. The Worldintegrating environmental concerns into its Bank's analytical work has been tooassistance to African countries. From this sector-oriented and has not paid enoughreview, ten main lessons emerge: attention to subregional ecosystems. This

is changing, however, as regional andFirst, in-country environmental planning subregional strategies have been preparedthrough National Environmental Action on the environment-agriculture-populationPlans (NEAPs) or equivalents is effective nexus and coastal zone management.in raising environmental awareness, Similar strategies are being developed forintroducing new environmental policies, integrated water management, renewableand building institutional capacity. This energy promotion, soil enhancement, andplanning should be pursued at the local, biodiversity conservation.national and subregional levels andfocusmore on priority setting. The NEAPs, Fifth, integrating environmentaldespite some weaknesses, have achieved considerations in investment lending issignificant coverage across the region. essentialfor all sectors since it representsThey have become important instruments the major part of the World Bank'sin guiding donor environmental lending portfolio,. This integration has progressed,and focal points for donor coordination. particularly in sectors such as agriculture

and infrastructure; however, more effort isSecond, parallel environmental planning needed in the other sectors, particularlyin the World Bank through Country education and private sector development.Environmental Strategy Papers (CESPs) isinstrumental in defining the World Bank's Sixth, adjustment lending, by correctingenvironmental work in many Sub-Saharan price and policy distortions, is a powerfulAfrican countries. This planning should be instrument for improving environmentalused more systematically to integrate the management, providing thatenvironment in the World Bank's country environmental policies are incorporatedassistance strategies and influence its and measures are adopted to avoiddialogue with African borrowers. potential negative environmental impacts.

About two-thirds of the World Bank'sThird, promoting sustainable development adjustment operations have incorporatedrequires greater consistency between the some environmental goals, providingWorld Bank's recommendations on examples of good practice on which tomacroeconomic policy and those on build. Such incorporation needs to beenvironmental management. The World pursued to strengthen environmentalBank's macroeconomic instruments tend policies, legislation, and enforcement andto focus on fiscal balance and issues to secure required public funding.related to economic growth. Assessing and mitigating theEnvironmental planning focuses on long- environmental impact of adjustmentterm environmental issues, their cross- lending has not yet been given thesectoral nature, and the importance of attention necessary.combining investments in natural, human-

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Seventh, the World Bank's environmental public and private sectors, NGOs, andinvestment lending, although representing universities; it has been carried outonly about IO percent of the portfolio, through workshops held in Abidjan, Cote

requires special attention since it is d'lvoire; Naivasha, Kenya; Harare,targeted to institutional development and Zimbabwe; Telemark, Norway; andcapacity building, the foundation of Washington, D.C. Other broaderenvironmental management. consultations have also revealed the need

for the World Bank to improve itsEighth, environmental assessment is an environmental image and demonstrate theessential tool in project design. It needs, coherence of its message that linkshowever, to be used more systematically poverty alleviation, environmentaland effectively by better integration in improvement, and economic management.projectfinancial and economic analysis,broader application to overall sectors, and Proposed Agenda for the Worldincorporation of geographic information. BankDespite examples of considerableimprovement, consideration of differentproject alternatives from an environmental Tae agenda for tre World Bank aims toperspective and follow-up on measures to assist African countries better in theirmitigate negative environmental impacts transition to environmentally sustainableare still inadequate. development, a critical ingredient of

poverty reduction, which is the World

Ninth, the Global Environment Facility Bank's overarching goal in Sub-Saharan(GEF) is a key instrument to leverage Africa. This agenda focuses on the poorestsupport for dealing with global segments of society, which are currentlyenvironmental issues and pioneer new both the most affected by and key agentsapproaches to adopt win-win solutions at of environmental degradation. It alsothe national and subregional levels. focuses on gender issues, since in AfricaAlthough demands on coordination have women play a greater role inbeen substantial, the GEF has managed to environmental management than in anyleverage significant contributions from the other region of the world.donor community and has influencednational ESD planning. The GEF has also Wnhile reflecting the World Bant'sbeen a point of entry in supporting a continued environmental commitment overgrowing number of transboundary the past decade, the agenda aims toenvironmental projects. integrate tle environment further into theTenth, the World Bank, whlich has development process. The agenda issignificantlv increased its environmental anchored in the above lessons and goodcapacity, still needs to invest more in practices experienced in the field. It has

environmental trairning to achieve the full been conceived within the guiding

integration of environmental concerns in principles of the World Bank's Africaits development assistance. Region, namely, to incorporate Africans'

views and assess their priority demands,

These lessons from the World Bank's select actions with the highest potential forexperience are consistent witli views field impact, improve cost-effectiveness,

expressed by many commentators, African monitor results for quick feedback toand non-African, who have been consulted action, and develop partnerships. Threeduring the elaboration of the paper. This overall objectives have been identified:consultation process has involved a widerange of professionals drawn from the

xvii

* Achievingfood security and improving such as the integrated planning andrural income, while conserving ecosystems management of coastal zones, waterthrough intensified but sustainable resources, energy, and rural infrastructure.agriculture, built on two types of This type of planning and managementimprovements: (1) soil fertility will require appropriate institutionalmanagement through use of increased reforms.organic and inorganic fertilizer anderosion control techniques and (2) * Enhancing information andintegrated pest management. Improving communication through improvedthe security of access to land and other collection of basic data, more systematicnatural resources will require special use of environmental and geographicattention. information systems and electronic

networking, and improved communication* Increasing emphasis on urban through the media.environmental management to meet thedemands of a rapidly growing urban * Focusing on areas under greatpopulation for safe water, sanitation, waste environmental pressure, such as certainmanagement services, and air pollution coastal zones, tropical forests, major urbanabatement. areas, critical watersheds, and biologically

diverse ecosystems.* Developing human capital byemphasizing primary education, * Addressing global environmentalparticularly for girls and with greater challenges by supporting the Internationalattention to environmental knowledge and Conventions on Desertification, Climateits practical application, and strengthening Change, and Biodiversity, as well aspublic and private capacity for pollution abatement of internationalenvironmental management. This will also waters. This would be achieved throughfacilitate the imperative for a demographic the strategic use of the Globaltransition to lower population growth Environment Facility to leveragerates, combined with improved health conventional lending.services and effective response to demandfor family planning. Plan of Action

Meeting these broad objectives will To translate the agenda outlined above

require continuing efforts toward the into field operations, the World Bank willfollowing: start implementing the following plan of

* Helping countries develop their action:capacity for environmental managementthrough (1) institutional reforms to foster eping Arannies pursue

stakeholdr particiation andenvironmental planning as a participat orydtakeodenrpal tion dcistion mak, ( process at the national and local levels.plcyentrasuresi that balanc regu ,tr The World Bank will provide support topolicy measures that balance regulatory opee mrv adudt h ismechanisms and legal reform with market- complete, improve and update the firstbased instruments, (3) investments in gnteration gofeAP s andtpriority areas, and (4) donor coordination. nmterested local governments and

communities translate NEAPs into localenvironmental action plans, particularly in

* Combting iconsisency btweenurban areas. Good practices will besectoral approaches by addressing cross-cutting issues in a coordinated -anner,

xviii

progressively developed as experience iscapitalized. * Creating a regionalframework to

improve donor coordination in assistingPromoting national Environmental African countries in addressing soil

Support Programs (ESPs) to implement fertility problems more effectively. ThisNEAPs. Several countries have prepared network should improve the exchange oftheir ESPs, which are now under information, monitor soil fertility throughimplementation with financial support land quality indicators, identify criticalfrom the donor community. These areas, mobilize financial sources, promoteprograms usually include: (1) improving awareness of the magnitude of landenvironmental policy and legislation, degradation problems, promote programsparticularly environmental assessment to enhance soil fertility directly, andprocedures, (2) building institutions, support relevant research.developing partnerships, decentralizingdecision making, and promoting * Incorporating environmental concernsparticipatory approaches, (3) supporting in adjustment lendiing iiiore systematicallyenvironmental capacity building, andforcefully. Special effort will be made:information, and communication, (4) (1) to introduce market-based instruments,providing resources and assistance to implementable regulations, and improvedenvironmental planning at the municipal natural resource security through better-and provincial levels, and (5) establishing defined access rights and (2) to carry outfinancial mechanisms to support environmental assessment of adjustmentenvironmental community miniprojects. operations and implement mitigationThe World Bank, which has been a key plans.player in providing assistance to ESPs,will pursue its role, while drawing lessons * Enhancing the capacity to prepare andof good practice from early experience. manage cross-cutting operations to

comnplement the sectoral approach.Developing the environmental content Preparation of several new types of

of investment lending. Building national environmental programs has started toenvironmental agencies, while necessary, deal with issues such as integrated coastalneeds to be complemented with the zone management and transboundarydevelopment of environmental capacity at environmental problems. Capitalizing onthe sector level. The World Bank's the experience of these programs throughinitiative to base its support on integrated good practices and progressivelysector programs provides the opportunity expanding them will be important. Theseto do so. These programs will be an efforts will help the World Bank promoteappropriate framework to deal with sector- multisectoral approaches, focusing onrelated environmental issues by problems rather thani sectors and usingdeveloping sector-wide environmental multidisciplinary teams more.assessment procedures, building theenvironmental capacity of sectoral * Strengthening environmental training,institutions, and developing sector-specific public information, and communication.environmental policies. Special attention Capacity building will be essential towill be paid to integrating environmental firmly establish new cross-sectoralaspects into education, energy, tourism, environmental agencies as well asand private sector development, while environmental units in the sectoralcontinuing the progress made in doing so ministries. Training will be equallyin agriculture, infrastructure, urban important for the private sector and localmanagement, and transportation. NGOs. Public information and

xix

communication on environmental matters * Promote environmental assessments aswill be supported as an essential a proactive toolfor project and programinstrument to provide checks and balance. design. Environmental assessments will be

used upstream in a larger number ofDevelopingfinancial instrumentsfor projects, sectoral programs, and

effective financing of environmentally adjustment operations to select the bestsustainable development. More alternative designs in terms ofspecifically, the Institutional Development environmental impact and sustainableFund (IDF should be adjusted and development. Methodologies for carryingexpanded to help facilitate the out these assessments will be improved byestablishment of transboundary incorporating environmental economicmechanisms to deal with subregional analysis, geographic information systems,ecosystems. IDF should also be open to and simulation of environmental risk,supporting NGOs directly as financial particularly due to climate variability. Aintermediaries to reach local communities special effort will be made to developwithout necessarily involving assessment capacity in the field and togovernments. The establishment of a strengthen popular participation.mutual environmental fund in Africa Capitalizing on experience through theshould be explored with IFC to support the development of good practices will beprivate sector in businesses benefiting the enhanced particularly for the newenvironment. Finally, joint operations methodologies.among the Bank, IFC, and MIGA shouldbe developed more to leverage more * Irvest in environmental trainingprivate flows of capital from various particularlyfor nonenvironmental staff.partners. The World Bank's Economic

Development Institute, EnvironmentTo implement the above plan of action, the Department, Training Division, and AfricaWorld Bank will further mainstream the Technical Department are joining forces toenvironment in its internal instruments and implement a comprehensive, three-yearprocedures and enhance its environmental environmental training program, in whichcapacity. In particular, the Bank will do staff are strongly encouraged tothe following: participate. The program is expected to be

open to national professionals to* Mainstream the environment in contribute to building relationshipsCountry Assistance Strategies. This between World Bank and local staff. Thisactivity will involve the World Bank's program has been conceived of as a keycountry teams and the environmental instrument to mainstream ing thecoordinators in the operational environment into the World Bank'sdepartments, with support from the Africa country assistance strategies. OtherTechnical Department and Environment donors, for example, the United StatesDepartment. Good practices will be Agency for International Developmentdeveloped in this process. Similar efforts (USAID), may join the program.are planned for Public ExpenditureReviews to secure needed funding for * Improve internal environmentalnascent environmental institutions and staffing, organization, and networking. Allactivities. Other key Bank instruments, operational units will be equipped withsuch as Poverty Assessments and Country focal environmental points, which willEconomic Memoranda, will be constitute departmental and regionalprogressively targeted. environmental networks. This organization

will facilitate information sharing,

xx

dissemination of lessons and best with the World Bank's assistance. Withinpractices, and rapid response to clients. the new context of implementing theInternal networks will be linked to clients' Desertification Convention, the Worldand partners' networks to facilitate Bank, together with other donors and UNinteractive information and reduce agencies, will provide cost-effectivetransaction costs in preparing and support to national programs that payimplementing field operations. more attention to drought preparedness,

integrated water resource management,* Develop environmnental information and sustainable fuelwood supply. Specialsystems In several environmental projects, attention will be paid to sanitation andenvironmental monitoring and evaluation waste management, a criticalsystems are meeting the priority demands environmental risk in drought-prone areas.of project managers and stakeholderswhile simultaneously assessing results in * Humid West Africa. The focus will bethe field and actual environmental on integrated coastal zone managementimpacts. These systems need to be (particularly from C6te d'lvoire toexpanded systematically to the overall Nigeria), conservation of the remainingenvironmental portfolio as well as to primary rain forest, and protection of thesector lending with environmental high watersheds of major river systemscomponents. Special effort should be (particularly in Guinea and Sierra Leone).given to innovative cross-cutting Coastal zones already account for about aoperations to optimize learning in early third of the total population in theimplementation and to the development of subregion. Special attention will beindicators for environmentally sustainable required for improving urban anddevelopment. industrial environmental management.

The World Bank will accelerate the* Enhance environmental networking buildup of its support in this field.and partnerships, particularly with NGOs. Assistance is being given in Nigeria toImplementing the above action plan prepare an integrated coastal zonerequires even closer collaboration among management program focused on theaffiliates of the World Bank Group, which Niger Delta. A similar operation iswill need to expand environmental planned for Ghana. More of thesepartnerships and networks with a broad operations will be promoted.range of external institutions such as UNagencies, multilateral and bilateral donors, * Congo Basin. The main focus will beacademic and research institutions, and on conserving the second largestnongovernmental organizations (NGOs), contiguous primary tropical rain forest ofparticularly those in Africa. the world, monitoring its evolution, and

planning its sustainable use. As a first* Monitor the implementation of the plan step, the World Bank is preparing a projectof action. for environmental monitoring in the basin,

a unique biodiversity area, to be financedFrom a geographic point of view, the plan by the Global Environment Facility. Otherwill focus on the following environmental donors, in particular USAID, are involved.priorities: Attention will also be paid to coastal

zones, particularly in areas with intense* Sudano-Sahelian Belt. The focus will urban and industrial development;continue to be on reversing the spiral of however, World Bank assistance inland degradation as has been done through environmental management is likely tonatural resource management projects continue to be limited in the subregion, at

xxi

least in the near future, given the current conserving biodiversity-the foundationpolitical situation, particularly in Zaire. for flourishing tourism-and making

agriculture more sustainable including* East Africa. The World Bank's above all maintenance of soil quality. Thisassistance will continue to focus mainly will help achieve food security and willon reversing land degradation through variously involve such diverse changes aserosion control, agroforestry, and land reform (particularly in South Africaintensive sustainable agriculture, while and Zimbabwe), soil conservation andhelping preserve the region's unique rehabilitation, adjustment to drought andbiodiverzsity, which remains the main climatic variability, and integrated waterforeign exchange earner through tourism. resource management. Support toA number of operations are being prepared integrated coastal zone management willincluding one for Lake Victoria to make also be required, in particular inits multiple uses more sustainable. Major Mozambique.cities will also need support to improveurban environmental management, * Indian Ocean Islands. The Worldparticularly in the coastal zones (for Bank's assistance will continue to focusexample, Dar es Salaam and Mombasa). on reversing land degradation while

intensifying efforts to protect uniqueSouthern Africa. Improving urban biodiversity in Madagascar. Pollution

environmental management through control due to urban and industrialpollution control and improving living development will be a priority on theconditions will be essential in the small islands to make such developmentcountries in which urban population compatible with booming tourism.already represents more than half the totalpopulation, for example, South Africa. Inthe countryside, efforts should balance

xxii

INTRODUCTION

I. OVERVIEW

This paper aims to define the World Bank's medium- and long-term agenda forimproving its assistance to Sub-Saharan African countries on their road towardenvironmentally sustainable development (ESD). It attempts to assess the environmentalsituation and long-term trends in Africa, draw lessons from World Bank experience, andsketch out new directions.

The paper is primarily targeted to World Bank staff to help them enrich dialoguewith African counterparts and improve the conception and implementation of WorldBank-sponsored ESD programs. The paper is also expected, however, to interest a muchwider audience, including a broad array of primarily African institutions, both public andprivate, universities, NGOs, and bilateral and multilateral agencies.

The paper's foundation is the message that the Earth Summit brought to the worldin 1992: without improving environmental management, development will be undermined,and without accelerated development in poor countries-the case in most of Sub-SaharanAfrica-the environment will continue to degrade. This conviction is encapsulated in theESD concept, which presents an opportunity to view African development problems in anew light, combining environmental, social, and economic aspects-an opportunity towork out new solutions that are better adapted to Africa.

Several factors were key to developing this paper:

X Space. Dealing adequately with the environment requires the integration of thegeographic dimension. The paper, while highlighting common issues and making generalrecommendations for the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa, attempts to provide a morespecific vision on six ecological zones derived from Food and Agricultural Organizationof the United Nations (FAO) ecological zoning adjusted to administrative boundaries: theSudano-Sahelian Belt, the humid coastal zones of West Africa, the Congo Basin, EastAfrica, southern Africa, and the African islands of the Indian Ocean. A set of key maps areintegrated into the paper.

* Time. The paper provides a historical perspective as well as an outlook on the future.Looking forward, the time horizon of the paper is 2025, a perspective that roughlycorresponds to one generation. Looking back, the paper mainly examines the experienceof World Bank work in the past decade from an environmental perspective as it relates toAfrica. Although this long-term perspective is painted with a "broad brush" to set thestage, the focus is mostly on recent World Bank experience and the implications for WorldBank strategy.

* Partnership. The collaboration of the World Bank, its African clients, bilateral andmultilateral agencies, and NGOs has contributed to the elaboration of the paper and willbe essential for implementing its recommendations.

I

The paper builds on a series of key documents prepared inside and outside theWorld Bank, including Agenda 21 (UNCED 1992), and the International Conventions onBiodiversity, Climate Change, and Desertification; a paper prepared by the AfricanMinisterial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) for the Rio Conference, AfricanCommon Perspectives and Position on the Convention on Biological Diversity (AMCEN1991); Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth. A Long- Term Study(World Bank 1989); the recent paper A Continent in Transition: Sub-Saharan Africa in theMid-i 990s (World Bank 1995c); WVorld Development Report: Development andEnvironment, 1992 (World Bank 1992b); West African Long-Term Perspective Study,Preparing for the Future: A Vision of West Africa in the Year 2020, Summary Report(Snrech and others 1994); and material prepared by the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme-sponsored African Futures, a program that promotes national Long-TermPerspective Studies. The paper is also supported by several sectoral regional strategies andby almost twenty freestanding thematic "building block" papers addressing specific facetsand cross-cutting issues of ESD, prepared by specialists inside and outside the WorldBank (see annex 1).

The paper has benefited from an extensive consultation process in Africa andelsewhere. Three workshops were conducted in Abidjan (C6te d'lvoire), Naivasha(Kenya), and Harare (Zimbabwe), and a synthlesis conference was held at TelemarkCollege (Norway). Participants included representatives from the public and privatesectors, NGOs, and universities. Consultations were also held with international NGOs,UN agencies, and bilateral institutions on successive drafts. A discussion of the mainissues raised in the consultation process is presented in annex 3.

While acknowledging the formidable difficulties facing most African countries inthe coming decades, the paper aims to convey a sense of realistic hope for development.The major challenge is to make this development environmentally sustainable.

Box 1: An African's View of Environmenitally Sustainable Development

In an African context, it is important to define sustainable development with a historicalperspective. It is not enough to compare the present with the future, since the residual effects of pastpractices must also be considered. African cultural heritage and traditions remind us that land andits associated natLural resources must be regarded as a sacred trust that has been bequeathed to fus byour ancestors. This resource base must be handed over to future generations intact or in an enhanced&condition.

Source; Professor B. Okigbo, United Nations University. Observation made at the consultationjworkshop,.Abidjan, C6te d'lvoire, March 1995.

II. MAIN ISSUES AND QUESTIONS

The paper focuses oni the linkages among poverty, environment, anid developmentwith a view to reinforcing positive synergies, while breaking the negative ones. Itparticularly seeks ways to help the poor maintain and improve their natural capital(natural resources), while developing their human capital (human resource development),human-made capital (investments in infrastructure and directly productive capital goods),

2

and social capital (the institutional and cultural bases and political systems that make asociety function). Underlying the transition to more environmentally sustainabledevelopment is the recognition that emphasizing financial and fiscal viability without afull understanding of the resource costs involved may severely compromise the resourcebase of future generations. The paper addresses three sets of questions:

* What are the key environmental issues that currently make development unsustainablein many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa? What are the critical geographic areas in whichthese issues need to be addressed most urgently? What will the environmental conditionsbe in Sub-Saharan Africa in the year 2025?

* How has the World Bank helped its African borrowers integrate the environment intotheir development strategies and programs over the past decade? What are the lessonslearned from both successes and failures?

* What should the World Bank's priorities be in better assisting African countries ontheir path to ESD? What are the implications of these priorities for the environmentalactivities the Bank supports in Sub-Saharan Africa, its own mode of operation, and itspartnerships with other agencies?

Different parties ask these questions. Inside the Bank, regional management wantsto take stock of what has been achieved, particularly in helping countries prepare theirNational Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs), and what should be done to further NEAPimplementation. Outside the Bank, the donor community and NGOs have requested thatthe World Bank reflect on what it should do to help pave the way to ESD, a request thathas also been supported by the Global Coalition for Africa (GCA). In addition, manyAfrican governments have expressed their interest in what the World Bank has learnedfrom its environment-related assistance and what it plans to do in the future.

III. STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS

These three sets of questions structure this paper as follows:

* Chapter I identifies the key problems that threaten environmental sustainability andthe geographic areas in which they have the strongest bearing. It also provides a long-termenvironmental perspective by looking thirty years ahead within the global context.

* Chapter 2 analyzes the World Bank experience in helping African countries managetheir environment. It examines to what extent the environment has been brought from theperiphery to the center of country assistance in macroeconomic, sector, and projectinterventions. It reviews experience in dealing with trans-boundary environmental issuesand assesses World Bank progress in building its capacity to address ESD.

3

* Chapter 3 highlights the key elements of a World Bank environmental agenda, itsobjectives, strategy, and operational implications. The chapter focuses on implementingthe first generation of NEAPs, while establishing environmental planning as a permanentparticipatory process; building knowledge; dealing with both rural and urban environment;and addressing cross-sectoral and trans-boundary issues. It defines ways to incorporateenvironmentally sustainable development in the World Bank's work, enhance its owncapacity, improve financing effectiveness, and develop partnerships and networks to facethis challenge. Finally, it proposes an action plan.

4

CHAPTER 1

KEY ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND THE LONG-TERMPERSPECTIVE

I. WHY PRESENT CONSTRAINTS MAKE SUSTAINABILITYSo DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

More than anywhere else in the world, Sub-Saharan Africa relies on itsenvironmental resource base, from both an economic and social perspective. This resourcebase, however, is at risk due to interdependent issues.

A. Heavy Reliance on Natural Capital

Most economies in Sub-Saharan Africa depend heavily on their natural capital(natural resources). About two-thirds of the population lives in rural areas, deriving theirmain income from agriculture. For a few countries, such as Ethiopia, Burkina Faso,Malawi, and Uganda, rural population comprises more than 80 percent of the total. It evengoes beyond 90 percent in the extreme cases of Rwanda and Burundi. Agriculture is thefundamental economic activity in most African countries; its officially registered share ofGDP in SSA averages about 20-30 percent, while it accounts for more than 55 percent inthe value of total exports, excluding the oil-producing countries.' In addition, exports aredominated by raw materials with limited value added due to insufficient development oflocal processing.

The cultivated land per capita varies considerably across the continent, but onaverage, it is lower in Africa than, for example, in China and declined to about 0.3 hectareper capita in 1987, except for extreme cases, such as Kenya, which has only 0.1 hectare percapita (see Cleaver and Schreiber 1994, p. 244). These small areas, which seem at odds withthe usual perception of vast, unlimited African lands, reflect the uneven distribution ofpopulation (for example, low density in the Congo Basin and high in the East AfricanHighlands). They also reflect the low levels of technology and unsuitability of wide areas forfarming. The dependence on shifting cultivation, however, makes the area needed forcropland many times larger than the average given above. When scarcity of good land iscoupled with soil degradation and low levels of inputs and technology, the result is anincreasing deficit in food production. Agricultural production grew at an average rate of 1.7percent during the period 1980-92, which was not sufficient to keep up with populationgrowth.

Major constraints in utilizing natural capital are the relative poverty of African soilsand reliance on rainfed agriculture coupled with the variability of climatic conditions. About90 percent of African soils are deficient in phosphorus, a key nutrient in the production ofbiomass (see World Bank 1994c, p. 1) and one of the most limiting factors in agriculturalproduction. It is compounded by low content of organic matter, weak water-retentioncapacity, and surface crusting. About half the cultivable land is under arid and semiarid

5

conditions, or about three-quarters if one considers only the land actually cultivated. The riskof serious droughts is high in both the Sudano-Sahelian Belt and southern Africa. Thepotential for irrigation-about 2-5 percent of the cultivable land-is unfortunately limited.2

Exacerbating the constraining basic conditions, continued soil degradation is amajor problem in SSA, although its extent cannot be strictly quantified due to the poor database. The Global Assessment of Soil Degradation (GLASOD)3 estimated that for all ofAfrica, areas moderately to severely "degraded" are on the order of half a billion hectares,which corresponds to one-third of all cropland and permanent pasture. Overgrazing is quotedas the main reason for soil degradation in drylands and erosion by water as the main cause ofdegradation everywhere. Estimates of the productivity impacts of soil degradation are fewand vary considerably, which indicates a serious information gap; however, a combination ofresults from several assessments indicates that the areas affected by degradation may havelost on average about 20 percent of their productivity.4

At least a dozen empirical studies in SSA have attempted to derive monetaryestimates of the losses due to soil degradation. As expected, results vary not only acrosscountries but also for the same country because of different methods and data sets.Generally, the studies indicate immediate annual losses, due to soil erosion by water, of lessthan 5 percent of the agricultural GDP and often less than I percent. The problem is not somuch the immediate losses but the accumulation of erosion costs over time, which in somecountries represent a significant proportion of their GDP.5

Deforestation continues, and forests and woodlands are receding by about 3-4million hectares/year.6 To put this into perspective, this rate is less than I percent of theforest cover per year but can be locally severe. Loss of tree and forest cover exposes the soilto erosion and negatively affects water retention capacity and local climate, increasing thedownstream risk of both droughts and flooding. Standing forests produce an impressive arrayof nontimber forest products as well as carbon sequestration. Most of the deforestation isrelated to clearing agricultural land. Additional forces are the strong reliance on wood asfuel, accounting for about 70 percent of total energy consumption and 90 percent ofhousehold energy. The direct influence of timber logging is more limited but serves to openup virgin areas to agriculture and settlement through the construction of new roads (seeSharma and others 1994, p. 14).

Closely related to deforestation is the continued loss of natural habitats andbiodiversity-another major environmental concern. Overall, protected areas numbermore than 700, but these represent less than 5 percent of all of Africa's land area (see WRI1994, p. 152). A few countries, particularly Kenya, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, haveefficiently used one aspect of biodiversity by developing tourism based mainly oniwildlife; however, Africa, with only about 2 percent of international tourism receipts in1990, lags far behind in a global comparison (see International Resources Group 1992, p.14). Other aspects of biodiversity have also been overlooked, particularly in terms ofsustainable food production, medicine, and ecosystem resilience.

B. Poorest Region with Fastest Population Growth

Of the thirty poorest countries of the world, twenty-one are African. The averageincome level in SSA in 1992 was $530 per capita, and the average growth rate per capita

6

was a negative 0.8 percent per annum (1980-92) (see World Bank 1994n, p. 162-3). Bythe year 2000, the number of poor in Africa will have increased to an estimated 265million, which would represent more than 40 percent of the total population of thecontinent, exceeding that of India and by far that of China (see Figure 1).7

Poverty is linked to environment in complex ways, particularly in naturalresource-based African economies.8 Degradation of these resources reduces theproductivity of the poor who most rely on them and makes the poor even more susceptibleto extreme events (weather, economic, and civil strife). Poverty makes recovery from suchevents even more difficult and contributes to lowering social and ecological resistance.According to the U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance Office, these events-particularly thoserelated to weather-appear to be increasing in frequency. Poverty is also a factor inaccelerating environmental degradation, since the poor, with shorter time horizons andusually less secure access to natural resources, are unable and often unwilling to invest innatural resource management (for example, soil conservation and fertilizers). Anotherrelevant link is the fact that poor people are often the most exposed to environmentaldamage, as they are unable to afford, for example, to purchase safe water or to live in aneighborhood that is less polluted. Poverty reduction will often lead to improvedenvironmental quality and vice versa.9

Figure 1: Poverty in Year 2000

SSA

INDIAL POOR

CHINA'

0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400Millions

Source: World Bank 1990b.

Poverty is exacerbated by the African demographic explosion with a currentannual average growth rate of about 3 percent.'0 The fast pace of medical progress and,hence, population growth, has not been matched by equivalent progression in the adoptionof production technologies, thereby increasing poverty. Doubling time of the population isbetween twenty and thirty years in most African countries] l-a demographic explosionunprecedented in human history. Across SSA, almost half of the total population is belowsixteen years of age.12 Imbalance of the age pyramid is further reinforced by the migrationof young men in their twenties from villages that now have an overwhelming majority ofchildren. Although teenagers theoretically represent a high potential in future brain power,they also increase the instability of the social fabric, particularly under current conditionswith low investment in human capital.

7

AIDS is another factor that is likely to reinforce this imbalance and thereforeincrease poverty, even though, according to recent studies (see United Nations 1994c andWorld Bank 19940), its impact on slowing population growth is generally projected to beinsignificant for the whole of SSA due to the current high level of fertility; however, thisimpact could become severe if the epidemic spreads more rapidly than is consideredlikely, if mortality from other diseases were exacerbated as a result of the HIV epidemic,or if fertility dropped more rapidly than is shown in the current projections. For example,in countries with the highest HIV prevalence, the population growth rate is projected to be0.6 percent lower than it would be without AIDS mortality.

C. Urbanization and Migration is Transforming Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is the nmost quiickly urbanizing region in the world. Thisdynamic is rapidly transforminilg the nature of African development: thiirty years ago onlyone city had a population of more thani a millioni-by 1990 eighteeln had growvn to that size(see Venard 1994, p. 8). Althoughi cities provide many economic opportunities, they alsoconfront a range of environmental challenges: the inability of physical infrastructure andservices to keep pace with population growth, the health consequences of crowding andincreased exposure to concentrated wastes, unsustainable resource consumption, andgreater settlement on environimienitally fragile lands. This represents a steadilydeteriorating situation that has had a disproportionate impact on the urban poor.

Figure 2: Migrationt and Major Urban Centers

Recent migration ........................................ w\trends ......................................... ,:^'.

Megalopolises in 2025 11 (millionsof inhabitants)

More than S 5

More than 10O

O More than 50

Source: Venard 1994.

8

Assessing current migratory movements is difficult due to the lack of information.A gross estimate, however, indicates that SSA contains about 35 million transnationalmigrants. Of these, about 4 million are refugees (see Russell and others 1990, abstract, andCook and Falloux 1994). In West Africa, for example, it has been estimated that thecoastal countries may have absorbed about 8 million people in the last three decades. Thisfigure is likely to increase to about 20 million by 2020 (see Snrech and others 1994, p. 8).Even assuming a future decrease in political breakdown and civil strife, populationmigrations are likely to continue and expand over the whole continent, from ecologicallyrisky and economically fragile areas (for example, the Sahel) to more environmentallyfriendly and prosperous countries (for example, South Africa).

African coasts are attracting increasing numbers of people. 13 Much of thecontinent's urban population now lives in coastal cities. Coastal zones are often affectedby a wide range of interdependent environmental issues relating to agriculture, forestry,and fisheries and water management at the interface between marine and freshwaterecosystems, as well as infrastructure, urban, and industrial development. Mostgovernments do not have the proper institutional mechanisms to deal with these complexand cross-cutting issues.

D. Political Systems in Transition

Sub-Saharar, Africa is undergoing a political transition with positive and negativeaspects. On the one hand, many countries are progressing along the road to democracy. Inthe last five years, thirty countries have carried out pluralistic national elections. SouthAfrica has abolished apartheid. Decentralization and community participation stimulatedby more open communication and free press are on the increase. On the other hand, somecountries, such as Angola, Liberia, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, and Zaire, have suffered amore or less complete breakdown of order due to war or social unrest. The politicalsituation in Nigeria and Sierra Leone remains unstable. The social, environmental, andeconomic impacts of such political instability is immense. This is particularly illustratedby the recent tragic events in Rwanda; however, the positive Mozambican and SouthAfrican cases indicate that the process is not irreversible (see World Bank 1995c).

The transition to more open societies-by empowering people at local and nationallevels-facilitates environmental management. The contrary is true for countries sufferingfrom political breakdown and civil strife, making sound environmental husbandry virtuallyimpossible.

The extreme fragmentation of the continent and the lack of effective cooperationmechanisms have also hampered environmental management. With forty-eight countries,Sub-Saharan Africa is the most fragmented region of the world; the "historical rupture"incurred by colonialism and slavery has left a troubling legacy of artificial post-colonialborders. This fragmentation into small countries seriously impedes addressing issues at thesubregional level, such as watershed management for the major river basins, preservation ofmarine and coastal ecosystems, and protection of primary rain forest. Fragmentation alsolimits the individual capacity of each government to deal with the environment.14

9

E. Changing Social Systems

Local African structures are changing quickly due to a combination of multiplefactors, including population growth with an increasing fraction of young people,migration, the decreasing power of traditional chiefs, urban influence, and the impact ofpolitical transition; however, many development interventions have not paid enoughattention so far to those changing structures and the evolving distribution of power at thelocal level. Studies have clearly shown that transplanting views and experiences that areforeign to African societies can lead to substantial dislocation of social and economicrelations. Examples, such as the introduction of group ranching among the Masai in Kenyaor the "sedentarization" of pygmies along the roadsides in Cameroon, Zaire, and CAR,even show adverse impacts on the living conditions of these groups.

Any intervention to promote environmentally sustainable development that is notreinterpreted into the beneficiaries' mode of thinking will not develop firm roots in thepeople's culture. By assuming that certain "frontline" stakeholders, such as governmentofficers, know what is best for the people, projects have been located in areas withoutbuilding the critical linkages needed for local ownership. Such projects are hardly eversustainable. It is only by allowing the beneficiaries to internalize the logic that underliesprojects through a process of informed participation that these projects will be sustainable.In other words, sustainability requires an understanding of the internal dynamics ofchanging social structures at the local level. This is a key challenge in promoting ESD.

F. Interdependence of the Constraints

The above constraints are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. Theyconstitute a nexus that makes environmentally sustainable development difficult toachieve. This nexus has been well documented elsewhere (see Cleaver and Schreiber1994). Only its most salient points are reviewed here to outline the environmentalchallenge that Africa and, by implication, the World Bank are facing.

African economies have accumulated relatively low levels of human-made capital(that is, investments in infrastructure and directly productive capital goods) and continue torely heavily on natural capital (natural resources). This natural capital is at risk. Poverty andhigh population growth often induce land degradation and deforestation, which leads togrowing food insecurity and loss of biodiversity. The result contributes to migration intorural areas often less suitable for agricultural expansion and urban areas often lackingphysical, social, and economic infrastructure. The process may also contribute to therationality of large families: adding family labor becomes one way of coping with theincreasing time costs for gathering fuel and water and clearing of new land.

The severity of this population-agriculture-environment nexus is compounded bylow investment in human capital (human resource development), which often restrictsindividuals to continued reliance on unskilled labor and short-term exploitation of naturalresources as the only feasible survival options. Human capital investment will have toincrease dramatically for Africa to catch up with other continents in terms of education,information, and communication. Special attention will be needed to address the informationgap on the environment that makes its management so difficult today.

10

Finally, the social capital (social and political institutions) in Africa is in transition,with encouraging advances toward democracy but policy, institutions, and governance oftenin crisis at multiple levels of society. Increased population density, competition forresources, and demographic mobility may result in increasing tensions, disintegration of thesocial fabric, and further political instability.

Economic growth can generate resources to address environmental problems but isnot by necessity environmentally sustainable. Markets for environmental goods and servicesare often incomplete or nonexistent. Consequently, some environmental values are not takeninto account in market transactions. This is particularly so in a context in which much of theenvironmental resources are common property. Free markets cannot be expected to produceefficient and sustainable results when property rights are not clearly defined, complete,enforced, and transferable. Complete privatization of all environmental costs and benefits,however, is neither feasible nor desirable, which makes public policies that reflect ecologicalvalues necessary. In addition, equity considerations often dictate that some form of publicintervention in environmental management is desirable.

Governments, however, are often unwilling or unable to correct market failureeffectively, for example, open access use of forest resources, water, fisheries, minerals, andgrazing lands. The lack of clearly defined property rights in these cases does not allow freemarkets to work; hence, prices fail to reflect the economic (including environmental) cost ofexploitation. At the same time, governments often intervene, sometimes with the best ofintentions, in a manner that distorts incentives for good natural resource management andcreates insecurity with respect to property rights: market failure has been worsened by policyfailure. Examples are subsidies for pesticides and energy as well as noncompetitive andeconomically underpriced allocations of exploitation rights to forests and mining, all ofwhich may result in environmental damage.

II. SUBREGIONAL SPECIFICITIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL HOT SPOTS

Although this paper takes a regional outlook on Sub-Saharan Africa, it is clear thatsuch generalization obscures the high diversity of African ecosystems, which calls forspecific strategies and programs. This section takes a closer look at some of this diversity.For the purposes of the paper, the continent has been subdivided into six subregions drawnfrom FAO ecological zoning (see Figure 3): the Sudano-Sahelian Belt, Humid WestAfrica, the Congo Basin, East Africa, southern Africa, and the Indian Ocean Islands. Foreach of these subregions, only environmentally salient features, challenges, and hot spotsare highlighted.

11

Figure 3: Ecological Subregion

r~~~~~ an- -. e'.e

Huiiiid St icouheraAfic

MlTe Cong Bash |inj

The Islands of theInidian Ocean

Source. Adapted from FAO Atlas 1 986b.

A. The Sudano-Sahelian Belt

Figure 4: Sudan o-SaIhelian Belt

Senegal Niger River Valley NileValleyRiver Val and Inner Delta

Mauritania Ml

K<rkina 4 ~~~~~~~~Sudany>

/ \ \ \~ ~ ~~~~~ Lake ag < DjibouomGambia Senegal Aiea Somalia

Hot spots

The natural capital of this ecological zone is the most fragile and the leastfavorable for development all over Africa. This includes poor soils, extremely variable

12

rainfall with a short cropping period, and a high risk of drought. Land-locked countriessuch as Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad have a particularly low potential, except forthe valleys and aquifers related to the large basin of the Niger River and Lake Chad.Another case in point is the Nile River Basin in Sudan, whlicil is affected by landdegradation. Coastal countries, particularly Senegal, the Gambia, and Mauritania presentbetter potential because of easier access to international trade, irrigation potential, andopportunities in fishing and aquaculture.

Total cultivable land is less than 20 percent of the total surface of the subregion,as most of the belt is under desertic conditions. For the same reason, forest land, mostlywoody savannah, accounts for less than 10 percent and decreases at an annual rate of 0.8percent.

Low and highly variable agriculturalproduction is compounided by land Land Usescarcity. Cultivated lanid per capita Percentage of Total Area

ranges from 0.1 to 0.56 hectares.'5 On 100average, half of the arable land is 50cultivated annually, which makesmaintenance of soil fertility virtually 0 limpossible under widely applied, Cultivable Forest land

Source: FAO landshifting cultivation. Instead of the Source: FAO

current average two-year rotation, it would take at least a six-year shifting system (seePieri 1995), that is, three times more cultivable land to keep its fertility under low-leveltechnology. Turning to highi-input technology is often uneconomic under rainfedconditions due to climatic risk. This is the dilemma of the Sahelian farming community,which explains migration toward the southern coast. Potential solutions lie in thecombination of increasing drought resistance, optimizing water efficiency in irrigatedland, and developing off-farm employment.

At the same time, the belt features one of the most rapid annual population growthrates of the continent, despite the fact that in many areas the population that is mainlyrural (about 80 percent in the land-locked countries) is already beyond the carryingcapacity at current technological levels. This has resulted in a downward spiral ofextensive land degradation and fuelwood shortage-particularly in Burkina Faso, Chad,the Gambia, and Niger-increased water scarcity, and loss of natural habitats (see WRI1994 and FAO 1986a).

Pervasive soil degradation has substantially increased the risk of drought becauseof mutually reinforcing factors, including loss of organic matter and nutrients, particularlyphosphorus; soil structure deterioration; and surface crusting, which in turn decreaseswater infiltration and retention and increases erosion. Most of the natural habitats inwoody savannahs have been lost. This environmental degradation has been both the causeand consequence of poverty; the belt includes some of the poorest countries of the world(see World Bank 1990b).

According to World Bank projections, the Sudano-Saheliani population is expectedto almost double in the next thirty years from about 90 million to about 175 million. Theseprojections assume that fertility will decline, at first at a moderate pace but continuingtoward replacement fertility. The projections also foresee a decline in mortality, partly

13

offsetting the effect of declining fertility on population growth. Migration toward thecoastal countries of West and Central Africa, as experienced in the past, is expected tocontinue and possibly grow, although migration flows are notoriously difficult to project.Such migration would alleviate part of the increasing population pressure on land andother natural resources (see Snrech and others 1994).

Population 0 Total

20.0 TUrban

,o 100.0.1

50.00 I500

1980 1986 1992 2025

GNP perCapita $330 (993)

Source: AfricanDevelopment Indicators 1994-95, \rid Bank/UN

Despite such alleviation, Sudano-Sahelian societies will still face an immensepopulation challenge, which will make the entire belt an environmental hot spot. Pressureis likely to be the highest on the river valleys and major wetlands, such as the inner NigerDelta in Mali and Lake Chad. A fuelwood crisis is also expected, as all the countries of thebelt are likely to be in severe deficit by 2025.

The Sudano-Sahelian Belt, due to the formidable tasks its countries face, has beenone of the most productive laboratories in terms of innovative and participatoryapproaches for natural resource management. This point is further elaborated in chapter 2.

B. Humid West Africa

Figure 5: Humid West Africa

Guinea Bissau

Fouta DjallonBurkina

NigeriaSierra Leo Ivory Coas T g

GhanaMount LoM ibefl

Mount Nimba Niger Delta and

Coastal Zone-Hot spots @ /

14

The natural capital of this Population 03TotalIecological zone is relatively 300.0 -Urbanfavorable in terms of climatic 200.0 conditions: high and regular s 1000 X irainfall, soils of reasonable quality, °°+although lacking phosphorus; 1980 1986 1992 2025however, the combination of high GNP perCapta $370 (193)

population growth with steady in- Source: African Development Indicators 194-95,Vbrld Bank/UN

migration from the Sahel during the last three decades (with a compounded annualpopulation growth rate of about 3 percent) has put serious stress on the environment: muchof the rain forest has gone, and what remains is decreasing at an alarming annual rate ofabout 2 percent, exceeding 5 percent in the extreme case of C6te d'Ivoire. Environmentalstress has also been formidable on inherently fragile coastal ecosystems because of fastpopulation growth (about one-third of the total population of the subregion is concentratedon a 60-kilometer-wide coastal band). This stress has been reinforced by industrial andurban development with increasing pollution levels, particularly in the Niger Delta ofNigeria. A major part of the biodiversity capital of the subregion has already disappearedand the remaining rich spots are at risk (for example, Mount Nimba in Guinea).

Land Use This subregion is more advanced than the SahelPercentageLof Totand Ara in its urban transition, with close to 40 percent

100P o l of the population living in cities.80 460- About half the total surface is cultivable under40 reasonably good conditions with a much lower

Cu F _restclimatic risk than in the Sahel. Forest, whichCuftivable Forest originally covered most of the subregion, has

Source: FAO shrunk to less than a third of the total area withonly pockets of primary rain forests.

The average cultivated land area per capita ranges from 0. 12 to 0.39 hectares,demonstrating that the farming community is in better condition than in the Sahel, chieflydue to higher productivity, lower climatic risk, and greater urban population, whichprovides a broader market.

Less than half of the arable land is annually cultivated. This highlights the stresson soil fertility for land under shifting cultivation, mainly in the northern part of thesubregion. This stress is, however, less important than in the Sahel due to permanentplantations in the southern part (for example, coffee and cocoa).

Two environmental hot spots will require special attention:

* The coastal zone from Accra, Ghana, to the Niger Delta in Nigeria. This zone is likelyto become a major continuous urban megalopolis with a population of more than 50million people on 500 kilometers of coastal line. Environmental conditions are alreadysevere, particularly in Nigeria. Additional population influx will make this zone difficultto manage. Furthermore, the zone is likely to face the additional challenge of sea level rise(see Box 2).

15

* The Fouta Djallon, Mount Nimba, and Loma areas in Guinea and neighboringcountries. These represent the head of the major watersheds in Western Africa, includingthose of the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia Rivers. They also encompass exceptionalbiodiversity, particularly on Mount Nimba at the cross-border between Guinea, Liberia,and Cote d'Ivoire. This area has seriously degraded despite international support toreverse the downward spiral.

B Aox 2: Risks of Sea Levcl Rise in::the NigerDeltza, Nigeria: ::g::: i: ::i} i :---:

TheT Niger Delta i's a densely populated area in the: Rivers State of Nigeria with an estimated 4-6iImillion inhabitants and an annual population growth rate of 3.5 percent. Damming on the UpperNiger and Benue Rivers for hydroelectric power has considerablyI reduced the sediment supply totheAdlta and has significantly increased erosionmalong the; coast. This reduction of sediment supply ,i; ;icombined with huge extraction of hydrocarbons and water from ithe subsurface has accelerated local:Ssubsidence: (lowenng ground level) now estimated at 25 millimeters per year. The reduction in:freshwater flow during dry seasons caused by river damming has also led to greater saltwater.intrusion. A projected sea-level rise due to global warming of more than I meter in the next centurycould flood much of the Niger Delta, exacerbating the above .difficulties. It could force up to -80percent of the delta's population to higher ground. The Intergovernmental Panel on ClimaticChange (IPCC) has estimated consequent property damage at $9 billion.

Sowrce: B. U. Haq, Sea Level Rise and Coastal Subsidence: Rates and Threats, Draft ENVLW Technical Note,'ii0 September 1994. 3 : : 0:: ;0 ; ; 7f::;:;:

C. The Congo Basin

Figure 6: Central Congo Basin and Ecological Hot Spots

Northem fringe

Westem Highlands of the rain

forest~ ~ foes

1enra

. Equatorial Guinea. l

Sao Tome "Lao n,

\ < ( ~~~Zaire L ivu

_ Hot spots , Area

Krain fores

16

This subregion encompasses thePopulation 0 Total second largest, contiguous,

T50.0 . Uorban primary tropical rain forest area100.0 of the world with unique

50.0 biodiversity capital of globalsignificance and considerable

0.0 capacity to sequester carbon. The1980 1986 1992 2025 main economic activities are

GNP per Capita s470(993) related to forest exploitation,Source:African Development Indicators 994-95,Mrbrd Bank/UN mining, gas and oil exploration,

and related industrial activities.The overall population density is the lowest in Africa, but the level of urbanization (52percent) is the highest on the continent. The economic potential is high as reflected by thecomparatively high GNP per capita of Gabon, Congo, and Cameroon. Zaire, the largestcountry, could have comparable economic performance, but its development has beenhampered by political instability and mismanagement.

About three-quarters of the total surface of Land Usethe subregion would theoretically be Percentage of Total Area

cultivable, but a major part of it is under 100 Ttropical rain forest. Land actually cultivated 50represents about 15 percent of the total area. TOverall pressure to clear the rain forest is °still relatively low except at the periphery of Cultivable Forest

the subregion where it interfaces with areas Source: FAO Land Land

of high population density. The current annual deforestation rate is estimated at about 0.5percent.

Agricultural activities are relatively less important in the subregion compared tothe rest of the continent. They are focused on supplying a growing urban market and onpermanent plantations.

The timber industry is relatively important. It is under international scrutiny, assustainable logging remains to be fully proved. Forest monitoring, surveying, and land useplanning, combined with appropriate policies, are needed in most of the countries in thesubregion.

The Congo Basin faces environmental problems that are less severe than those ofthe other subregions, although its future development will present a serious challenge.Countries will particularly have to address the following issues:

* How can most of the primary rain forest be maintained intact for globalbiodiversity and climatic reasons, while maintaining the benefits of its local use?

* How can urban and industrial development be guided, particularly in the coastalzone?

* How can in-migration coming from the forest peripheral zones, which representthe subregion's hot spots, particularly its eastern and northwestern flanks, beaccommodated?

17

D. East Africa

Figure 7: East Africa

itrea EthiopianHighlands

Rwenzori KEt enyan andRange Tanzanian Highlands

and Lake Victoria

Rwanda a Coastal zoneHot spots

Burundi T

Population The natural capital of this400.0 TrbaU subregion is renowned for its300.0 unique scenery and the diversity of

o 200.0 l its parks and reserves. This has200. allowed major development in

* 100.0 tourism, particularly in Kenya,

oo L where at about $800 million a1980 1986 1992 2025 year, it is the prime foreign

GNP perCapitaS bO(193) exchange earner. This subregion

Source:Afncan Development Indicators S94-95 .Abrld Bank/UN also features places of good soilsin the highlands under quasi-

temperate climatic conditions. This has favored the development of intensive agriculture,although the soils require conservation measures because of steep slopes. It also featureslarge tracts of less favorable lands under arid and semiarid conditions. Societies areessentially rural with the lowest rate of urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly inthe cases of Rwanda and Burundi, with only about 6 percent of the population living incities.

This natural capital is at risk due to the extreme pressure of population on arablelands, particularly in Rwanda, Burundi, and Kenya, with a ratio of 0. 10-0.24 hectares/capitain 1990. Although some areas (for example, Machakos in the vicinity of Nairobi) have tosome extent coped with increased population through agricultural intensification, agriculturealone will not be able to absorb the high population growth, as demonstrated by Kenya'scurrent food deficits.

18

Only about a quarter of the total Population 0 Totalsurface of the subregion is 400.0 lrbancultivable. Permanent intensive 300.0

cropping is the current pattern in r

favorable highlands, but _degradation is high under low- 100.0input technology and without o.oenough erosion control measures. 1980 1986 1992 2025

GNP per Capita $150 (993)

Forests cover less than 20 percent Source:Afncan Development Indicators 1994-95,WarddBank/UN

of the total surface of thesubregion. Of those, the small remaining pockets of primary mountain rain forests withtheir unique biodiversity are at risk because of the extreme population pressure due to landscarcity. The annual deforestation rate is estimated at almost I percent by FAO.

The Ethiopian Highlands (that is, areas higher than 1,500 meters above sea level)cover almost half of that country's area and contain almost 90 percent of its populationand 95 percent of the regularly cropped area. Large parts of the highlands, particularly inthe north and east, have been classified as "severely" eroded, and, therefore, the highlandsshould be regarded as a hot spot. Much of the cropped area is also subject to nutrientmining, as dung and crop residues are removed from croplands to be utilized as fuel andlivestock feed.'6

In Tanzania central areas around Dodoma, Shinuyanga, and the Lake Victoriaregion represent areas of high population density and areas with a reportedly high degreeof land degradation (see National Environmental Management Council 1990). LakeVictoria itself has been identified as an environmental hot spot for Kenya, Tanzania, andUganda. Finally, parts of the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts are becoming hot spots,particularly in areas surrounding Mombassa and Dar es Salaam.

19

E. Southern Africa

Figure 8: Southern Africa and Ecological Hot Spots

Luanda Lake MalawiCoastal Zone i Area

Huarnbo AngolaArea o

Zambia

\ Namiia ̂ aabwe), /Okavango anInner Delta

Pretoria wazilandJohannesburgArea

Cape Point

Coastal zone

_ Hot spots

The natural capital of the subregion is rich in terms of biodiversity and productionpotential, although large areas are under semiarid and arid conditions with a moderate tohigh risk of drought. The biodiversity potential is currently exploited through a network ofparks and reserves and a well-developed, game ranching sector with a high level ofmanagement. In some countries, particularly in South Africa, past policies have had anegative impact on the environment by encouraging agricultural development through highsubsidies on farm inputs and irrigation development without stimulating enough soil andwater conservation.

Urban transition is well under wayPopulation FoTotaK in the mining and industrial

* Urban countries, particularly in South200 0 Africa where the urban population150.0

o C000 | ; is greater than 50 percent, while itE100.01

E 500 is less advanced in essentiallyI0.0 agricultural countries such as

1980 1986 1992 2025 Malawi (about 14 percent).Pollution problems are serious inSouth Africa where energy and

Sources:African Development Indicators 1994-95,\AbrId Bank/UN industrial development is

essentially based on mineral coal.

20

Almost half of the total area of the subregion Land Useis cultivable with reasonably good soils, but Percentage of Total Area

climatic conditions are highly variable with 100the risk of recurrent droughts. 80

Forests cover about 40 percent of the total 20area with a significant part under plantation, 0particularly in South Africa. The annual Cultivable Forest

deforestation rate for the whole subregion is Source: FAO Land Land

estimated at 0.5 percent by FAO.

Farming patterns are widely diverse. They range from large mechanized farms tosmallholdings, from market-oriented intensive cropping to subsistence farming. A keychallenge, particularly for Zimbabwe and South Africa, is to maintain cost-effectiveagricultural production while accommodatilg the land needs of the large population ofsmallholders. This challenge is being met by initiating land reform programs, particularly inSouth Africa.

In terms of soil degradation, the most affected areas in southern Africa are found ingrazing land in some areas between Luanda and Huambo in Angola, in the LesothoHighlands, and in northeastern Botswana. As for air pollution, the Johannesburg area ranksas the subregion's worst zone, mostly due to an extremely high concentration of coalburning. These are the hot spots of southern Africa.

F. The Islands of the Indian Ocean

Figure 9: The Islands af thle Indian Ocean

Seychelles

Comoros

I \ CentralHighlands

Eastem mountainrain forest

\~M daga r\Mauritius

Hot spots

Despite huge differences in size and level of development, the islands of theIndian Ocean share common environmental features that are determining or maydetermine their future: (1) their biodiversity capital is of global significance, particularlyin Madagascar, (2) managing marine ecosystems is essential for the islanders-mainly in

21

the development of tourism, (3) the mountainous topography requires special attention interms of soil conservation and watershed management, and (4) tourism, which has greatpotential, is essential to their economic development.

Population IOTotal Madagascar dominates this group40.0 Urba of islands by its size, the

30.0 n U-ban. exceptional diversity of itso~ 20 o l llandscapes, and the extremely.2 20.0 high level of endemism of itsX 10.0 flora and fauna, which puts the

0.0 _ country on the list of1980 1986 1992 2025 environmental priorities for the

GNP perCapita$S500(993) world. Yet, Madagascar and

Sources: African Development Indicators 1994-95, rild Bank/UN Comoros have lagged behind interms of development, while

Mauritius and the Seychelles have experienced solid economic development in the lastthree decades by developing international tourism and, particularly in the former case,building their industries.

More than half of the total area of theseislands is cultivable with relatively good Land Usesoils and usually favorable climatic Pernage of TotalArea

conditions but with a high risk of erosion 80 Tdue to broken terrain. 60;

20Forests, which originally covered more than 0three-quarters of the total surface, have Cultivable Forest

dramatically shrunk to less than a quarter. Source: FAO Land Land

The annual deforestation rate is close to 1 percent. It particularly affects Madagascar.

Although the small islands are intensively cultivated with market-orientedproduction, Madagascar features a much more diversified situation, with the majority ofthe population crowding the central highlands while leaving almost empty the westernlands, despite their production potential. Madagascar has not yet succeeded in promoting amore even population distribution matching that of its natural resources.

The hot spots of the subregion are the Central Highlands and the mountainouseastern zone of Madagascar. The Central Highlands feature the most intensifiedagricultural area of the country but with high degradation due to erosion. The eastern zonecontains the country's remaining tropical rain forest, with some of the richest biodiversityof the world. Yet, it is at risk due to intensive forest clearing for cultivation due topopulation pressure and lack of erosion control techniques, compounded by severefrequent cyclones. An environmental program is under implementation to mitigate thisrisk. Steady effort for the decades to come will be required.

III. LOOKING THIRTY YEARS AHEAD

Although major and immediate uncertainties tend to dominate thinking about thefuture of Sub-Saharan Africa, this paper argues that it is both relevant and necessary to

22

examine some of the longer-term trends. Over a thirty-year perspective, trends inpopulation, food requirements, and environmental pressure are highly pertinent both forwhat they imply for Africa and for the World Bank's present and future assistance.

A. Population Dynamics and Urbanization

In the next three decades, population growth, migration, and settlement patternswill dramatically change the face of Sub-Saharan Africa. If current trends continue, thetotal population of SSA could reach about 1.25 billion in 2025 and continue growing,according to UN population projections that assume a more rapid fertility decline than ispresently occurring. This population projection, however, could be lowered if there was amajor push to expand education and health.

Although the differences between population projection scenarios appear small inrelative terms, they involve large numbers of people due to the powerful momentum ofcurrent population growth in the region. By the end of the next century, these could meanhundreds of millions of people. Pressures on the environment will be severe, particularlyin hot spots where, already today, tensions between population and natural resources arehigh, for example, in the Sudano-Sahelian Belt and in the East African Highlands."7

Future migration could intensify due to population growth and the combination ofenvironmental pressures, economic differentials, and civil strife. The occurrence ofextreme ecological events, such as droughts, would reinforce migratory movements.Because rural-to-urban migration is expected to continue, much of the projected increasein population is expected to occur in urban areas. Out-migration from the Western Sahel isexpected to continue southward to the coastal countries of West Africa and, to a lesserextent, toward the Congo Basin. Out-migration from the Eastern Sahel (Sudan andSomalia) is likely to be much more difficult due to the lack of feasible options. In the EastAfrican Highlands, out-migration is likely to go into the lowlands and south towardsouthern Africa and west toward the Congo Basin. African countries, with support fromthe international community, will need to monitor these migratory flows carefully.

Urbanization, influenced by urban policy and infrastructure development, willcontinue; by 2020 the urban population is likely to exceed half SSA's total population.With relative magnitudes depending on assumptions about the policy and investmentdeterminants of urban growth, urban population will be distributed among three categoriesof cities:

* Small towns (fewer than 100,000 inhabitants). The number of these small towns isexpected to grow from about 3,000 in 1990 to about 9,000 in 2020 and include 30 percentof Africa's urban population. They play and will continue to play a major role as serviceand market centers for surrounding rural communities. These small towns have usually notbenefited from efforts to address environmental management issues, since the focus hasalmost always been put on the urgent urban environmental problems of large cities. Thelinkages with rural infrastructure are also important.

* Medium towns (from 100,000 to I million inhabitants). Their number is expected toreach more than 650 by 2020 or 30 percent of urban dwellers. According to projections,they should absorb about 175 million new urban dwellers between now and 2020. Failing

23

this, the large cities (as defined below) will be forced to absorb a corresponding number ofinhabitants, thereby further worsening environmental quality.

* Large cities (more than I million inhabitanits). Cities of this size are expected tonumber more than 70 by 2020, representing about 40 percent of the urban population andincluding: (1) a megalopolis around Lagos, Nigeria, in the middle of a heavily urbanizedarea along 500 kilometers of coastal zones with an aggregate population expected to reacha total of more than 50 million, (2) major urban areas such as Pretoria-Johannesburg, theNiger Delta and the Iboland, and the copper belt between Lumumbashi and Ndola, and (3)large urban centers (over 5 million) such as Kinshasa, Abidjan, Nairobi, and Dar esSalaam.

Urbanization and migration are likely to continue reinforcing each other in theincreasing crowding of coastal zones-a phenomenon that is experienced everywhere in theworld (coasts are already home to 70 percent of the world's population). The same tendencyin Africa is likely to expand the coastal zone population from the current 20 percent topossibly 40 percent by 2025. Population is likely to build up along the coasts of(1) West andCentral Africa from Senegal to Angola with high concentrations between Accra and Douala,(2) southern Africa, including South Africa and Mozambique, and (3) the Horn of Africa,including the coasts of Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti.

B. The Food Challenge

These projections for demographic development have immediate implications foreconomic growth and agricultural development, including food requi-ements.18 Startingfrom a current deficit, food production needs to grow faster than the population. Assuminga consumption growth rate of 3.3 percent per year, the demand for food would more thantriple from 1990 to 2025. If all the theoretically available, cultivable land could be broughtinto production, this demand could be met. This is, however, not realistic because much ofthis land is inaccessible, competition with livestock production would be fierce, crop andanimal pests limit the extension of agriculture, and the implied deforestation would haveenormous environmental costs. A rough estimate is that food supply could be increasedabout 60 percent until 2025, about half from intensification and half from expansion ofland. The remainder would have to come from adoption of more productive technologies,some already existing and others expected from progress in agricultural research.Rehabilitation of degraded land and maintaining soilfertility will be necessary and is oneof the major challenges for agriculture.

It remains questionable to what extent this increase can actually be attained byimproving technologies in the diverse ecosystems of the continent and encouraging theiradoption by farmers. The challenge is formidable; whatever shortfalls occur will translateinto increased environmental pressure and, therefore, social stress. Much will also dependon the countries' ability to trade in agricultural products, that is, how restrictive traderegimes will be and what purchasing power the population will have.

Fisheries, both freshwater and marine, are also part of the food challenge, becausecertain areas of African countries get a significant portion of their protein from fish.Although marine fisheries may not increase substantially-since currently intake is alreadybeyond carrying capacity-aquaculture, both inland and coastal, holds good potential,because its current growth is about 10 percent a year (Conway and others 1995).

24

Meeting the food challenge will also depend on overall economic growth. If inSSA it averages 4.5 percent per year in real terms-the target suggested in the Long-TermPerspective Study (see World Bank 1989, pp. 40-41)-the total income would be almostfour times higher in thirty years; but this income will have to be shared by many morepeople. If per capita economic growth can reach 1.5 percent, this implies an increase from$530 in 1992 to $828 after thirty years. This level of sustained growth, however, iscrucially dependent on policy reform. Even if the growth is realized, poverty will remainpervasive in SSA and constrain much of the population to short-term exploitation of theenvironment unless improved environmental policies are applied.

C. Sub-Saharan Africa in the Global Context

Sub-Saharan Africa cannot be regarded in isolation. The region interacts with theglobal economy and ecosystem, which are evolving at an accelerating pace: transition toESD is going to be challenging everywhere, as it implies major structural and socialchanges. Although the sustainability of African development will primarily depend on thecontinent's own management, external factors will influence it. Of these factors, four arelikely to have a significant bearing on the African environment:

* Anticipated climate change induced by increasing atmospheric concentration ofgreenhouse gases, mostly originating in other regions of the world

* Evolving economic conditions in and aid flow from primarily the Organization forEconomic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries

* The revolution in information technology

* International agreements on environment and trade and their expectedimplementation.

Although the current international debate illustrates unicertainty about climatechange, the environmental risk and its economic and social implications are so huge thatthere is no room for a "wait-and-see" attitude. Most climatologists agree that sea level islikely to rise, with particular impact on estuarine and deltaic coastal zones, and thatextreme events (for example, floods, droughts, and cyclones) are likely to increase.Evidence from the Sahel seems to indicate changing climatic patterns (see Figure10). Improved climatic monitoring is essential and prevention measures to mitigateenvironmental risks are called for as supported by the Framework Convention on ClimateChange. The case of SSA is particularly important as climate change, land degradation,and desertification are mutually reinforcing.

25

Figure 10: Precipitation Index for the Western Sahel(June to September)

90

s0

70 -

60

t s O_ . _ _. _ . .... . . ......_....._.. _..__

40

o oo0 0 0 000 r C C 0 0 0 ED ( N r 0 X am 0 0 0

Source: Climate Prediction Center, Md, USA.

Economic evolution in OECD countries is likely to continue being a determiningfactor for ESD in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in three areas: aid flows and theirenvironmental implications, trade, and tourism.

Although external aid is only a small part of the driving force behind developmentin Africa, it is interesting to note that real net official development assistance (ODA) flowsto the region increased by more than 6 percent per year in 1988-92 and reached a total of$16 billion in 1991, that is, about $33 per capita in SSA (see World Bank 1995c). Much ofthe increase in these flows has been associated with the Special Program of Assistance forAfrica (SPA), which has sought to provide increased assistance for heavily indebted poorcountries.

Furthermore, of the aid flows, the fraction supporting the environment hasincreased dramatically, as illustrated by the evolution of the donors' portfolio, includingthe World Bank's. Some African countries have been more successful than others incapturing funds for environment by demonstrating more commitment in improving theirenvironmental management. With more countries in Asia and Latin America graduatingfrom donor dependence, aid in the form of grants and concessional loans is likely to beincreasingly directed at Africa, particularly in the current absence of significant privatecapital flows. Support to ESD is likely to remain a priority for the donor community.

Uncertainty about aid flow in the future is growing, however, as illustrated by thedifficult IDA replenishment. Total official development assistance to Africa may notcontinue to increase; it even risks decreasing due to less political support in OECDcountries combined to domestic pressures to reduce public budget deficits. Under this

26

assumption, SSA countries will have to attract much more private flow of capital as isalready occurring in Asia and Latin America.

Clearly, SSA will be influenced by the level of economic growth in theindustrialized countries, as this will translate to increased demand for African exports, ofwhich most are natural resource-based. International markets alone, while representingeconomic opportunities for African countries, will not suffice to ensure the sustainabilityof export products. The resource base of such products can be too rapidly exhausted in theabsence of appropriate policies, for example, lack of conservation policies for renewableresources and inadequate fiscal policies and incentives to stimulate investment from theproceeds of nonrenewable resources. This is particularly so in the absence of well-definedproperty rights. Market forces need therefore to be combined with sound environmentalpolicies, regulations, and practices in natural resource management.

In industrialized countries, demand for international tourism, particularlyecotourism, is expected to increase because of likely rising incomes and decrease inaverage working time19 over life spans, combined with rising environmental awareness.SSA's share in interniational tourism revenue has been particularly limited until now,although, as argued below, tourism presents SSA countries with an economic opportunityworth seizing.

Africa will also be affected by the global trendfrom an industrial to an"information civilization "20 education that today is concentrated in the first two to threedecades of one's life will become a permanent feature of professional life, given the fast-growing nature of information and communication, which are essential for enhancedenvironmental management based on science and technology. From schools anduniversities to the workplace, the learning process is becoming a permanent feature ofprofessional life. Electronic communications are expanding faster than ever before,particularly via the Internet.21

Extraordinary shifts in the patterns of telecommunication use are expected overthe next decade, which will have profound impacts on business practices, infrastructuredevelopment, education, environmental management, and the demands for skills in theglobal marketplace. Evidence points to the near-zero cost of telecommunications withinthe next ten years. The implications of this trend are already beginning to emerge-telecommuting and job exporting (for example, of clerical tasks and computerprogramming to India). The trend will also contribute to the progressive establishment of amore even distribution of wealth among nations.22

The trend represents opportunities and challenges for Africa. First, the pace ofchange could enable Africa to leapfrog technologies-especially in communications-particularly when coupled with well-established enabling technologies such as solarphotovoltaic electricity. Second, communication innovation and enhanced access toinformation could speed technology transfer and help speed the transition to ESD. Third, itcould also provide opportunities for Africans to benefit from the global marketplace;however, this will only occur in African countries adopting the appropriate policies andinstitutionalframework and making considerable investment in human resources.

The impact of international agreements on the environment is yet to be felt inAfrica and elsewhere in mnitigating global issues such as depletion of the ozone layer, loss

27

of biodiversity, pollution of international waters, and climate change. Nevertheless, theGEF has been instrumental in pioneering new approaches to address these issues, asreviewed below. The impact of these agreements is likely to materialize, since, based onearly lessons learned and new developments in science and technology, implementation ofthese agreements should improve. Possible additional impacts could come from theinteraction between international trade and environment agreements, although it is still tooearly to predict the overall impact of such interaction (see Box 3).

Box 3: Trade and Environment

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is dedicated to helping expand theproduction of and trade in goods and services with the objective of sustainable development seekingboth to protect and preserve the environment. Applying the GATT in developing countries,:particularly in SSA, will raise, among others, three important questions:

What environmental standards should countries adopt to compete internationally? OECD countriesfavor high standards due to their potentially strong positive effect on innovation and productivity.Nations with the most rigorous requirements often lead in exports of affected products. Definition,:adoption, and application of high environmental standards, however, remain to be done in mostcountries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Transfer of green technologies to apply such standards needs:to.befacilitated.

How to avoid the environmental degradation that could resuzlt from booming export produclion? In: the case of :agricultural exports, even products that meet: environmental. quality requirements in* terms of chemical content could indeed lead to natural resource degradation, if cropping patterns and

farm husbandry are not sound. Tropical timber could be equally threatened by unsustainableexploitation without appropriate policies regarding concession and pricing, particularly includingstumpage fees. Proper natural resource management policies need to be defined and implemented atthe national level, as the GATT will not enforce this type of location-specific policy.

How to effectively avoid importation of toxic waste in SSA? On paper, the international conventionsof Basel and Bamako have introduced appropriate regulations theoretically compatible with theGATT. In practice, much remains to be done, as the Basel and Bamako conventions, differ; the:former aims to control international movements of toxic waste, whereas the latter bans them.Furthermore,: the Bamako convention has not yet been enacted. Strong national legislation is thushneeded to protect against loopholes in the international agreements.

Sources: GATT; Basel and Bamako Conventions.

D. Major Challenges Ahead

It is under these multiple and mutually reinforcing constraints that the Africantransition to ESD must be made. The goal should, therefore, be to minimize the social,economic, and environmental costs of this transitioni. To achieve this goal, six challengesmust be met:

Achieving food security through improved and sustainable agricultural andaquacultural technologies, while maintaining natural capital in terms of productionpotential, soil fertility, and biodiversity in the context of increasing climaticvariability

28

* Managing energy, water, and other natural resource use to ensure long-termsustainability

* Facilitating a demographic transition to a more stable population level and a morebalanced age pyramid

* Guiding migration toward a better population distribution in relation todevelopment potential, while mitigating environmental costs

* Making urbanization sustainable, building on the positive aspects of marketgrowth in cities, mobilizing labor and people participation, while breaking thedownward spiral of deteriorating living conditions

* Speeding Africa's entry into the "information civilization," a prerequisite forenvironmentally sustainable development.

29

CHAPTER 2

INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENT IN THE DEVELOPMENT

PROCESS: A REVIEW OF WORLD BANK EXPERIENCE IN

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Mainstreaming environmental concerns remains an important challenge for theWorld Bank and its client countries in Africa. The initial conditions for this process havealready been established, primarily througli the African countries' National EnvironmentalAction Plans (NEAPs), the World Bank's Country Environmental Strategy Papers (CESPs),and the emerging integration of their results in a variety of World Bank documents.

This chapter begins with a discussion of National Environmental Action Plans andequivalent forms of planning as key instruments in addressing African environmentalconcerns. A discussion follows on how well the World Bank has integrated these concernsat the regional, macroeconomic, sectoral, and project levels, including structural lending,programs financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and transboundary projects.The chapter then reviews the extent to which the World Bank has built its environmentalcapacity, provides an African perception about the World Bank's environmental support,and highlights the lessons learned.

I. ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: COUNTRYAND WORLD BANK PERSPECTIVES

This section examines national environmental strategies and action planning aswell as environmental concerns in country and World Bank documents.

A. National Environmental Strategies and Action Planning

Environmenital strategy formulation and action planning have materialized inAfrica and elsewhere in a variety of forms (see Box 4). The term "National EnvironmentalAction Plans (NEAPs) or equivalents" is used here to cover all related forms. The overallobjective remains the same: to elicit an environmental policy and investment strategyforthe country.

NEAPs and equivalents describe environmental problems in a country, identifytheir principal causes, and formulate policies and concrete actions to deal with them.Responsibility for preparing and implementing these plans rests with the country'sgovernment. Many bilateral and multilateral donors extend financial and technical supportto the process.23

The World Bank has played a key role in supporting NEAPs by mobilizing otherdonors and UN agencies, raising grant funds, and providing advice to governments. Inseveral cases, however, the World Bank's own resources have been insufficient for it toplay this role adequately.

31

Box 4: A Typology of National Strategic Environmental Planning Approaches

Other types of environment-related strategies beside NEAPs include, among others:

* National Conservation Strategies. Pioneered by IUCN after the initial proposal in the 1980World Conservation Strategy.

* UNCED National Reports on environment and sustainable development. Prepared by nationalgovernments for the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environmenit and Development (Earth Summit).

* Country Environment Profiles, State of the Environment Reports, and so on. These oftendescriptive reports have been prepared for many countries by governments, bilateral donors,and NGOs. The African Development Bank has built on these profiles, complemented by itsCountry Environmental and Social Papers.

* National Tropical Forestry Action Plans. Led by FAO under the umbrella of a global strategy,these plans, although focused on the forestry sector, generally take a broad, multisectoral viewof forestry-related issues.

* National Plans to Combat Desertifcation. Initiated by CILSS (the French acronym for thePermanent Committee to Combat Drought in the Sahel).

* National Energy Assessments. Undertaken by the World Bank's Energy Sector ManagementAssistance Program (ESMAP).

Source: Adapted from Dalal-Clayton and others, 1994.

A Brief Status Report

Eighty percent of Sub-Saharan countries are involved in the NEAP process (seeFigure I 1). Most of these countries are either in the final stage of preparation or haveendorsed their plans recently.

According to latest estimates, twenty-one countries have prepared and endorsedNEAPs or equivalents. Preparation has not started or has stalled in a handful of countries,including Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Somalia, Sudan, and Zaire. Botswana,Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe have not formally initiated a NEAPprocess but are either preparing or implementing a similar kind of environmental strategy.NEAPs have been initiated by governments, required by donors, or undertaken due topressure from states on central governments. The pioneer NEAPs (Madagascar, Mauritius,and the Seychelles) had significant external involvement. Encouraged by the success ofthese initial plans, Benini, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and the Gambia initiated NEAPs. In theIDA-9 and IDA- IO agreements, the IDA donors attached great weight to the timelycompletion and quality of NEAPs with effective public participation. During 1994-95,IDA management took steps to ensure that all borrowers brought their NEAPs tocompletion; this has resulted in a large number finished in those years.

32

Figure 11: Status of NEAPs and Equivalents

Endorsed

Endorsed

Endorsed

Endorsed

NEAP or Equivalent

U In preparation

W Endorsed by government

No environmental plan 7* Endorsed

Thematic Profile of NEAPs in Africa

The most frequently identified environmental problem is land degradation anderosion, followed by urban environmental quality problems (although their treatment isgenerally limited), deforestation, and water resource constraints.24

Most NEAPs do not explicitly state any criteria for prioritizing environmentalissues; only half contain some level of priority setting. Of all NEAPs prepared worldwide,among the criteria used most frequently are the potential impacts on human health,ecological effects, impacts on equity, risks of irreversibility, and monetary damage fromenvironmental degradation; however, in Africa, those criteria have not been widely used, andfewer than half of the NEAPs have even a sketchy estimate of monetary damages due toenvironmental degradation.

The most frequently cited causes of environmental degradation are rapid populationgrowth and insecure property rights, followed far behind by poverty and macroeconomicpolicy instability. Interestingly enough, poverty is not seen as a major cause ofenvironmental degradation, much in contrast to World Bank documents and other reports

33

issued by international donor agencies and the academic community. Except for the NationalConservation Strategy (NCS) in Botswana, the analysis of resource degradation is not linkedto impacts of economic growth. Similarly, not much connection is seen betweenenvironmental degradation and macroeconomic policies.

African NEAPs emphasize regulatory instruments (consistent with the view thatinstitutional arrangements are weak and need to be strengthened), property rights, andinstruments of persuasion-for example, communication, awareness, and education. AfricanNEAPs also focus on a host of institutional problems, including poor monitoring andenforcement, inadequate skills and professional personnel, lack of coordination, inadequatelegislation, and lack of information.

NEAPs outline several options for institutional and human capital development,chiefly emphasizing training and capacity building, followed by reforms to improveeffectiveness, coordination, and legislation. In general, less emphasis is given todecentralization in decision making and private sector and NGO participation. Given theWorld Bank's emphasis on privatization and market orientation, the difference inapproach may become an issue.

Important Features of NEAPs

African NEAPs build in a number of important dimensions:

* First, they explicitly recognize that (1) environmental goods and services and naturalresources are "capital" goods rather than "consumption" goods and services and (2)the need to conserve these resources for the future and to reinvest to maintain anacceptable level of welfare; hence, NEAPs often recommend a significant increasein the country's investment in natural capital.

* Second, they emphasize intersectoral issues and constraints.

* Third, a broad process of consultation often provides the vehicle for identifyinginvestment, institutional development, and social programs that respond to theneeds of those potentially affected.

* Fourth, because most NEAPs emphasize the importance of institutionalarrangements, they discuss who is responsible for what and what are (or should be)the agreed roles of different actors in the economy.

The NEAPs, however, are weak on several issues: setting priorities, estimating thecosts and benefits of proposals, determining how most recommendations would beimplemented, sequencing of actions, linking the whole analysis with the macroeconomicsituation of the country, and insufficient stakeholder participation in the process. The firstgeneration of NEAPs have tended to focus more on "green issues," while in some casesneglecting the environmental aspects of infrastructure, urban, and industrial development.

NEAP Lending

The NEAPs have played an important role in guiding World Bank lending forenvironmental projects. From 1990 to 1994, the World Bank financed eight projectsdirectly supporting programs emerging from NEAPs, with a total investment of $242

34

million. This role is expected to increase over the next few years as four projects-totaling$123 million-are expected to come on line in the next two years and two projects arealready in the conceptual stage.

Figure 12: NEAP Follow-Up: Environmental Support Programs (ESPs)

Seychelles (90)

Nigeria (92)

Nauritius (91/92)

Madagascar (90)

Ghana (90)

The Gatmbia (94)

Burkina Faso (91)

Benin (92) -.

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90Total Project Cost ($ millions)

i World Bank contribution

Source: Adapted from World Bank I994h.

The NEAPs have attracted financial assistance from multiple sources: over half thefinancing for NEAP projects comes from the World Bank Group (including the GEF and theMontreal Protocol), 30 percent from other donors, and 17 percent from host countrygovernments.

The first tranche of NEAP lending has been targeted at building institutions andinformation management systems. Combined capacity building, institutional support, andeducation along with information and monitoring systems account for almost half of allinvestment. Twenty-nine percent of resources are allocated for preparing urban and naturalresource management plans, 14 percent for biodiversity conservation and wildlifemanagement, 9 percent for research, and less than I percent for infrastructure (see Figure13).

Figure 13: NEAP Follow-Up Projects: Lending Allocation(1990-94)

Research hifrastructure CB, hstiutionalBiodiversdy Cons & 9% 1% Support Education

VWtUfe gml 24%14% I

Preparation Lkban & - - t - hformation &Ntb Res Plan Fimtorrng System

29%

35

Emerging Local Environmental Action Plans (LEAPs)

Local Environmental Action Plans (LEAPs) have recently emerged eithertriggered by NEAPs or directly by local initiatives. Different types of LEAPs areappearing at the provincial, city, and village levels. In the South African and Nigerianfederations, provincial and state governments have launched their LEAPs in associationwith NGOs and the private sector. In Burkina Faso and Mali, village associations haveprepared their land use plans, including actions to maintain their natural capital. Theseactions are being implemented (see Box 5). Municipalities of large cities such asCapetown, Harare, Abidjan, and Dakar are taking similar initiatives (See Box 22).

Box 5: Emerging Local Environmental Action Plans (LEAPs); Cases fromn Burkina Faso and* i Nigeria.

In Burkina Faso, village-level environmental action plans (plans de gestion des terroirs) are anessential ingredient in the process of land management. As many as 2,500 communities in ruralBurkina (as of December 1994) have undertaken the planning process, which is supported bymultidisciplinary mobile teams, with considerable progress in establishing village-level investmentprograms. The process, which integrates socioeconomic factors, has highlighted the need to focusmore intensively on the participatory aspects of village-level planning, develop improvedcommunication tools appropriate for village-level activities, and ensure a clear relationship amongthe planning exercise, priority setting, and proposed investments.

In: Nigeria, following creation of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) in 1988,State Environmental Protection Agencies (SEPAs) have been or are being established in most ofNigeria's thirty-one states (including the Federal Capital Territory). Once established, an early taskof the SEPAs has been to help local governments create environment committees, run workshops,and generally raise community awareness. The Imo SEPA, building on this process, has begun toprepare a State Environmental Action Plan (SEAP). Other states have also made progress on:preparing a SEAP, involving NGOs, universities, and local governments. FEPA is contributing tothis process by providing resources to facilitate preparation of SEAPs in two model states, Ogunand Bornu. Under the IDA-financed Environmental Management Project, support will be given tomost states to prepare action plans.

Source: Personal communication. Jeffrey Lewis and T. Swayze, West and Central Africa.:i Department, World Bank, May 1995.

B. Environmental Concerns in Key World Bank Documents

Key World Bank documents take environmental concerns into account to a greateror lesser degree.

Regional Strategies

A number of World Bank-developed regional strategies for Africa providesupport for mainstreaming environmental concerns into lending operations and policyformulation.

Cleaver and Schreiber in their book Reversing the Spiral (1994) examine therelationship among rapid population growth, slow agricultural growth, and environmental

36

degradation and argue that these phenomena are strongly interlinked in a nexus. The bookidentifies population growth as the principal factor triggering the downward spiral ofenvironmental degradation, which contributes to agricultural stagnation, in turn impedinga demographic transition to a more stable population. The book outlines a broad strategyfor dealing with the nexus, which is also reflected in Strategy to Develop Agriculture inSub-Saharan Africa and a Focus for the World Bank (see Cleaver 1993), in whichimproved management of natural resources is one of five key areas of activity elaborated.

The World Bank's draft report, A Continent in Transition: Sub-Saharan Africa inthe Mid-1990s (1995c) has a chapter on environmental sustainability. Its suggestions for along-term agenda feature adjusting prices of natural resources to reflect real costs;providing well-defined and secure property rights; decentralizing ownership to land,forests, and wildlife; appropriate investment in urban environmental management andilfrastructure to meet the wave of increasing demand; good environmental assessmentcapacity within government; and support for the NEAP process.

Box 6: The Forest Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa

Beginning in 1969, World Bank lending to forestry projects has evolved from a focus on industrialforestry to social forestry and agroforestry to, most recently, national programs with multipleobjectives, including forest conservation. A Strategy for the Forest Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa(Sharma and others 1994) acknowledges that past projects failed to address policy and institutionalconstraints for the sector and neglected local participation. The strategy proposes new guidingprinciples:

. Forests and trees should be treated as economic, social, and environmental goods. Forestutilization should rely on market and pricing mechanisms.

• A comprehensive, more ecosystem-based approach, recognizing the interrelationship betweenforests and land use, should be adopted.

. Management of forest resources requires local and national actions as well as intemationalcooperation.

. Forest management should be decentralized on the basis of "shared responsibility," includinglocal people, the private sector, and government.

* The management of intact rain forests should follow the "precautionary principle," that is,countries should demonstrate that proposed management is ecologically, economically, andsocially sound.

* Expanded investments in the forest sector should be preceded by comprehensive sector workwith a long-term vision.

. Environmental and social assessments should precede all major investments in the forest sector.• A sensitivity to gender issues is required, as women play a major role in forest resource

utilization and regeneration in SSA.

The strategy recommends the World Bank focus on four areas: (1) policy reform, (2) capacitybuilding, (3) investment in critical forest zones, and (4) partnership with other donors and keyNGOs.

Source: Sharma and others 1994.

During the earlier stages of negotiations for the Desertification Convention, theWorld Bank participated essentially as an observer. As the dialogue with the signatories of

37

the convention became more significant, the World Bank prepared a policy statement,Desertification: Implementing the Convention, outlining its response to the convention.The World Bank also prepared the technical report Proposed National Action Programs(NAPs) on Desertification and NEAPs on the role of planning in addressingdesertification. In it, the World Bank proposed conceiving the NAPs required by theDesertification Convention under the NEAP umbrella to ensure coordination and cost-effectiveness. The same proposal applies to the other sector-oriented environmentalstrategies, which can also be integrated in the NEAP process.

In addition to thematic regional strategies, other environmental strategies havebeen drafted by World Bank operational departments focusing on the specificities of aparticular subregion, for example, a draft environmental strategy prepared for the WestAfrican Sahel. A similar strategy is being prepared for the subregion encompassingNigeria, Benin, Togo, Cote d'lvoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

Although there is little experience in applying an integrated coastal zonemanagement (ICZM) approach to development and sustainability, several lessons havebegun to emerge that may prove useful in some specific circumstances (see Box 7). ICZMseems to provide unique perspectives in areas in which economic activities compete agreat deal for space. This is the case, for example, in many African cities located in thecoastal zone. These cities are flooded with migrants, industries, other urban sectoractivities, and maritime activities (for example, maritime transport and fisheries).

Box 7: Experience of Integrated Coastal Zone Management

The World Bank has followed a sectoral approach to developing coastal resources in Sub-Saharan Africa.Major sectors of current investment are water supply and sanitation ($102 million), ports and:infrastructure ($35 million), and urban development ($31 million). Together with investment in :transportation and fisheries, this brings the total ongoing investment in the coastal zone of Sub-Saharan-Af rica to some $211 million.

The World Bank has participated in developing and implementing several non-African regional coastalzone management programs.23 Key lessons learned include:

. Existing regional marine environmental conventions can provide an effective framework for.operations.

. Both international and local NGOs should be included in planning and implementing theseprograms.

* Although the analysis is effective at a regional level, interventions, with the exception oftraining, can only be implemented on a national but coordinated basis, given that loans need to...be guaranteed by national governments.

X Regional programs should maintain close linkages among problem identification, feasibilit:studies, and financial support.A long-termn institutional commitment is required by all cooperating partners to make the-programs effective.-

* 7 A well-managed. and properly staffed program secretariat is required for effectiveimplementation and represents a significant cost item.

Source: World Bank 1995e.

38

Unfortunately, the traditional sectoral approaches have not been very effective indealing with environmental externalities nor with institutional arrangements to decreasethe rate of resource depletion; thus, while it is important to strengthen capacity tomainstream ESD concerns at the sector level (for example, industry and fisheries), it isalso extremely important to take advantage of an ICZM approach to avoid having majorissues "fall between the cracks."

The interaction between World Bank staff and Africans that has taken placethrough the drafting of regional and subregional strategies has also contributed to theunderstanding of environmental problems and to reaching a political consensus withrespect to partnerships and actions to be taken.

Country Assistance Strategies (CASs)

Most country strategy reports show an emerging but partial incorporation of26environmental concerns. A review of eight CASs from the region shows that

environmental problems are identified; NEAPs and CESPs are generally mentioned,although their influence is uncertain; and environmental objectives are rarely featuredexplicitly in the Bank's strategy. CASs pay less attention to property rights and theirinfluence on natural resource management (NRM); no attention at all is given to theenvironmental impacts of prices, taxes, and subsidies. The most difficult issue to deal withis the impact of macroeconomic policies on the environment. Although it is clear thatthese policies are not neutral regarding the environment, the real impacts are lessunderstood (see World Bank 1994a, pp. 174-179). As explained in Box 8 below, somelessons are, however, beginning to emerge.

Maintenance of "fiscal stability" is central to the long-term viability of Africaneconomies. In most instances, attainment of this stability is expected through a significantdecline in public expenditures, an increase in public sector revenues, or both; however,alternative ways to decrease the level of public expenditures will have different impacts onESD-related interventions. Most ESD projects embody a significant proportion ofrecurrent cost financing; supervision reports of such projects have singled out the lack ofrecurrent financing as a major implementation problem. A sudden decline in publicexpenditure may thus translate into the demise of environmental interventions, if properattention is not paid to maintaining the "bottomline" of environmental recurrent financing.

Macroeconomic reports focus much on economic growth. By contrast, theNEAPs' main preoccupation has been with whatforms of capital should be accumulated, aportfolio type of concern not related to the speed of the capital accumulation process.Within this context, the NEAPs have emphasized the importance of accumulating natural,human, and social capital, while most macroeconomic reports have been mainlyconcerned with the accumulation of human-made and human capital.

Country Environmental Strategy Papers

Although not a traditional macroeconomic-level instrument of the World Bank,Country Environmental Strategy Papers (CESPs) have become an important tool for cross-sectoral attention to environmental concerns.27 CESPs were originally seen as a vehicle tomainstream environment into the work of World Bank staff. The IDA-9 agreement and thedemand for National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs) in all borrowing countrieshave contributed another rationale: drafting of CESPs has become an intermediate

39

measure to "bridge the gap" until NEAPs are finished. This, unfortunately, puts the focuson meeting certain deadlines, rather than nurturing a long-termn process that integratesenvironmental issues into mainstream World Bank operations.

Box 8: Economywide Policies and the:Environment

A Bank-wide research effort. coordinated by the Environment Department of the World Bank has:focused on determining exactly how macroeconomic and sectoral policies affect the environmrent.

.:Based on eleven case studies, two of which are African, the main findings include:

* Removal of price distortions generally contributes to both economic and environmental gains.For exampile, more efficient use of energy resulting from the removal of subsidies decreasesrelated pollution.

* Unintended adverse effects, however, occur when reforms are undertaken while policy, market,or institutional failures still exist. For example, market liberalization may encourage excessive

u extraction of underpriced timber, industrial expansion without. appropriate regulation may:.result in increased pollution, and:poorly defined property rights may undermine incentives forsustainable management of land and vegetation.

X4 Measures aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability are generally environmentally friendly...Stability encourages. a long-term perspective, and lower inflation rates provide clearer price::.signals for investors. :

* The stabilization process may also have unforeseen negative impacts, for example, if fiscal;balance is achieved at the expense of cutbacks in environment-related spending. To the extent that short-tern unemployment results from adjustment.policies, this may aggravate the pressureon natural resources and.the return of laid-off workers to rural areas to farm.

I In the long run, better economic, policies, will result in higher economic growth, which willrelieve the poor of the need to exploit marginal land for their livelihood. On the other hand,growth must be guided by economic prices that properly account for environmental values.:.

. Economywide policies will have additional longer-term effects on the environment through .employment and income distribution changes.

:Source: World Bank, Economywide Policies and the -Environment: Emerging Lessons fromExperience, Washington, D.C., 1994.

The purpose of a CESP is not formally defined in any World Bank OperationalDirective, and interpretations vary somewhat. Frequently, the following objectives arestated: (1) to assess the environmental status and trends in the country to strengthen theWorld Bank's country dialogue, (2) to support the country's NEAP process, (3) toscrutinize the environmental impacts of the World Bank's country portfolio and outline anenvironmental country strategy from the World Bank's perspective, and (4) to provide thebasis for donor coordination with respect to environmental support programs.

There are now more than twenty CESPs for countries in SSA. Nineteen countriesdo not have the same need for a CESP, because a NEAP or equivalent is already finalizedor because the country is not in the IDA category. Five countries do not have an activelending program that would call for a CESP.

40

The completion of a CESP is generally an important achievement in the sensethat, from a World Bank perspective, a comprehensive approach has been taken to assessthe environmental problems in a particular country. Some CESPs have gone further thanothers in various respects; inspiring examples pertain to (1) establishment of criteria forclassifying environmental problems and for evaluating the effectiveness of suggestedpolicy reforms, (2) use of an explicit ranking matrix to prioritize environmental problems,(3) imaginative use of environmental ec6nomics to quantify environmental problems, and(4) ambitious efforts to create a participatory process within the World Bank. The degreeto which regular World Bank staff are involved varies considerably, but frequently themain work of drafting the text is left to an outside consultant or consultants. Country teaminvolvement has often been limited.

Box 9: CESPs: Examples of Good Practices

The CESP for Nigeria (see World Bank 1990a) is unusually explicit in its discussion of criteria forclassifying environmental problems as well as the criteria for evaluating the suggested policyreforms. The five criteria used for ranking environmental problems are:

. Impact on economic growth

. Number of people affected

. Relative burden felt by the poor

. Impacts on ecology and human health

. Threat to renewable resources

Such criteria are always open to debate, but the report is commendable in its explicit treatment ofthese issues. Other CESPs, for example, the one for Sierra Leone (see World Bank 1994k) uses aranking matrix to prioritize environmental problems. Ranking is done in terms of a simplequalitative scale (low-medium-high) with respect to:

* Economic and health significance of a given environmental problem* Potential cost of intervention (the type of which is indicated). Potential benefit of this intervention* A priority index derived as: significance x (benefit-cost)

Environmental valuation is often marginal in CESPs, although the one for Sao Tome and Principe(see World Bank 1993a) contains a number of simple but illustrative examples pertaining to watertariffs and the benefits of water improvements, sand quarrying on beaches, malaria control, andcreation of a nature reserve.

Source: Bojo 1995.

Although the quality of reviewed CESPs must be rated satisfactory to very good,they often share some weaknesses. They sometimes demonstrate a reluctance to evaluatefrankly the factual descriptions of the environmental situation and the legal andinstitutional framework. CESPs could be more courageous by making at least a first-roundattempt to prioritize on the basis of qualitative information. Filally, the lessons for WorldBank strategy are often implied rather than explicit. Encouraging, however, are several ofthe latest CESPs (for example, Togo, and Ethiopia), which show signs of improvement inthese respects.

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Public Expenditure Reviews

Public Expenditure Reviews (PERs) pay attention mostly to macroeconomicaggregates, with a narrow focus on investment financing and effectiveness issues.28 Inmost cases, the underlying objective of PERs seems to be fiscal stability, mainly focusingon the productivity of investments and implementation issues; financial aspects of theinvestment program; and the linkages between the investment program proposed,economic growth, and comparative advantage. The recommendations are linked to theperformance of markets, role of the public sector, and selection of economic instruments,rather than interventions by decree.

To focus on investment rate and composition, Sfeir-Younis (1995) comparedNEAPs and Public Expenditure Reviews. The type and structure of investments advocatedby the NEAPs seem to be different from those in the government public expenditureprograms reviewed in the Bank's PERs. The most important factors explaining thedifferences seem to be the lack of contact and influence by those undertaking NEAPs withministries of finance. Environmental projects are often accorded low priority. On theBank side, Public Expenditure Reviews have not systematically taken up environmentalissues as a set of cross-cutting themes.

Poverty Assessments

Sustainable poverty reduction is the World Bank's overarching objective. Asdiscussed in Chapter 1, there are many links between environment and poverty. ThePoverty Assessment29 is potentially an important vehicle for addressing both how povertyalleviation affects the environment, and how environmental improvements can contributeto poverty alleviation.

Existing Poverty Assessments, based on extensive household surveys, haveprovided important information with regard to household income, access to basic servicesand so on. More attention needs to be given to how the poor utilize natural resources, howthey are affected by continuous environmental degradation, and what opportunities exist tointervene in ways that can both alleviate poverty and enhance environmental quality.Poverty Assessments represent an important opportunity to demonstrate thatenvironmental concerns are not "luxury items" that developing countries can ignore untilthey have reached a higher income level. On the contrary, they are at the core of creatingsustainable development.

II. STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Past lack of concern for the environment in adjustment lending is no longer thecase, according to a recent review (see Warford and others 1994) of environmentalconditionality in adjustment lending. The review covers a sample of adjustment operationsfrom July 1988 to June 1993, which includes forty-one loans received by twenty-nineAfrican countries.

The review concludes that environmental issues have become an important aspectin adjustment programs, as about 60 percent of the sampled loans deal with environmental

42

concerns related to agriculture, forestry, energy, trade, and industry. This clearly reflectsprogress in attention to the environment in adjustment lending when compared to a similarreview done for 1970-87, which noted the almost total absence of environmentalconsiderations.

Progress is still to be made in incorporating environmental issues in a largerproportion of adjustment programs. In addition, the quality of the environmentalcomponents should be improved, based on systematic attention to the repercussions ofeconomic reforms. The World Bank's (1994a) general review Adjustment in Africa:Reforms, Results and the Road Ahead discusses possible linkages with environment,noting that environmental impacts are often both positive and negative in relation tospecific policy reforms and that the net impact is often ambiguous without empiricalstudy. Chapter 3 discusses the need for more research in this area.

III. INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENT IN WORLD BANK-FINANCEDPROJECTS

This section initially focuses on the new stock of projects directly targeted toimproving the environment, although they represent slightly less than 10 percent of thetotal World Bank portfolio in SSA. The section then describes the extent to which theenvironment has been integrated in sectoral projects, which still represent the major partof World Bank lending. Finally, it briefly reviews World Bank experience withenvironmental assessments (EAs) and their impact on project design.

A. Environmental Project Performance

The definition of an "environmental" project is bound to be somewhat arbitrary.Environment is not a sector; rather, it pervades all sectors to a greater or lesser extent. Thebasis for our selection of environmental projects in this paper are the Annual Reviews ofProject Performance for Agriculture and Environment in 1994. Basically, the statedproject objectives determine the classification. This definition is compatible with the oneused in the World Bank's Making Development Sustainable (I 994h) but enlarges thesample somewhat by including a few projects that are older, recently closed, or recentlyadded.?0

There are thirty-four ESD projects in the World Bank's Africa portfolio, withresources amounting to approximately $800 million. These projects are sectoral(agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and forestry) as well as multisectoral in nature. Althoughthese projects are still in early implementation stages, several patterns are alreadyemerging:

* Their performance, as defined in project supervision reports, is not really differentfrom the performance of other operations in the Africa portfolio.

* Their design, which is usually complex, requires higher than usual levels ofcoordination and qualified management during implementation.

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* Instruments of intervention are many, but they tend to emphasize nonmarketinterventions and regulatory mechanisms, rather than market-based economicinstruments.

* Participation of stakeholders is a major feature of these projects and distinguishthem from most of the other projects in the portfolio.

* Technological change is expected to provide a central ingredient in attainingproject objectives.

* Distributional considerations are also important, including such issues as upstreamand downstream effects, incidence of policy changes, and changes in tenure andproperty rights.

Figure 14: Projects with Primary Environmental Objectives

ii Countries with environmental 3t '

E-p Environmental Support t Programs resulting from NEAPs \ 2 2iZtt11

Note: Green countries have at least one project,and if more, the number is indicated. u Fa

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Project Costs and their Composition

As summarized in Figure 15:

* Nearly 40 percent of all funds have been allocated to field activities, indicating thepractical approach the World Bank and clients are taking.

* The second largest component has been institutioni strengtheninig, which is logicalgiven the type of institutional constraints faced by client countries, but earlyperformance of this component does not seem to be satisfactory.

Figure 15: Funds Allocation In World Bank-Supported Environmental Projects

Env. Information& -

Others

Human Resources Dev.& Participation

Studies & Assessment

InstitutionalStrengthening

Field Activities

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

- Human resource development combined with participation accounts for 15 percentof all financial resources. This is encouraging, since a major constraint to attainingESD objectives is the lack of attention to human capital development.

* Studies and assessment as well as implementation of policies and instrumentshave taken 14 percent of the total project cost. This is an important fact as policychanges are indispensable to mainFreaamrng ESD at all levels.

* Environmental information systems have received over 5 percent of all projectcosts, a significant effort to address the chronic data deficiencies commented onearlier in this chapter.

Project Management and Performance

Successful projects are often linked to sufficient management and leadership. In anumber of cases, the World Bank has assisted client countries in designing institutionaldevelopment components; however, the performance of these components, at their currentstate of early implementation, has so far been unsatisfactory. One reason is the constraintimposed by the lack of recurrent cost financing. Most of these components are to be financedby governments at a time when major policies to decrease the fiscal deficit are adopted.

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An attempt was made to find out what may be the principal determinants ofunsatisfactory performance in ESD projects. Several interrelated problem areas seem tounderpin poor performance:

* The projects may have too many activities to implement. The design of theseactivities, which often aim to be holistic, may in some instances be toocomprelhensive to implement adequately given local institutional capacityconstraints.

* Some projects suffer from the lack of counterpart financing and thus manyactivities are not implemented and staff morale begins to deteriorate quickly.

* The projects face a weak system of interagency cooperation and coordination.

* The projects may have inadequate project management schemes and suffer fromlack of qualified staff.

B. Integrating Environment into Sectoral Projects

To assess the level of environmental integration into sectoral lending, this review focusedon four sectors: agriculture and livestock, urban development, education, infrastructure,and transportation.

Agricultural and Livestock Service Projects

Substantial progress has been made in integrating environmental concerns inWorld Bank-financed agricultural research and extension projects. Agricultural services,which were more commodity-oriented a decade ago, have shifted to a more holisticapproach by focusing on sustainable technologies, erosion control and agroforestry, andoverall watershed management. Over the last three fiscal years, nearly all the WorldBank-financed agricultural service projects are based on this approach. This is, forexample, the case of the Madagascar Agricultural Extension Program, which has just beenapproved for IDA financing (see Box 10).

The experience has also shown that local participation in project design andimplementation is essential to success in integrating the environment in rural serviceprojects. This is illustrated for example by the Chad National Livestock Project (see Box11).

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Box 10: Integrating Environment into Agricultural Services, the Madagascar Case

Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, is in terns of biodiversity one ofthe richest.It is known for its extremely serious erosion, which has decreased agricultural productivity as wellas reduced its ecological richness. Conserving the environment is, therefore, a necessity for thefarming community to establish sustainable agricultural systems that should simultaneouslycontribute to maintaining its world-class ecological heritage.

This is the purpose of the World Bank-financed Agricultural Extension Support Progran that has-just been approved. The program, which is targeted at 1.5 million farm families, has been preparedas a World Bank-financed pilot operation. The program's objectives combine protecting theenvironment with improving agricultural productivity and alleviating poverty by promotingsustainable use of natural resources. Specifically, proposed technologies include improved organicmatter management, crop rotation, agroforestry, erosion control, and watershed management(particularly for the protection of irrigation schemes), and integrated pest management.

The program encourages a participatory approach: farmers' associations are direct participants indiagnosing their problems together with research and extension workers, prioritizing actions to betaken, and designing required assistance. Agroforestry and environment specialists are beingselected for each region to provide guidance to extension workers and participate in their training.Local NGOs and private operators are associated with the process.

Source: Personal communication, Nils Tcheyan, Madagascar, Agricultural Extension Program, May1995.

Box I1: Pastoral Pilot Perimeter Under the Livestock National Project in Chad

The Fadje-Njikine Project in Chad is based on the decision of two villages to combine their herdsunder a well-organized herding arrangement and to follow a grazing plan based on the rotation ofthe combined herds through six parcelles. The rotation plan allows the animals to spend aprescribed number of days in each one to guarantee an adequate recovery period for growing plantsbefore animals return to graze on them. Through participatory interaction and sharing ofknowledge, the project has developed a holistic resource management model, which has stimulatedcreative discussion and dialogue. The model has further empowered the villagers to develop self-confidence in snaking their own decisions.

The project now aims to help villagers deal directly with land tenure issues that have not beenaddressed due to the vacuum of governance left by the civil war and the displacement of traditionalauthoritv, by immature state structures. Furthermore, a better understanding of the dynamics of theirecosystems has spurred the settled villagers to become transhumants in drought years. Thisflexibility permits them to ensure the sustainable management of the natural resource base. Inaddition, they charge outsiders for use of their wells and they assert authority over these wells whentransient herders graze within their vicinity.

Source: Personal cormnunication. Cyprian Fisiy and Noel Chabeuf, World Bank-financed LivestockNational Project in Chad, May 1995.

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Urban Projects

During fiscal 1991-94, the World Bank (including IDA) funded thirty-eight projectsin SSA, with a total loan and credit amount of $914 million (total project cost of nearly $1.5billion dollars), which has addressed urban environmental problems to some extent.3 ' Ofthose, few can be considered to be free-standing urban environmental improvement projects.Components directed at ameliorating urban environmental degradation and pollution orwhich are likely to have indirect impacts on these goals were included in projects in theinfrastructure, water and sanitation, transport, energy, environmental management, andinstitutional development sectors.

Since about 1992, World Bank investments in urban environmental projects havetaken on a more strategic and integrated approach. To improve urban management, thisnew wave of projects is building institutional capacity for urban management and includesgreater involvement of the private sector (see Box 12), NGOs, and community groups.Urban development projects in Angola, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Ghanaprovide examples of this new approach.

Box 12: Agences d'Exlcution de Travaux dI'nt1rit Public (AGETIPs)INongovernmentalAgenciesforExecuting Public Works

..tThe t1994 World Development Report linfrastructurefor Development (I 994k3 cited the example of-i:the. AGETIPs in West Africa as a way of imnproving the delivery of public works while encouraging small-scale. contractors. The results have been impressive in terms of cost, time, land management.This type of agency has also:had a significant impact in terns of environmental management, sincemany of the small-scale public works are directly tackling local urban environment problems. :review of the AGETIP in Senegal highlighted the following: . ...

- Street repairs and sand removal, yielding important benefits in terms of traffic circulation,reductions in vehicle-operating costs :and savings in the imports of petroleum products and::spare parts

* Sanitation works, such as the rehabilitation of stormn drains, yielding benefits in terms Pof :reduced flooding and property damage .

a Garbage collection, which, together with sanitation works, has yielded important benefits interms of public health, including in the town of Kaolack the virtual elimination of cholera,which previously reached epidemic proportions during the rainy season

Source: 0. Pean and P. Watson, "Promotion of Small-Scale Enterprises in Senegal's Building andConstruction Sector: the 'AGETIP' Experience," New Directions in Donor Assistance 4tMicroenterprises, Paris: OECD.

Few projects cross the urban-rural frontier to address joint concerns or opportunities.For example, no projects seem to fund studies of critical sensitive areas, for example,demands for wood fuels and water in areas surrounding rapidly expanding cities. Similarly,urban agriculture seems to fall between sectoral lines, and the potential for recycling ofurban biological waste as agricultural input has not been given much attention.32

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Finally, another cause for concern comes not from the substantial level of currentinvestment in urban environmental projects but from its decline implied in the expectedlending program. The five-year pipeline (fiscal 1995-99) currently anticipates $3.75billion in IBRD and IDA financing for urban, water and sanitation, and transportationprojects in Africa. Of this, $792 million or only 20 percent would be invested in projectsthat appear to have a significant positive impact on urban environmental quality. Thisdecline comes at a time of rapid population growth in SSA cities, along with anintensification of the other factors that contribute to a deteriorating urban environment.Delaying urban environmental investment in the near future may escalate social andenvironmental costs to a level difficult to afford in the medium- and long-term.

Education Projects

Integrating environmental concerns in World Bank-financed education projectshas been started but only completed in about a quarter of them. These new projects, forexample, in Chad and Mauritania, incorporate environmental education into the schoolcurriculum, develop new textbooks, involve practical environmental miniprojects withparticipation of parents' associations, and are based on in-service and pre-service teachers'training.

Infrastructure and Transportation Projects

Substantial progress has been made in mitigating the environmental impact ofinfrastructure and transportation projects. This can be attributed to the preparation anddissemination of thorough environmental guidelines for management of construction sites,design of transport projects inland as well as for ports and harbors. Regarding urbantransportation, a nonmotorized transport initiative is being implemented in Ghana and hasbeen initiated in Kenya on a pilot basis as part of the Sub-Saharan Africa TransportProgram (SSATP) to find sustainable solutions to the urban mobility crisis. Finally, it isworth mentioning the preparation of a simulation model by the Madagascar HighwayRehabilitation Project following the devastating cyclone in 1994. This model, based on ageographic information system (GIS) approach, aims to guide watershed protectionmeasures in highway weak spots revealed by the cyclone-related damages. This isexpected to be a good practice for integrating climate variability and the probability ofextreme events in infrastructure project design; however, one area will require moreattention in the future, namely, environmental health issues associated with infrastructureprojects (see Box 13).

C. Environmental Assessments

Environmental assessments (EAs) represent a central instrument for mainstreamingenvironmental concems at practically all levels of decision making.3 In their first phase,they have been applied as an afterthought in project analysis-with environmental concernsaddressed mostly when projects had been fully designed. In their current phase, EAs seek tointervene further upstream by assisting development practitioners in designing better projectsand to improve other macroeconomic instruments and processes. The EA process todayprovides a key perspective in project design and implementation. African governments haveoften embraced the EA process during project planning and adopted World Bank guidelinesfor their application within the context of other donor-financed activities.

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Since 1989, when the first Operational Directive for EAs was issued by the WorldBank, twenty-five projects in category A have been subject to full EA in SSA. This categoryhas made up less than 10 percent of all projects in the region. These projects fall mainly inthe energy sector, while some include interventions in sugar production and processing,water supply and sewerage, and agricultural and livestock development.

Box 13: Environmental Health in.Sub-Saharan Africa: World Bank Experience

The World Bank has identified malaria, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, injuries, and thechildhood cluster of diseases as the top five health issues in Africa, (World Bank 1994b); however,environmental health analysis, which can play a major role in tackling these critical health issues,

* has yet to be systematically introduced as a cross-cutting tool to improve infrastructure projectdesign and analysis. More than 200 World Bank/JDAl-financed infrastructure projects.covering theperiod 1984-94 were reviewed to examine environmental health issues. The projects included 100dealing with safe water and adequate sanitation (35 water/sanitation, 48 urban, and 17 multisector)and 90 transportation projects dealing with drainage, accidents/safety, and air pollution. Keyconclusions drawn from this review include:.

: The projects use no clear definition, of environmental health, which is often equated with.pollution control-a far narrower definition than cited in textbooks or used by otherinstitutions. The terms water and sanitation are also used inconsistently to refer to, for example,drainage, latrines, and sewerage, possibly excluding important diseases in Africa, such asschistosomiasis, malaria, Guinea wormn infection, and filariasis from project analysis.

* Environmental health issues span several sectors at once, yet the World Bank has generallyfocused on a single sector. Further, these issues are generally, addressed by engineers andeconomists with little input from. public: and environmental health.specialists. Of the completedinfrastructure, projects reviewed, only one involved health expertise during design andsupervision, with only two of more than 500 related missions involving a health specialist.

- In the transport sector, environmental health analysis has concentrated on ambient air pollution(generally not severe.in African cities); however, more focused work on hot spots or potentiallyhigh risk groups, such as vendors near bus and taxi stations where pollution tends to beextremely high, has not yet been undertaken. Road:safety and accident prevention are importantin Africa and have been integrated as public health issues for some time.

* In the housing and urban development sector, activities are not generally reviewed forenvironmental health issues. Although respiratory diseases are the second most critical healthissue in Africa, only the relatively small amount of work carried out in the context of householdenergy studies aimed at increasing stove efficiency to reduce indoor pollution and accidents(mainly burns in children) has indirectly addressed this issue.

* By comparison, in the water and sanitation sector, environmental health factors have beenbetter integrated. The review, which is consistent, with* literature on non-World Bankoperations, shows that reductions in diarrheal' diseases are more likely to occur whenimprovements in water supply7 hygiene, and excreta disposal have been coupled with inputfrom the community about their preferences and affordability as part of an overall plan.

Source: J. Listorti, Environmental Health in n4riea, Working Paper, AFTES, The World Bank,Washington, D.C., forthcoming.:

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The EA process has contributed important improvements, such as: (1) developmentof mitigating measures (for example, new project activities, adoption of policies, improvedtraining and technical assistance, information, and resource assessments), (2) redesign ofsome project components (for example, changes in size and location of infrastructure andplant construction and operation), and (3) establishment of more effective mechanisms forconsultation and participation by stakeholders. A good practice case in Ghana illustrates howeffective an EA can be (see Box 14).

Box 14: Good Practice on EA: thle Takoradi Power Plant, Glhana

The Volta River Authority (VRA) of Ghana is constructing a 300-megawatt combined cyclethermal generating plant to be located on the Atlantic coast near the city of Takoradi. Theenvironmental assessment identified three potential problem areas: air emissions, water supply, anda seawater once-through cooling system. The environmental assessment showed that the light crudeoil plant, which will be converted to gas in the future, would not meet World Bank air emissionstandards with respect to NO.. To reduce NO,, the mitigation plan specified water injections;however, local water supplies were not sufficient for this purpose, and the mitigation called for a:desalinization plant to meet the water needs. The environmental assessment also raised the issue ofthe effects of once-through cooling on coastal fishery resources. The intake and outfall were to belocated in a rich fin and shell fish area; damage to the fishery and the need for compensation to thefishing communities were predicted. Subsequently, the VRA accepted the alternative of coolingtowers as a less damaging alternative means of cooling. Engineering studies later determined thatthe cooling tower alternative would be less costly than the once-through cooling.

Source: Personal communication, Robert Tillman, Environmentally Sustainable DevelopmentDivision, Africa Technical Department, World Bank, May 1995.

Projects under category B have also been subject to environmental analysis whosenature and scope is simpler than that required for category A. These category B projects arespread in almost every sector of the economy, with transportation (35 percent) andagriculture (20 percent) being major sectors.

In some cases, the EAs result in additional costs, as governments commit resourcesthrough infrastructure, personnel, and other inputs central to the successful application ofexisting guidelines. In most cases the financial cost of the EA is marginal relative to totalproject cost, although a proper source must still fund it.

Perhaps the most important criticisms of the present application of EAs are that theylack (1) analysis of alternative projects, (2) follow-up regarding implementation ofmitigation plans, and (3) integration of EAs in project economic analysis. Without anintegrated economic analysis of alternatives, the effectiveness of EAs will be limited (seeWorld Bank 1995f and Box 15). Moreover, EAs are still too often regarded as an additionalburden in project preparation rather than a tool for improving project design. This may bereinforced by the fact that additional EA-related costs in project elaboration are not alwaysfully accounted for in World Bank resources, whether it is for field assessment work or forreview by World Bank staff.

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Box 15: Integration of Economics in Environmental Assessments

As part of a regional study for the Africa Region of the World Bank, a total of twenty-nine EAshave been reviewed, of which nineteen belong to category A. The main findings include:

* Little evidence exists of comparisons between different project alternatives; project design isoften taken as a given to a large extent. Nigeria Forestry III Project is a good counter-example.

* Environmental impacts are often well identified but are often listed rather than discussed in across-sectoral and transdisciplinary context; generally no time dimension is given. Acomprehensive view of impacts, however, is presented in the case of the Komati River BasinDevelopment Project in Swaziland.

* Impacts are often not quantified; sometimes quantification refers to status quo rather than theincremental impacts of the project, except in rare cases such as the Mauritius Bagasse Project,which provides an example of good practice.

: Monetization of quantified environmental impacts is rare, but a few examples exist of valuationof resettlement costs, forestry benefits, soil erosion, and carbon sequestration. The TanzaniaForest Resource Management Project is one example of good practice.

Source: C. Kazoora and J. Bojo, The Integration of Environmental Economics in EnvironmentalAssessments in SSA, AFTES, World Bank, Washington, D.C., 1995.

IV. ADDRESSING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

The World Bank Global Environment Facility (GEF) is one of the threeimplementing agencies for the facility. The other two agencies are the United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP), responsible for capacity building and technicalassistance, and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), charged with thescientific and technical underpinnings of the facility. The World Bank is responsible forinvestments under the facility. The GEF Pilot Phase started in 1991 and the replenishedOperational Phase became effective in 1994. The Conference of the Parties to theBiodiversity Convention in November 1994 adopted the GEF as the convention's "interimfinancing mechanism," and the parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Changeare expected to do likewise. Although the experience is relatively short in Africa, withprojects only in early implementation, a brief interim review of the World Bank-implemented pilot phase operations has been carried out.

A Catalyst

The GEF has emerged as a catalyst to help countries integrate globalenvironmental concerns in the three thematic areas of biodiversity conservation, climatechange, and international waters, but only to a limited extent for phasing out ozone-depleting substances (ODS) due to the fact that Africa is not a major producer of ODS.The GEF has also contributed to developing new approaches to global cooperation,although it is still in its development phase witlh a relatively modest total investment.

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The projects concerned with biodiversity conservation have not only focused onthe ecological and technical aspects of conservation and management but also onsignificant social issues, including engaging and empowering local communities,establishing innovative financial arrangements to ensure financial sustainability, andenhancinig monitoring and evaluation. In this context, four GEF-financed projects ($22.3million) were under implementation during 1994, and preparation is under way for elevenadditional projects. The GEF has leveraged substantial resources from other donors,raising additional demands for coordination. Project preparation in Africa has in generaltaken longer than expected, due largely to the inherent complexity of biodiversityconservationi projects and the substantial effort made to adopt participatory approaches inproject design and preparation. The project portfolio is young, so it is difficult to drawsignificant conclusions about the effectiveness of the projects.

The GEF, however, has already made an important contribution to integratingglobal environlmenital considerationis in World Bank activities in the following areas:

* The World Bank operational departments have been requested to reference globalenvirolnmenit issues in the World Bank's Country Assistance Strategies and toindicate the extent to which the World Bank could assist the countries to meetobligations arising under international conventions.

- Climate change and biodiversity strategies have been funded as supplements toNEAPs.

* A renewable energy promotion strategy has also been funded for Sub-SaharanAfrica. It will identify options and priorities for adding renewable energycomponents to World Bank-financed projects.

- A GEF-sponsored regional biodiversity conservation strategy is also beingprepared. It will identify the location of hot spots and suggest effective action toprornote the conservation of biodiversity.

Furthermore, the GEF has contributed to modifying a number of World Bankgrroup policies, which now integrate global environmental considerations at many levels,particularly in relation to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (see Box 16).

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...i0Box 16: Bank Group Policies Relevant to tile Framework Convention on Climate Change(FCCC)

* OMS 2.36 on Environmental Aspects of World Bank Work. The World Bank will not financeactivities that contravene an international environmental agreement.

* OP 10.04 on Economic Evaluation of Investment Operations. Global externalities: areidentified in sector analysis or environmental assessment work and enter into project economicanalysis and selection when payments are made to the project under an international agreementor the project involves GEF financing. Otherwise, global externalities are fully assessed (toltheextent that tools are available) and are taken into account in project design and selection.

* OD 4.01 on Environmental Assessment and Environmental Sourcebook. Globalenvironmental externalities are to be identified and evaluated as part of the environmentalassessment process..

* Procedure for Environmental Review of IFC Projects. IFC encourages project sponsors toconsider global environmental issues in project environmental analyses where relevant andfeasible.

* BP 2.11 on Country Assistance Strategies. Global environmental issues and the role of theGEF are discussed, when appropriate, in World Bank Country Assistance Strategy documents.;

* Existing Bank policies on, amonig others, the electric power sector, enery efficiency, forestry,and GEF invesinent operations promote actions consistent with the Climate ChangeConvention.

Source: World Bank, Global Environment Coordination Division, The World Bank and the UNFramework Convention on Climate Change, Washington, D.C., 1995.

Transboundary Programs

The GEF has been an important point of entry for dealing with a number oftransboundary environmental problems and opportunities with which traditional WorldBank operations do not have the flexibility to deal. Figure 16 indicates the location oftransboundary programs that, although not yet under implementation, have helped in theprocess of developing solutions to subregional environmental issues.

A numilber of lessons have emerged from early experience in this process:

* First, the World Bank has played a major, positive, and instrumental role infacilitating regional cooperation and consensus at the preparation phase of thetransboundary programs.

* Second, regional cooperation and international support provide an incentive for ormake feasible implementation of integrated natural resource management programs byriparian nations. Effective collaboration can assist in harmonizing environmenitalstandards and goals and providing an adequate framework to address transbounidaryproblems.

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* Third, although it might be too early to predict how successful transboundaryprograms will be, implementation of the Lake Malawi and Lake Victoria projects, inparticular, would clearly galvanize the confidence of governments involved in findingpolitically acceptable solutions to joint management problems in other fields.Furtherimiore, the model may be used as a framework for management of shared waterbodies in other African countries.

* FouL-th, political stability and commitment are crucial to the future of transboundaryprograms.

* Finally, GEF grant resources, while necessary, may not be sufficient. The need existsto leverage mor-e grant ftundinig to provide incenitives to countries involved intransbouliidary operations.

Figure 16: Traiasbounitiry Programs in SSA

A |Pil~ot Conimiunity-Based Natu---e< |~~~Resource and Wildlife Managemnent|

Lake Victoria Developmentand Management

W\est Atrica Coastal and 0 Marine Eniviroii iient \V P

|Lake Mal awi Developnient | l_ )Q|Western Indian||and Mana.gemient 0/ , 8t f10Icean Oil Spill|

Zimibabwve Biodiversity\ X L . 0 1 Coniservatioii\>

Mozambique Transfrontier55/ IConservation Areas

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V. BUILDING THE WORLD BANK'S ENVIRONMENTAL CAPACITY

Since 1987 the World Bank has substantially developed its environimentalcapacity through environmental staffing, training, and organization. The analysis of thecurrent situationi, however, reveals room for improvement.

The environmenital staff of the World Bank's Africa Region has significantlyincreased over the last five years, reaching almost fifty full-time environmentalprofessionals. Environmental specialists, however, still represent a small fraction (about 5percent) of the total staff in the Africa Region.

With regard to World Bank staff training in environmental matters, a full baseprogram of courses (World Bank 1995b) now exists, including the "Fundamentals ofEnvironmental Management," "Introduction to Environmental Economics,""Environmental Assessment," and "Urban Environmental Strategies and Action Plans." Inaddition, occasional courses on1 topics related to "Economy-wide Policies and theEnvironment" and "National Environmental Action Planning" have been offered;however, attendance of these courses tends to be drawn from staff already working onenvironmental issues. Fewer sector specialists and macroeconomists have attended thesecourses.

Regarding internal organizationi, the environmental responsibility of countryoperational departments in the Africa region has been given to agricultural divisions.Although this organization reflects the importance of the "green agenda" in SSA,mainstreaming of the environnmenlt in the other sectors as well as in macroeconomicaspects will require cross-sectoral environmental networks to be put in place in thosedepartments.

VI. AN AFRICAN PERCEPTION OF THE WORLD BANK'S

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANCE

An extensive consultation process has been conducted on the content of this paperwith the participation of key African experts from various circles, including academic andresearch institutions, the private sector, NGOs, the media, and government institutions.34

This process has greatly enriched the paper by incorporating African views and hasrevealed areas in which the World Bank should improve its assistance. African expertshave particularly recommended:

* creating more consistency among the various World Bank strategies and policiesto promote sustainable development,

* broadening its poverty definition by incorporating aspects regarding natural,humani, and social capital and doing more research on poverty/environmentlinkages,

* improving and expanding environmental partnerships with other donors, UNagencies, and NGOs,

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* enhancing decentralization and local participation,

* incorporating the environment in education projects, and

* paying more attentioni to science and technology development for environmentmanagement, while capitalizing on local knowledge.

VII. KEY LESSONS LEARNED

This chapter has brought out ten key lessons:

* First, in-country environmental planning through National Environmental ActionPlans (NEAPs) or equivalents is effective in raising environmental awareness, introducingnew environnmental policies, and building institutional capacity. This planning should bepursued at the local, national and subregional levels andfocus more on priority setting.The NEAPs, despite some weaknesses, have achieved significant coverage across theregion. They have become important instruments in guiding donor environmental lendingand focal points for donor coordination.

- Second, parallel environmental planning in the World Bank through CountryEnvironmental Strategy Papers (CESPs) is instrumental in defining the World Bank'senvironmental work in many Sub-Saharan African countries. This planning should be usedmore systematically to integrate the environment in the World Bank's country assistancestrategies and influence its dialogue with African borrowers.

* Third, promoting sustainable development requires greater consistency between theWorld Bank's recommendations on macroeconomic policy and those on environmentalmanagement. The World Bank's macroeconomic instruments tend to focus on fiscalbalance and issues related to economic growth. Environmental planning focuses on long-term environmental issues, their cross-sectoral nature, and the importance of combininginvestments in natural, humani-made, human, and social capital to ensure sustainabledevelopment. Addressing this fundamental gap remains an important challenge.

* Fourth, addressing environmental issues requires cross-sectoral and transboundaryapproaches and operations. The World Bank's analytical work has been too sector-oriented and has not paid enough attention to subregional ecosystems. This is changing,however, as regional and subregional strategies have been prepared on the environment-agriculture-population nexus and coastal zone management. Similar strategies are beingdeveloped for integrated water management, renewable energy promotion, andbiodiversity conservation. Finally, dealing with the soil fertility problem has become oneof the major environimental initiatives of the Africa Region of the Bank.

* Fifth, integrating environmental considerations in investment lending is essentialforall sectors since it represents the major part of the World Bank's portfolio,. Thisintegration has progressed, particularly in sectors such as agriculture and infrastructure;however, more effort is needed in the other sectors, particularly education and privatesector development.

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* Sixth, adjustment lending, by correcting price and policy distortions, is a powerfulinstrument for improving environmental management, providing that environmentalpolicies are incorporated and measures are adopted to avoidpotential negativeenvironmental impacts. About two-thirds of the World Bank's adjustment operations haveincorporated some environmental goals, providing examples of good practice on which tobuild. Tl.is is the purpose of case studies under way in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Coted'Ivoire. Such incorporation needs to be pursued to strengthen environmental policies,legislation, and enforcement and to secure required public funding. Assessing andmitigating the environmental impact of adjustnent lending has not yet been given theattention necessary.

* Seventh, the World Bank's environmental investment lending, although representingonly about 10 percent of the portfolio, requires special attention since it is targeted toinstitutional development and capacity building, thefoundation of environmentalmanagement.

* Eighth, environmental assessment is an essential tool in project design. It needs,however, to be used more systematically and effectively by better integration in projectfinancial and economic analysis, broader application to overall sectors, andincorporation of geographic information. Despite examples of considerable improvement,considerationi of different project alternatives from an environmental perspective andfollow-up on measures to mitigate negative enviromililental impacts are still inadequate.

* Ninth, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a key instrument to leverage supportfor dealing with global environmental issues and pioneer new approaches to adopt win-win solutions at the national and subregional levels. Although demands on coordinationhave been substantial, the GEF has managed to leverage significant contributions from thedonor community and has influenced national ESD planning. The GEF has also been apoint of entry in supporting a growing number of transboundary environmental projects.

* Tenth, the World Bank, which has significantly increased its environmental capacity,still needs to invest more in environmental training to achieve the full integration ofenvironmental concerns in its development assistance.

These ten lessons (illustrated in Figure 17) provide the foundation for the WorldBank agenda proposed in chapter 3.

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Figure 17: Mainstreanting the Environment into the World Bank's Development Assistance

Assessment Strategy and Policy Ipeetto& Reviews Formulation

Environmentally FocusedRegional Stuategles LENDING

Country Economic j 7Memorandum I ;

* - - - --- 't SLib-RegionalEnvironment - -

A' ... . .. , .Strategies

Educetio.

| Country Assistance .Strategy

Public Expenditure -EnviionmenReview V- Z

-N41 CountryCountry Poverty -- Environmental .. / ' -

[ Assessment 4- .-- - - s1Strategy Paper NON LiENDiNG I

y sic-i/LtpPofiaes

Degree of Env. Environmental NationalIntegration Influence Environmental *^ri222r, and

_ High : High Action Plan LjegaI Reform

3 Medium _--_ Medium

L Low - &Low

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CHAPTER 3

A PROPOSED AGENDA TO PROMOTE ENVIRONMENTALLY

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The agenda proposed for the World Bank is defined against the background of therapid transition, uncertainties, and challenges facing African countries in a changingglobal context. While building on the Bank's experience, it focuses on the need to betterintegrate the environment into the development process. It also draws on Agenda 21 andrelated international conventions with special attention to the priorities specific to Sub-Saharan Africa.

This chapter first presents the agenda's objectives and strategy, proposes ways tomeet the objectives and implement the strategy, then reviews .hat the World Bank will doto mainstream the environment in its development assistance to provide effectivefinancing for ESD and to develop environmental partnerships and networks. The chapterconcludes with a plan of action.

1. OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY

The proposed agenda aims to improve the World Bank's assistance to Africancountries in their transition to environmentally sustainable development. The agenda islinked to the World Bank's overarching goal-alleviating poverty-since the poorestsegments of society are both the most affected by and key agents of environmentaldegradation, as explained in chapter 1. Implementing the agenda will also reqiAire renewedattention to issues of gender, since women play a greater role in environmentalmanagement in Africa than in any other region of the world (see Box 17).

The agenda is anchored in the lessons and good practice experiences in the field,described in chapter 2. It also aligns with the guiding principles of the World Bank AfricaRegion, namely, incorporating Africans' views, assessing their priority demands, selectingactions with the highest potential for field impact, improving cost-effectiveness,monitoring results for quick translation to further action, and developing partnerships. Theagenda identifies three overall objectives:

* Helping countries to achieve food security through intensified sustainableagriculture and maintenance of natural capital (especially soils)

* Facilitating countries' transition to sustainable urbanization

* Supporting development of Africa's human capital to improve environmentalmanagement, while facilitating the demographic transition to a more stable andgeographically balanced population.

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* Box 17: Women in Environmentally Sustainable Development

The role of African women over the last few centuries-especially regarding land-hasprogressively worsened. "Modem" legal systems, aiming to regularize land ownership, havereinforced male ownership and marginalized women to less fertile land or deprived them of it.Formal education has reinforced this disempowerrnent, resulting in unequal access to technology~.

Women, however, are the principal providers of household welfare and security in Africa. In urbanareas, women are responsible for water and sanitation, energy, and food security. In rural areas, theyform the majority of rural workers and producers and are responsible for 70 percent of agriculturalproduction in Africa, virtually all collection of wild plants for food and medicines, collection ofmost wood and other forest products, water and waste management, and a proportion of small-scalecharcoal production. Women have become important guardians of knowledge about crop varieties,wild foods, soil fertility, tree species, and local ecosystems and have a critical role to play aseducators of the next generation in environmental awareness. Agricultural extension systems,however, have not usually paid enough attention to women's role in agriculture and food productionnor tapped women's knowledge to improve extension performance. Their important role has alsogone largely unrecognized by governments and donor agencies.

Because of these roles, however, African women may suffer the most from environmentaldegradation, since their workloads increase as water, wood, and land become more distant fromhome or less available. Male-dominated technology has disrupted farming systems; monoculturalproduction, for example, is frequently more environmentally damaging than intercropping-apractice generally favored by women. Moving to cash crops has also undermined women's accessto land and cash incomes.

Agenda 21, chapter 24, focuses on the impact of environmental degradation on women andencourages empowerment of women as environmental managers. "Women have a vital role inenvironmental management and development. Their full participation is therefore essential to achievesustainable development." (Principle 21 of the Rio Declaration 1992).

Source: Personal communication, E. Anikpo, African Futures, Abidjan, C6te d'lvoire, March 1995.

To meet these objectives the World Bank needs to be flexible to adjust toincreasing uncertainty, changing situations, and demands of its client countries. Fivedirections are proposed:

* Helping countries integrate the environment in their development process. TheWorld Bank will pursue assistance that helps complete and implement the firstgeneration of environmental action plans, incorporate environmental concerns insectoral projects, promote policies and market instruments that reflect theenviron-mental cost of resource use, strengthen the security of tenure, improveenviron-mental assessment, and deal with environmental risk.

* Promoting cross-sectoral approaches and building on "win-win" policies andoperations

* Enhancing the development of knowledge, communication, and information-aprerequisite for sound environmental management

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* Focusing on geographic priorities-including coastal zones, major river basinsand lakes, and tropical forest systems

* Addressing global challenges

To implement this environmental strategy, the World Bank needs to equip itselfand better integrate the environment into its own business processes. The World Bank alsoneeds increasingly to develop its partnerships and networks witlh other UN agencies,donors, NGOs, and academic and research institutions in Africa and elsewhere.

II. MEETING THE PROPOSED OBJECTIVES

No single activity or reform is sufficient to achieve such broad objectives. ESDhas to be pursued along a wide ranging frontline, encompassing agricultural intensificationcoupled with biodiversity protection, adequate attention to the rising tide of complexurban environmental problems, and the development of human capital coupled withpolicies to enhance a rapid demographic transition.

A. Enhancing Food Security While Protecting Unique Ecosystems

Making agricultural systems sustainable in Africa demands a "double greenrevolution" (see Box 18) with a special focus on accelerated recapitalization of soils toreverse the downward spiral of land degradation.

Box 18: A "Double Green Revolution"

To meet the food challenge worldwide and particularly in Africa, a group of researchers andagricultural development specialists have proposed launching a double green revolution. It is to betriggered by the international centers for agricultural research in association with national researchand extension services in developing countries. It needs to be both more productive than the firstgreen revolution to meet food demand, expected to double in the next thirty years, and greener interms of improved natural resource conservation.

The first green revolution did not have a strong impact on Sub-Saharan Africa. The secondrevolution should attempt success in the diversity of the African ecosystems, including drylands,and should be both equitable and environmentally sustainable. The first revolution was based on theproduction of new high-yielding varieties. Reaching the poor was a second thought. The secondrevolution should reverse this logic by starting with the demand of poor farmers to define prioritiesfor research. Its objectives should combine food security, increased rural income, and job creationtogether with environmentally sustainable management of the environment. The first revolutionsucceeded because of a multidisciplinary approach associating geneticists, agronomists, plantpathologists, and entomologists. The second revolution should dramatically expand this approachby including many other disciplines in biology as well as in ecology and social sciences.

Source: Sustainable Agriculture for a Food Secure World by Gordon Conway and others, a paperproduced for the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research in 1994.

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This will require policies to improve individual or group tenure security andderegulated agricultural prices to allow private entrepreneurs to function more efficiently inboth input and output markets. These policy measures should be associated with continueddevelopment and promotion of environmentally sound and economically viable technologiesto enable smallholders to meet increasing demand for food and other agriculturalcommodities. The combination of two sets of technologies will be essential to thisrecapital ization:

* Enhancing sustainable soil fertility by improving organic matter management throughmixed farming, composting, and recycling and by increasing fertilizer use. Reestablishingthe stock of phospliorus will be particularly important as the lack of phosphorus is a keylimiting factor in agricultural productivity in most instances (see Box 19).

* Promoting erosion-control techniques, such as contour farming, minimum tillage,mulching, crop rotation and intercropping systems, vegetative and soil bunding,agroforestry, integrated pest managemenit, and improved farm water management throughwater harvesting and complementary small-scale irrigation.

Agricultural research and extension programs in SSA have started to integrate thesetechnologies as illustrated in chapter 2 (see Box 10). These efforts to promote sustainableagriculture should be pursued by African countries and encouraged by the donor communityto stimulate the growth of rural incomes and the emergence of small farmer entrepreneurs.This should be combined with the development of agro-processing to add value and createmore jobs.

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Box 19 Addressing the Lack of Phosphorus, a Major Limiting Production Factor

Phosphorus (P) is one of the major factors limiting crop, livestock, and biomass production in SSA.Eighty percent of African soils lack P, according to a recent study (FAO, IASS, and ISRIC 1994).This key nutrient can neither be fixed from the air as nitrogen through biological processes nor canit be supplied from the soil's parent rock materials, which in SSA are naturally deprived of Preserves; however, SSA is well endowed in Phosphate Rock (PR) deposits, most of which have notbeen exploited except in a few countries. The majority of PR produced is exported to developedcountries or processed locally (South Africa) in a highly energy- and pollution-intensive process toproduce water-soluble P fertilizers, such as triple superphosphate (TSP) and mono- and di-ainmonium phosphate (MAP and DAP). Most smallholders in Africa cannot afford to buy thesefertilizers; if environmental costs of the production process are internalized, the price could also risesignificantly.

Reconstituting the capital stock of phosphorus in degraded or phosphorus-deficient soils is anenvironmentally sound investment and has been demonstrated in Brazil and other countries,including in a few SSA countries. Partially Acidulated Phosphate Rock (PAPR) to increasesolubility of "hard" PR is currently used in some countries, such as China, and has beensuccessfully tested on an experimental basis in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Niger, Malawi, Zambia,-andZimbabwe. Synergetic impacts of phosphorus investment in soils has been monitored-such asstimulation of biological nitrogen fixation by legume crops and development of root andmycorrhizal activity that increases water use efficiency-leading eventually to yield increase andsoil organic matter accumulation. Enhancing soil organic matter also constitutes to carbonsequestration, significantly contributing to abatement of greenhouse gases and thus reducing the riskof climate change.

The potential local and global benefits of PR use as a capital investment has spurred the WorldBank and the Global Environment Facility, donors, and research and development institutes(ICRAF and IFDC) to launch an initiative to promote pilot operations of rock phosphate productionand use in several African countries. Endorsed by the international research community, the effort'skey challenge consists of the financial, economic, and institutional constraints to widespreadreplication of technical and agronomic research progress to date.

Source: Personal communication, Isabel Valencia and Christian Pieri of the PR Initiative, a jointventure involving IFDC, ICRAF, CIRAD, the World Bank, and GEF, May 1995.

As the single most important cause of woodland and forest deterioration, clearing foragriculture calls for holistic, agricultural and forestry management, includilng watershedmanagement, renewed land use planning, and protection of critical ecosystems. Intensifyingsustainable agriculture should be promoted in areas with the highest production potential,paying special attention to drainage in irrigation schemes, a technique often overlooked.Such intensification, based on labor-intensive technologies, should alleviate pressure onmarginal lands and biodiversity-rich areas.

Land degradation and desertification issues are central to sustainable development inSub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the Sudano-Sahelian Belt and East and southern Africa.Dealing with those issues requires an integrated natural resource management approach. Asstated in the Desertification Convention, this approach should emphasize communitymanagement, secure access to natural resources, and technologies that increase droughtresistance. The approach applies equally to woodland and forest management for thesustainable supply of wood fuels.

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Additional efforts are needed to restore soil fertility in SSA. A regional frameworkcould be established to improve donor collaboration in assisting African countries inaddressing soil fertility problems more effectively. Its mandate would be to contribute to aprogram of actions to make substantive gains in restoring soil fertility in African countries.In keeping with this objective it would35:

* ensure exchange of information to reduce overlapping efforts and to makebetter use of available financial and human resources,

* identify areas with critical soil degradation problems and high potential areasfor increased food supply and assist committed countries in developing soilfertility strategies,

* provide leadership in mobilizing financial resources to support pilotinvestment projects, special case studies, capacity building, and training,

* promote awareness among policy makers at the country level of theconsequences of soil degradation and opportunities to reverse the process,

* promote policy, institutional, and technological options through programs toimprove soil fertility management,

* support pilot projects or case studies to provide results on which future policyand investment decisions can be made,

* develop the analytical basis on which new programs and instruments can bedeveloped to promote changes at the field level,

* ensure that CGIAR and other international and national research centers givehigh priority to soil conservation and soil fertility enhancements programs,and

- monitor through land quality indicators the progress in dealing with the soilfertility problem and develop a database of best practices in soil management.

Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali have already started to implement an integratedapproach to natural resource management supported by the World Bank and other donorpartners. These efforts will be encouraged, especially dealing more efficiently with droughtrisk by promoting comprehensive drought-preparedness programs (see Box 20).

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Box 20: Drought Planning: a Methodology

Experience from the 1980s points to the need for drought-prone countries to developcomprehensive drought plans that react less to specific droughts and focus more on preparing todeal with drought and its consequences. Key steps in preparing for drought include the following:

. Appointing a national drought commission* Formnulating a national drought policy* Establishing formal conflict resolution mechanisms* Preparing an inventory of natural, biological, and human resources and legal and institutional

constraints. Elaborating a drought plan based on water inventory and outlook, impact assessment, and

response. Identifying research and institutional gaps* Synthesizing scientific and policy issues* Implementing a plan, including water management during periods of shortage* Developing multilevel educational and awareness programs* Developing drought plan-monitoring and evaluation procedures.

Source: Personal communication, Dr. D. Wilhite, International Drought Information Center,University of Nebraska, May 1995.

In addition to drought preparedness, more emphasis should be given tounpredictable climatic variability to limit adverse impacts on agricultural productivity bybuilding on the resistance of production systems. Rainfed agriculture represents about 95percent of total agricultural output in Africa. Climatic variability appears to be increasing ina number of areas especially dependent on rainfed agriculture (notably the Sahel andsouthern Africa) (Hulme 1992). Production systems and economies as a whole in these areasare becoming less resistant to this variability. The World Bank, particularly through theSpecial Program for African Agricultural Research (SPAAR), will help focus agriculturalresearch and investment on improving the ability of farmers and rural dwellers to cope withthe additional stresses imposed by climatic variability. This will involve better weatherforecasting to trigger appropriate farming responses, such as crop variety selection and soilmanagement techniques. The ability to monitor and effectively use climate information canbe significantly enhanced using the most advanced technologies possible. Recent success inthe use of information generated by the El Nifno Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in Brazil andPeru to maintain agricultural production should stimulate similar activities in Africa (seeBox 21), particularly in southern Africa where the correlation between ENSO weatherpatterns and crop yields has proved high.36

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Box 21: El Nihoo: From Curse to Blessing in Peru and Brazil

Since 1982-83, weather forecasts based on El Nifio information have been used in Peru to help-determine what mix of rice and cotton crop varieties to sow. Rice is more often planted when wetter

conditions. are predicted and cotton when drier conditions are expected. In doing so, over the last tenyears, Peru has been able to reverse years of highly variable total agricultural production. In

.drought-prone northeastem Brazil, authorities have fully integrated El Niflo predictions into theEdecision-making process. The province has been able to eliminate the "boom and bust" syndrome ofrainfed agriculture by delaying plowing and seeding and by promoting drought-resistant cropvarieties when lower than usual rainfall is expected. No catastrophic harvest has occurred overseven years, despite "drought and disaster" rainfall conditions in some years. For example, in 1987,

..with rainfall at 70 percent of mean precipitation, grain production was only 15 percent belowaverage. In 1992, with full integration of ENSO information, the province was able to achieve 82percent of average producton with 73 percent of average rainfall.

Source: A. Miller, Applications of Seasonal to Interannual Climate Prediction: The Nordeste,Region of Brazil, Office of Global Programs, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,Washington, D.C., 1993.

Much more attention will be required for the development of marine and freshwaterfisheries because of their actual and potential contribution to the protein content in Africandiets. New agreements as well as enforcement and monitoring will have to be establishedwith OECD countries to manage fisheries better and imnprove the share of fish intake landedin Africa for processing and consumption. Aquaculture is a growing industry worldwidewith an annual average production increase of about 10 percent. Sub-Saharan Africa isglobally well behind, although information is lacking on a per country basis. Aquaculturedevelopment is particularly needed in coastal zones to meet the protein demand of a fastgrowing population.

The conservation of biological diversity in association with agricultural andnonagricultural development activities is an important example of a "win-win" solution. InAfrica, biodiversity represents a key source of economic growth that has been consistentlyundervalued. Beyond the global benefits highlighted in the Biodiversity Convention,biodiversity contributes significantly to food security (on- and off-farm plants and animals)and provides medicines, fuel, and additional income through ecotourism (see Box 22).

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Box 22: Wildlife Conservancies in Zimbabwe: Development Through Conservation and Tourism

The Save Conservancy is one of three privately owned wildlife management and conservation areas,which together comprise more than 500,000 hectares in Zimbabwe's southeastern lowyeid$Twenty-three property owners created it in 1991 due to the need for extensive areas to conserve theblack rhino, coupled with declining income from cattle, degradation of the range, increased climnaticvariability, and similar developments in South Africa. The catastrophic 1991-92 drought led torapid destocking of cattle, and the area presented a good refuge for wild animals (particularlyelephants) evacuated from the drought-stricken Gonarezhou National Park. The Save Conservancydecided in 1992 to develop high-quality tourism operations, based on substantial populations of awide range of wild animal species.

A report had demonstrated that wildlife management represented the best land use in this area, withopportunities for tourism that would generate revenues and employment generation exceeding thoseof cattle raising by twenty to thirty times. The cost per job created was also much lower andgovernment revenues and foreign exchange earnings much higher. Furthermore, this developmentwould provide the foundation for improvements in the currently poor, surrounding, communallyowned areas, based also on tourism and wildlife management. From an ecological perspective, theselarge conservancies provide an essential counterpoint to national parks by reversing the decreaseand fragmentation of wildlife habitat. The process has been facilitated by an appropriate legalframework in Zimbabwe, based on the Parks and Wildlife Act, which essentially confersstewardship of wildlife on landowners.

Source: Price Waterhouse Wildlife, Tourism, and Environmental Consulting, The LowveldConservancies: New Opportunities for Productive and Sustainable Land-Use,. Save Valley,Bubiana, and Chiredzi River Conservancies, Harare, Zimbabwe, 1994.

African countries will therefore be encouraged to incorporate biodiversityconservation more systematically in development operations. The World Bank in partnershipwith other donors and NGOs will support this effort, specifically:

* Inventorying existing biodiversity through systematic surveys in priorityecosystems, such as tropical rain forests. This implies increased capacity intaxonomy.

* Promoting ecosystem-specific strategies to conserve biodiversity, in particular,charging user fees that reflect the economic value of biological resources andchanneling the proceeds back to communities affected by conservation efforts

* Focusing agricultural research and extension more on biodiversity

* Capitalizing on indigenous knowledge of biodiversity and its multiple uses

Furthermore, ecotourism, which represents a key source of income, as illustrated byKenya and Zimbabwe, will be broadly promoted. This requires a market-based exchange rateand a stable and enabling environment for the private sector to make basic investments andmarketing efforts to attract visitors.

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Such programs as the Communal Areas Management Programme for IndigenousResources (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe demonstrate that, when communities are empoweredto undertake conservation activities and benefit directly from them, considerable progresscan be achieved. These efforts are critical ingredients in promoting biodiversityconservation, which represents an important source of potential economic growth in Africa.Some African countries, such as South Africa and Zimbabwe, are well advanced in thisendeavor. Others-for example, Burkina Faso, Benin, and C6te d'Ivoire, with the support ofthe World Bank Group and GEF in partnership with UIN agencies and specializedNGOs-are adopting a similar approach. The World Bank will help promote this endeavorthrough appropriate policies and institutions combined with private sector investment.

B. Enhanced Emphasis on Urban Environmental Management

Given demographic trends throughout the continent, the costs of urbanenvironmental degradation are rapidly becoming obvious. By early in the 21st century,urban poor will outnumber rural poor; urban demand for rural natural resources, such aswater and wood fuels, is expected to intensify pressure on these resources. Urbanpopulation growth will also increase pressure on basic urban and social services and landuse and contribute to increased pollution. These trends necessitate increased emphasis onurban environmental management, which requires a series of actions at the national andlocal level, grounded in improved spatial information and a participatory process. TheWorld Bank will enhance its support to planning and investment operations in this area.

Key elements in addressing urban environmental problems include safe watersupply, sanitation, and solid waste management. The demands for services, however,consistently outstrip the ability of public service providers to supply them; greaterattention will be given to the appropriateness and distribution of investments in urbanareas. The trend toward private sector participation in delivering these services will beencouraged: examples include C6te d'lvoire and Guinea for urban water supply andKaduna, Nigeria, where waste management has been commercialized. Furthermore, muchgreater recognition will be given to the finiteness of the resources in question (forexample, water) and the need to consider upstream issues (integrated watershedmanagement and hydrological pattems) far more explicitly in urban planning. Urbanenvironmental planning also needs to consider resource use patterns in the ecosystemssurrounding urban areas, since the demands placed on such ecosystems will only intensifyuntil demographic and energy transitions are achieved (for example, the switch fromdependence on wood fuels to other forms of energy such as natural gas). Environmentalrisk assessment from disease, flooding, cyclones, and other events will also need to beimnproved.

The need for renewed urban planning is being recognized in Africa. Several cities,such as Dakar, Harare, Abidjan, and Capetown, have initiated environmental action plans(see Box 23). The World Bank should provide more assistance to such initiatives. Urbanenvironmental management is also fertile ground for "win-win" solutions such as recyclingorganic material to provide compost for urban and peri-urban agriculture, a subsector thathas been overlooked in the past. This agricultural niche typically provides a substantialpercentage of the city food supply, while providing jobs, particularly for the urban poor (seeBox 24). Tackling urban environmental issues also has the potential of stimulating labor-intensive private sector activity when employment generation is considered a high priority

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by most countries. The World Bank will continue to assist its client countries in developingthese win-win solutions (see Box 12, chapter 2). Community-based urban environmentalmanagement, such as garbage collection in Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ghana, andTanzania, should also be promoted.

Box 23: Local EnvironmentalAction Plans-Urban Cases

In an increasing number of African cities, local environmental action planning has begun.Conceptually, these efforts are often based on an approach that proceeds from rapid assessment toformulation of an urban environmental management strategy followed by implementation ofspecific action plans, all of which is underpinned by informed consultation. What distinguishes thismethodology, developed by the UNCHS (Habitat)/World Bank/UNDP Urban ManagementProgramme (UMP), is the emphasis on stakeholder participation, multisectoral and cross-jurisdictional approaches, combined analysis and process, and action-oriented follow-up.

Examples of urban local environmental action plans (LEAPs) in various stages of preparationinclude:

Cape Town. A variety of stakeholders in the Cape region have succeeded in integratingenvironmental concerns into a larger planning exercise-the Metropolitan Spatial DevelopmentFramework. The framework addresses a number of green and brown environmental issues,including creation of an open space system, efficiency of resource use, and urban watershedmanagement.

C6te d'lvoire. In Abidjan and seven secondary cities, rapid urban environmental assessments wereconducted to set local priorities. Results were used to prepare the RCI and World Bank urban sectorstrategies and as the basis for public consultations in Abidjan as well as several of the secondarycities. These cities are now preparing LEAPs.

Dakar. Senegalese consultants and institutions prepared an urban data questionnaire andenvironmental profile, which were used as the basis of a city consultation on the urban environment.Consensus developed around two priority areas: (I) the need for coastal zone management of theBaie de Hann and (2) minimization of urban and industrial risks. Action plans are being developedfor these two priorities.

Dar es Salaam. Following a rapid assessment, UNCHS, UNDP, and UNEP are supporting the city'sefforts to develop and implement a LEAP. Solid waste management is a priority area that is beingincluded in the process; recent work has focused on options for improving the service throughprivatization.

These initiatives may be indigenous (as in the case of Cape Town) or have been catalyzed byregional support (UMP Africa support for Cote d'lvoire and Dakar) or by international assistance(UNCHS Sustainable Cities Programme in Dar es Salaam).

Source: J. Leitmann, personal communication; C, Bartone, J. Bernstein, J. Leitmann, and J. Eigen,Toward Environmental Strategies for Cities, Washington, D.C.: The World Bank and the UrbanEnvironmental Management Program, 1994.

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Box 24: Role of Urban Agriculture in Sustaining Africa's Cities

Many African countries overlook the importance of urban agriculture to the sustainability of theirj ,cities. Ranging from informal garden plots to large agribusiness corporations, urban agriculture

provides food, fuel, and income: aswell.as environmnental improvement. Urban agriculture plays; arole in recycling some of the increasing amounts of wastes (wastewater and solid waste)3accompanying rapid urbanization and puts vacant, underutilized land to productive use. Urbanagriculture also normally involves low energy-intensive food production.

Although few conclusive studies exist on the nature, extent, and economic impacts of urban and*peri-urban agriculture, observations of agricultural activity in several African cities highlight itspotential benefits for economic productivity and food security. In Dar es Salaam, urban agriculturewas the second largest employer in 1988. In Kampala, urban farmers produce an estimated 70percent of the city's poultry products (meat and eggs). In Lusaka. 45 percent of the low-income:

..families surveyed cultivated either their yards or gardens on the periphery of the city; self-producedfood amounts to one-third of the total food consumption of the poor. Examples of urban agriculturein other cities highlight its role in natural resource conservation and waste management.

* In Maputo, the Green Zones (linear strips perpendicular to the waterfront) provide accessltofood, employment, water, and space for recreationi

* Since 1950 the Bandia forest in Senegal has been managed for supplying fuelwood to close byDakar.

* In Dakar again, saline-tolerant crops grown along coastal flood plains prevent erosion.* In Kinshasa, low-income communities have created orchards that stabilize mountain slopes.;

*.A In the Nairobi River flood plain in Kenya, slum dwellers plant fruit trees to prevent flooddamage and compost household waste for farming...

* In Thies, neem trees are harvested for cattle feed, basket making, insecticide, and compost.* In Ouagadougou, urban gardeners produce green beans for export to Europe.

The donor community,. including the Bank, has also overlooked the actual and potentialcontribution of urban agriculture in terms of providing jobs-particularly to urban poor-raisimgincome, and improving the environment. A new focus on urban agriculture is needed as well as anew approach based on developing urban environmental action:plans. that include urban agriculture;coordinating agricultural services with infrastructure development, private sector promotion, andenvironmental aspects, particularly waste management; building partnerships at the local, national,and international levels; and combining policy with market-based and financial instruments. As apartner, the Bank should participate in raising consciousness about urban agriculture; improvingknowledge through economic and multisector work, extending agricultural services it currentlyfinances to urban areas, and integrating urban agriculture in new urban environment investments.This should be particularly important in urban coastal zones.

Source: J. Smit, J. Bernstein, and A. Ratta, Urban Agriculture as a Strategy, The World Bank,Washington, D.C. forthcoming.

At the city level, a strong case can be made for investing in information andcommunication about urban environmental conditions and their significance. Currently, fewdata are available on the depth and scope of urban environmental degradation in Africa,making it difficult to identify and prioritize problems. This can be remedied throughincreased use of urban environmental indicators, rapid urban environmental assessment,environmental health risk analysis, economic valuation, spatial analysis (remote sensing and

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GIS), better environmental assessment of urban investments, and increased participation oflocal people and use of their knowledge.

C. Developing Human Capital While Facilitating Demographic Transition

Although the linkages between demographic factors and poverty and environmentalmanagement have been well documented, current efforts in Africa to address populationissues fall far short of what is needed. Furthermore, the current population age structure andpopuhetion growth rates (see chapter 1) imply that efforts made now will bear fruit only wellinto the next century. As a result, the level of investment in human and social capital willneed to increase substantially simply to maintain current levels of human resourcedevelopment. Significant improvements in basic educational indicators will require an evengreater effort. The effects on levels of poverty and environmental quality of not doing so andthe potential for civil strife and human misery are too great to contemplate.

Developing and Greening Investments in Knowledge

The process of sustainable development in Africa will depend ultimately on theeffort made to improve human capital and its effect on environmental management-one ofthe central recommendations of Agenda 2. It concerns all efforts aiming to developeducation, training, and environmental public awareness. Basic and primary education willrequire continuing special emphasis. Active promotion of the education of girls is required toreduce the current unbalanced situation betweeefn boys and girls. All possible means,including the application of modern infonnation and communication technology, should beapplied. Existing education systems, as recommended in Agenda 21, will have to play animportant role in raising awareness on environmental issues through such techniques as:

X incorporating environment and development concepts, including those ofpopulation, into educational curricula and programs,

* involving schoolclhildren in local and regional studies on environlmental health,including safe drinking water, sanitation, food, and the envirolnmenital impacts ofresource use, and

* balancing education programs with environmental activities through miniprojectsat the community level, including tree planting and woodland management,watershed management, and waste recycling.

Where resources permit, universities should develop environmental study programsto train professionals of all disciplines in environmental issues. Particular emphasis shouldbe placed on training women in the range of environment-related disciplines. Thedevelopment and encouragement of local institutions as centers of excellence is a criticalelement in promoting environmentally sustainable development.

The greening of education systems is being pursued in a limited number of WorldBank-financed projects, for example, in Chad and Mauritania, as illustrated in chapter 2.Good practices from these projects will be extended to the overall World Bank regionalportfolio in the education sector.

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Beyond formal education, other (nonformal) educational and communicationmechanisms should contribute by:

* making environment and development education available to people of all ages,

* incorporating environmental themes in adult literacy programs and communityleader training programs, and

* training journalists and radio and TV specialists, expanding environmentalcommunication programs, and speeding up adoption of information andcommunication technologies, including renewable energy (particularly solar) toenhance information and communication in rural areas.

Several World Bank-financed environmental support programs are supporting someof the aDove activities, for example, in Madagascar and Ghana. Good practices from theseprograms need to be extended to the new programs being prepared.

Enhanced Focus on the Demographic Transition

Although a number of African countries (including Botswana, Zimbabwe, andKenya) have made considerable efforts to slow population growth, much more effort isneeded to follow up on the recommendations of the recent U.N. Conference on Populationand Development in Cairo, which include:

* Enhancing public debate and awareness campaigns as part of sustainabledevelopment planning processes (for example, NEAPs)

e Substantially increasing or redirecting recurrent and donor resources to improvebasic and women's health services and enhancing methods of cost-effectivedelivery through NGOs, community-based organizations, and the private sector

* Developing demand for family planning and reproductive health services

* Strengthening education-particularly for women-and other services thatcontribute to human development

* Enhancing the efficiency of these redoubled efforts through more rapid transfer ofinformation and communication technologies, together with other leapfrogtechnologies such as solar energy to power facilities for community familyplanning and primary health.

Chapter 1 discusses present and expected future trends in migration within andbetween countries throughout the continent. Although the impact of government policies onsuch trends will be minimal in the short-term, the environmental consequences are likely tobe significant (for example, in coastal areas, in arid and semiarid zones in East Africa, and inmegacities). Planning environmentally sustainable development will, therefore, require fullintegration of migration patterns, which will need better monitoring.

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III. IMPLEMENTING THE PROPOSED STRATEGY

To implement the proposed strategy, the World Bank must help build capacity forESD; combat fragmentation; enhance knowledge, information, and communication; focuson geographic priorities; and address global environmental challenges.

A. Helping Countries Build Their Capacity for EnvironmentallySustainable Management

This section discusses ways to implement NEAPs, particularly throughEnvironmental Support Programs, to improve environimental assessments as a tool forproject and program design, and to deal with environmental risk.

Implementing the First Generation of Environm1ental Action Plans

The first phase of environmental action planning is being completed. Manycountries are now prepared to enter a new phase characterized by selectivity and the need toreach consensus on the respective roles to be played by the government, the private sector,local communities, NGOs, and donors. Entering the next phase does not translate to amechanistic process of implementing a National Environmental Action Plan. Rather it is afirst step toward establishing environmental management as an integral part of a long-termprocess toward sustainable development. The objective is to integrate environmental issuesinto the overall planning and development process. Typically the transition toimplementation and integration will include the following:

Institutional Reform. NEAPs include a review of possible structures for enhancedenvironmental management. This should not be limited to central government structures anda single agency to coordinate environmental management. Institutions at district, local, andmunicipal levels also need attention, improvement, and support. Legislation that inhibits theestablishment of NGOs needs amendment. Private businesses need encouragement tocontribute to the greening of industrial processes. As early experience indicates, the role ofthe central environmental agency may benefit from starting small and remaining flexible,focusing on capacity building, promoting environmental information systems, developingnetworks rather than hierarchies, designing policy reforms, promoting national programsrather than scattered projects, and focusing on advice and support rather than control.Reforn should be complemented by enhancing the role of the media (radio, television, andnewspapers) to improve public awareness about environmental issues.

Promoting Participatory Approaches. NEAPs have often contributed to institutingparticipatory approaches to environmentally sustainable development through the process ofconsultation among different public sector agencies at the central, district, and local levelsand NGOs. Enhancing local participation will be essential. This will require paying moreattention to:

* listening to stakeholders to assess their priority needs,* assessing local institutions to map out the various actors and their respective fields

of action in the social landscape,

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* building alliances and networks among stakeholders, and* sharing information and providing feedback.

The World Bank has made progress in developing guidelines to stimulate popularparticipation (see World Bank 19941-m). Nevertheless, partnership with specializedinstitutions and NGOs is called for to build up genuinely participatory approaches in WorldBank-financed ESD operations.

Prioritization of Issues. As discussed in chapter 2, NEAPs often represent a modestfirst attempt to identify priorities in terms of both policies and investments. Further refiningand ranking of NEAP follow-up activities will have to be done according to priority andfeasibility criteria. These criteria, based on environmental information and economics, wouldalso be adapted to filter new investments in the various economic sectors to conform with theprinciples adopted in the NEAP.

Legal and Policy Reform. Many NEAPs have been instrumental in reviewingenvironmental legislation. Implementing and integrating these reforms will typically focuson (I) adjusting prices of natural resources, such as forests, water, and energy, to reflect fulleconomic costs, that is, to incorporate environmental externalities, environmental assessmentlegislation, and mechanisms to implement it, (2) harmonization of environmentally relatedlaws and practice (for example, land tenure legal frameworks), (3) adoption andharmonization of obligations under international conventions (for example, Convention onInternational Trade in Endangered Species [CITES], the Basel and Bamako ConventionsonTrade in Hazardous Waste, and the Biodiversity Convention), and (4) addressing legalaspects related to existing or potential subregional environmental conventions and treaties(for example, international river basin agreements).

Donor Coordination. Since many African countries depend heavily on outsideassistance for public investment and capacity building, implementing NEAPs alsoprovides an opportunity to ensure that different donor activities are consistent with thecommon goals and priorities established through the NEAP process.

Environmental Support Programs (ESPs)

As described in chapter 2, several countries are implementing their NEAPs throughEnvironmental Support Programs. These programs are proving a suitable and oftennecessary vehicle for maintaining the NEAP momentum, solidifying its participatory nature,and focusing on the key priorities of the NEAP. The World Bank, in association with otherdonors, should therefore continue to support these programs.

ESPs are designed to implement the types of actions listed above and to establishenvironmental action planning as a permanent process (see Box 25). Key features of ESPsinclude the following:

* Establishing the country 'sfoundation for integrating environmental managementincluding policies, legislation, and institutions

* Being part of a long-term planning and implementation process (for example, theESP in Madagascar is the first five-year tranche of a twenty-year process)

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* Addressing the most urgent issues where there is a high risk of considerableenvironmental and social costs if something is not done quickly

Specific components of ESPs include the following:

* Institution building, such as support to environmental coordinating agencies andresources to promote participatory development

* Support for the introduction and application of EA procedures and development ofinformation systems

* Environmental education, training, and communication and introduction ofimproved methodologies and analytical tools (for example, environmentaleconomics)

* Matching funds to finance community environmental projects in rural and urbanareas

* Funds for conducting studies related to environmental management andinvestments, updating NEAPs, and providing incentives to develop localenvironmental action plans

Box 25: The Environmental Program of Madagascar

Since 1990 Madagascar has been implementing the National Environmental Program 1-the firstfive-year phase of its twenty-year NEAP-which was prepared by its NEAP team. The program hastwo major objectives: (1) to resolve the most negative impacts of environmental degradation onMadagascar's natural capital and its economy and (2) to establish solid foundations for thecountry's environmental management, A large group of donors, including IDA, the United States,Germany, Norway, France, and Switzerland, are financing the program, involving a total investmentof about $100 million and local, national, and international NGOs including World Wildlife. Fund,Conservation International, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. The program's designersincorporated five principles: (I) balancing the respective roles of the public and private sectors andmobilizing outside partners, (2) matching the rhythm of implementation with institutionaldevelopment, (3) closely linking monitoring to action in a pernanent adjustmnent process, (4)providing feedback for further improvement in environmental policy and legislation, and (5)providing continuity by preparing and implementing a second five-year program (currently underpreparation).

Source: Flash, newsletter of the Multi-Donor Secretariat, March 1995.

Although ESPs are often necessary instruments for maintaining the momentumgenerated by NEAPs, they should not be regarded as exclusive or sufficient to makedevelopment environmentally sustainable. Countries should incorporate the relevantaspects of their new environmental policies in sectoral projects and programs, of whichhuman resource development, natural resource management, and urban environmentalquality are likely to be the most important. In particular, they should begin by adjustingongoing investment programs, to be consistent with the objectives set out in the NEAP.

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Full integration will also imply redirection of recurrent expenditure through the nationalbudget.

Improving Environmental Assessment and Dealing with Environmental Risk

Fully applying Environmental Assessment practices to investments and developmentprograms is a key element in improving environmental management. The World Bank hascontributed to this process in Africa by applying the World Bank's own guidelines for WorldBank-financed projects (see chapter 2); however, further progress is required in five areas:

* Shifting from a reactive to a proactive mode in applying environmental assessmentmethodologies for a larger number of projects. Experience shows that EAs can be acritical instrument of change as an upstream input during the project preparation process.Examples include the Ghana thermal power project, for which the EA resulted in theadoption of a more cost-effective, environmentally sound technology (see Box 14), andthe Malawi water supply project for which the EA resulted in selection of a better sitewhile protecting a key wetland.

* Improving methodologies and their application by using environmental economics tohelp rank design options as early as possible38 (for example, a least-cost power expansionprogram), initiating sectoral environmental assessments to analyze overall investmentprograms rather than individual projects, and using georeferenced information forsimulating impact and improving the consultation process with stakeholders.

* Monitoring the implementation of mitigation plans, without which much of thebenefits of environmental assessments would be lost. Implemiieniting mitigation plans in theAfrica region has just started; however, experience in many OECD countries points to theneed for much more systematic supervision before, during, and after projectimplementation. This applies particularly for major civil works projects, in whichpermanent monitoring systems need to be established to mitigate environmental impacts.For World Bank-financed projects, this will imply additional resources for enhancedsupervision.

* Increasing capacity buildingfor environmental assessment in Africa. The World Bankhas spearheaded a successful in-country, capacity-building program in SSA. This shouldbe continued and expanded through the Economic Development Institute (EDI) as well asthrough key African universities and local consultants. Through support to the EA processin its client countries, the World Bank can help establish national EA legislation andcatalyze its implementation in the public and private sectors.

* Incorporating environmental risk analysis in the design of all projects susceptible tosuch risk. Particular emphasis should be placed on projects in both drought- and flood-prone areas (see Box 26) and involving other risks such as health impacts, for example,schistosomiasis in irrigated agriculture. As with environmental assessments, risk analysiscan help provide cost-effective solutions for mitigating these risks and often lead to betterproject design. Georeferenced infornation provides an essential underpinlilig for this typeof analysis.

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Box 26: Environmental Risk and Climatic Change

Short-term climatic variability-whether a microclimatic phenomenon correlated with El Nifto orpart of a long-term trend-significantly increases uncertainty in the lives of poor rural producers. talso increases the difficulty of recovering from catastrophic natural events, such as prolongeddrought. Climatic variability is also a major factor in the incidence of diseases (human, animal, andcrop) and agricultural pests and increases uncertainty about the availability of water resources andinfrastructure (for example, hydroelectric installations and urban water supply).

Over the medium term, the effects of climatic variability, if not properly mitigated, are likely to:increase and be reinforced by land degradation and reduction of biodiversity. In addition, long-termimpacts, such as sea level rise, increased ultraviolet radiation, and genetic collapse, must beconsidered as soon as possible by politicians, industries, researchers, and land managers, amongothers. Recent experience in Zimbabwe during the 1991-92 drought-when longer-term trends inrainfall were overlooked and hydroelectricity production had to be sharply curtailed, leading tosignificant losses in GDP, exports, and employment-illustrates the importance of climatic issues.

Practical measures include enhanced agricultural research and extension to improve farmingsystems' resistance to climatic variability, improved management of hydroelectric schemes, andimproved meteorological monitoring and forecasting. Environmental assessments should includeanalysis of these options.

Sources: Overseas Development Administration, Development Research Insights, March 1994;Climate Network Africa, Open Letter to Governments, December 1994; H. Hernes, A. Dalfelt, T.Bemtsen, B. Holtsmark, L. 0. Naess, R. Selrod, and A. Asheim, Climate Strategy forAfricq, Centerfor International Climate and Energy Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, February 1995.

B. Combating Fragmentation by Focusing on Cross-Cutting Issues

Promoting environmentally sustainable development in Africa requires developmentof a more systematic approach to a number of cross-cutting issues, the importance of whichtranscends the individual sectors into which they have tended to fall and often goes beyondnational boundaries by involving several countries. Among the most important are waterresource management, energy, and rural infrastructure.

Water Resources. Water resources represent one of the most cross-cutting issues inAfrica. Evidence points to increasing scarcity in Africa, particularly in the Sahel and Eastand southern Africa (see Engelman and LeRoy 1993). Sustainable management of Africa'swater resources over the coming decades will require a far more multidimensional approachthan in the past. Focus will have to shift from narrow technical supply aspects to broaderconsiderations of integrated ecosystem management. This type of management at the global,regional, and subregional levels encompasses multiple interdependent functions, includingbiodiversity and water conservation. This integrated approach will have to incorporateadequate pricing of water to reflect its scarcity value. The World Bank is currentlyorchestrating the preparation of an integrated water resource management strategy for SSAwith increased emphasis on a multisectoral approach (see Box 27). Since most major riversand lakes in Africa are international, the regional and subregional dimensions of waterresources are particularly critical and require adequate coordination mechanisms among thecountries involved.

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Box:27: WaterResource Management StrategyforSub-Saharan Africa

International initiatives in Copenhagen, Dublin, and Rio de Janeiro have given momentumi tOnew approaches that improve water resource management, included in a World Bank paper (1993b).In the same spirit, a Wateri Resource: Management Strategy for Sub-Saharan Afica is being:elaborated :by the. World Bank's Africa Technical Department in collaboration with the AfricaCountry Departments and :units of the Environmentally Sustainable Development vice presidency.The strategy aims to contribute to better water management in Africa by:

* . examining, the current water situation in the region,* assessing local, national, regional, and international implications of water utilization,* evaluating economic, social, and environmental concerns relating to water use,i identifying potential for sustainable deVelopment, considering options and tradeoffs among

environmental protection, human health, economic growth, and water use,* identifying and evaluating investment possibilities, and* developing mechanisms for regional cooperation in dealing with water scarcity problems and.

promoting better transboundaryr management of water resources for mutual long-term benefits.

Because of the multidimensional nature of this exercise, the process involved in developing this.istrategy is as important as the:strategy itself. Key features of the process include the following:

* Establishing an African Advisory Group comprising top African experts in water issues toprovide.guidance and advice throughout the process (first met in December 1994)

E Networking with key international and bilateral agencies, including UNEP, AfDB, FAO, WHO,UNESCO, JNDP, WMO, NORAD, ODA, SIDA, CIRAD, and USAID. All these agencies are

i participating in the: process; some are preparing position papers as critical inputs to the strategy.:O rganizing extensive review, discussion, and further adaptation through a series of technical

workshops in Africa, targeted for completion at the end of 1995

Source: AFTES, The Water Strategy Team.

Energy. The World Bank's energy portfolio in Africa has been dominated bycommercial energy considerations to the virtual exclusion of household and biomass energy,which represents less than 3 percent of World Bank energy lending in SSA during 1980-93.Yet, household energy, which even in urban areas is dominated by biomass fuels, hasimportant intersectoral linkages to agriculture, natural resource management, and respiratoryand other health conditions. To cope with this issue, the World Bank has contributed todeveloping methodologies for analyzing and implementing household energy strategies andtesting them in a number of countries, for example, Niger. It has also recently conducted areview of traditional energy in Sahelian countries (see Box 28). A special effort is nowrequired to apply these strategies more broadly.

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Box 28: Review of Policies, Strategies, and Programs in the Traditional Energy Sector

In most countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, traditional fuels (essentially fuelwood and charcoal).dominate the overall energy balance and household consumption, representing 70-80 percent of allenergy consumption and often as much as 90 percent of household energy consumption. They havereceived little support, however, by way of donor investment. In contrast, modern fuels (primarilyelectricity and petroleum products), although accounting for only 15-30 percent of total energyconsumption, absorb virtually all investments in the energy sector. In terms of IDA lending,traditional fuels represented less than 3 percent of energy lending in SSA during 1980-93.

The World Bank's Africa Technical Department has coordinated a recent review of policies andprograms in the traditional energy sector conducted in five Sahelian countries. The reviewconcluded that pressures being exerted on biomass resources are likely to significantly andnegatively affect both the economy and environment of those countries, with the brunt being borneby the poorest population groups. Sound management of these resources, however, would offset thisimpact and greatly contribute to poverty reduction. Other key findings, many of which apply tomost countries in SSA, include the following:

* Average personal incomes in the Sahel are too low to produce a large-scale transition fromtraditional to modern fuels (kerosene and liquefied petroleum gasoline) in the near future, evenin the cities, where consumption of wood fuels continues to dominate.

* Wood fuel supply contributes less to deforestation than other pressures on natural resources,such as clearing for agriculture.

. Command and control systems instituted by governments are generally ineffective and oftencounterproductive.

I Failed experiments with afforestation are giving way to management of forest resources bylocal populations, but specific interventions have to be designed according to local and nationalconditions.

X Local management of forest resources often signifies an important contribution to monetizingrural areas.

* Projects related to demand management and energy conservation (mostly promoting improvedstoves) are socially significant, but their impact on the energy balance and on reducingdeforestation may be relatively small.

These conclusions and those of other work carried out by the Energy Sector ManagementAssistance Program point to the need for much more systematic effort to address biomass energyissues.

Source: World Bank, Review of Policies in the Traditional Energy Sector: Regional Report,Senegal, Gamb-ia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Maastricht, The Netherlands, May 15-17, 1995.

Strong linkages also exist between the storage of carbon in soils and woody biomassand the protection of soil fertility and terrestrial ecosystems; hence, protecting or restoringsoil fertility and forest cover represents an example of "win-win" activities, through whichcountries can contribute to abating greenhouse gases (principally carbon dioxide) whilemaintaining or restoring natural resource productivity.

Another critical cross-cutting energy issue is the promotion of renewable energy,focusing on cost-effective delivery of services. In most rural areas and in many peri-urbanareas, liglhting and refrigeration depend on kerosene, which is polluting and intermittentlysupplied. Dry-cell batteries and other forms of lighting also provide services that are less

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than adequate for all but the most basic household and other activities in the evening. Healthservices are unable to function adequately in the evening, and time for essential activities iscommonly diverted from productive work. In many cases, solar lighting and refrigerationnow represents the most cost-effective way to provide these services, in addition to others,such as telecommunications (solar telephones) and television (for example, in Kenya,Zimbabwe, and Mali). In areas where the prospects for rural electrification are dim for thenext decade-most of rural Africa-solar installations may be the only effective way forvillage life to make a quantum leap in terms of health, education, and social well-being. TheWorld Bank should respond to the needs of rural dwellers in this area and as a minimum willintegrate renewable energy into its various sectoral activities.

Rural Infrastructure: Provision of infrastructure services is central to economicdevelopment P-d poverty alleviation; despite the importance of infrastructure inexpanding agr.%,ultural production and improving living conditions, rural Africa remainsgrossly underequipped and underserved in infrastructure. For example, only 32 percent ofrural people have access to safe drinking water, most goods are carried by women on theirheads over rugged footpaths, and the density of rural roads is much lower than in otherparts of the world. As the West African Long-Term Perspectives Study (Snrech and others1994) demonstrates, rural infrastructure has been given low priority by sectoral ministriesand has tended to be fragmented among numerous agencies. This has led to ad hoc projectinterventionis (for example, rural feeder roads or water supply as part of agricultureprojects) without a coherent national strategy. Consequently, operation and maintenianceissues remain unresolved. Despite considerable investment largely by bilateral donors,service levels have not improved significantly (often failing to keep up with growingdemand), and agriculture and small town development have suffered. As a result,migration to major cities has been encouraged, compounding their social andenvironmental problems.

The principal constraint to providing sustainable rural infrastructure services is thelimited institutional capacity of local governments and rural communities. Borrowersshould be encouraged to develop rural infrastructure plans, focusing on priority demandsof rural inhabitants as expressed by their willingness to contribute to investments andassume maintenance responsibilities and by expressed preferences among complementaryinfrastructure services including small town development, transportation, water supply andsanitation, education and health services, telecommunications, and rural energy(particularly from renewable sources). Stakeholder participation is essential to ensure thatthe services meet real demands appropriately and that the management and financingresponsibilities are assumed by those who most depend on the services. NGOs can play animportant role in facilitating community organization and resource mobilization. Centralgovernmenits should focus on policy and strategy formulation and financial intermediationto channel resources to communities.

The rural infrastructure program of the World Bank's Africa Region focuses onhelping borrowers develop demand-driven policies for rural infrastructure and scaling upsuccessful pilot experiences to the program level.

Multisectoral Planning But Sectoral Implementation. Dealing with cross-cuttingissues requires a holistic approach at the planning level involving all the stakeholders andsectoral agencies concemed; however, once a plan is ready, it is up to each specializedagency to implement the component of the plan that corresponds to its expertise. Only a light

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coordination mechanism with an effective information system is needed duringimplementation.

C. Enhancing Knowledge, Information, and Communication

Taking advantage of advances in electronic networking and telecommunicationsas well as building environmental information are essential to environmentally sustainabledevelopment in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Electronic Networking and Telecommunications

As discussed in chapter 1, over the next decade changes in telecommunication useand availability are likely to transform the way in which business is done. It will presentAfrica with a number of opportunities and challeiiges particularly relevant for environmentalmanagement, as highlighted in Box 29 and Box 30.

Box 29: Information Teclhnology for Environmental Management

Information technology holds particular promise for assisting environmental management byenhancing awareness and developing environmental information, education, and research networks.It will also be critical to promoting, adapting, and transferring "green" technologies in agriculture,industry, and infrastructure development. Taking advantage of these opportunities will require asignificant investment in human resources and a sound policy framework that is needed to benefitfrom the expected dramatic decrease in telecommunications costs combined with the huge increasein efficiency.

A recent report commissioned for the World Bank on the worldwide information andcommunication revolution highlights some key principles and immediate actions for decisionmakers in the developing world. Intended to create the most favorable environment possible for theexpansion of communication technology and applications, these principles and actions at thecountry level include the following:

* Establish the electronic marketplace as rapidly as possible over the Internet and subsequentlyestablish low-cost flat rate access.

* Encourage improved education at all ages and especially expansion of higher educational andvocational training through distance learning.

. Do not support national telephone/telecommunications company domination oftelecommunication markets.

* Do not support restricted competition or monopoly price structures in local or long distancecommunications.

* Do not support international monopolies.. Support the creation of international governance bodies for global telecommunications and

electronic markets.

Source: Forge 1995.

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Box 30: Computer Networking with Mozambique: A new way to provide assistance

The World Bank Operational. Department for Southern Africa is promoting a pilot project ofcomputer networking with Mozambique through the Internet. The Mozambican hub is the EduardoMondlane University, which with World Bank support is developing its training capacity to bringmore and more users to the network, The latter is still in its infancy and limited to universitydepartments as well as to World Bank-financed project managers. Expected benefits include adramatic reduction in communication cost (one-twentieth the cost of a fax), increased speed byinitiating business in real time, greater efficiency by promoting a new way to provide assistance,and improved feedback from key stakeholders. Ultimately, full interconnectivity with the Internetwill allow real: time access to information and will help compensate for the weak domesticinformation infrastructure. Computer networking will also enable a new cost-effective way for theWorld Bank and other agencies to assist Mozambique by combining on-site visits, support by localstaff, and headquarters advice.

Source: Personal communication, R. Hawkins, Southern Africa Department, The World Bank, May1995.

Building Information to Monitor Environmental Progress

Strengtheninlg environmental information is one of the key recommendatiolns ofAgenda 2 1. It is essential in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the lack of information is a criticalconstraint to improving environmental maniagement. The emerging EnvironmentalSupport Programs provide a timely opportunity to help African countries build demand-driven, cost-effective environmental information systems (EIS). These systems need to bespatially referenced by incorporating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies,as environmental issues are location-specific.

Early experience, for example, in the environmental programs of Madagascar andGhana, indicates that building EIS requires a new institutional culture. Institutions, ratherthan retaining their own information, must share it in an open network of informationproducers and users. Information exchange needs to be based on the concept of "valueadded": each agency brings its own layer of information into the system, whlile benefitingthose from other agencies. Public access to environmental information should befacilitated througlh the media and by making it available on electronic networks such asthe Internet. Setting up an effective EIS requires a specific approach including thefollowing critical elements:

* Assessing the priority demands of the different actors and establishiilgenvironmental indicators accordingly. Each agency needs a specific set ofildicators with a specific level of precision that corresponds to its business.

* Establishing common EIS standards and "architecture " to make national andinternational networking effective

* Conceiving EIS as a management tool to monitor field results on the basis ofclear, simple indicators and provide quick feedback to decision makers

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* Clarifying the role of each agency in terms of information supply and demand inestablishing EIS

* Reinforcing training and building capacity in all agencies involved

Althoughi ESPs may be primarily vehicles to help build up EIS, other moresectoral programs should also contribute by supporting the development of environmentalinforimiationi that is more directly related to the sector considered. This is particularlyimportant for urban environmenital management, as African cities are currently ill-equipped in urban information systems.

Tlle World Bank has made some progress in promoting EIS development through itslending operations and by building partnerships with UN agencies, donors, and Africanpractitioners (see Box 3 1). Yet, much more needs to be done to adopt modem spatialinformation technologies such as GIS as standard instruments within the World Bank inproject preparation and implementation. Financing EIS development in the field shouldparallel similar developments in the World Bank and other donor agencies. Networks, suchas the lnterinet, open new possibilities for monitoring and evaluation of field activities andreducinig the time between identification of problems and implementation of correctivemeasures.

Box 31: Progranm for Environmental Itnformation Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Launched by the World Bank and other donors in early 1990, this initiative promotesimplementation of effective EIS to support the sustainable development process in Sub-SaharanAfrica. It serves as an international forum for donors, academicians, and African experts who helpdevelop principles and best practices for EIS development, facilitate the coordination of nationaland international EIS-related programs, and participate in information sharing and dissemination oflessons as well as capacity building. Many African experts are involved, particularly from Benin,Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cote d'lvoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali,Nigeria, Senegal, Mauritania, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, andZimbabwe.

The initiative is coordinated by an International Advisory Committee of thirty members currentlychaired by Professor G. Konecny from the University of Hanover, Germany. The committee meetstwice a year to review progress of EIS development, discuss issues, and provide guidance to bothdonors and African governments. The committee produces technical reports and disseminates anewsletter three times a year with a distribution list of about 700 subscribers in Africa. Thecommittee secretariat, currently hosted by the World Bank, will be transferred to South Africa in1995.

Source: Personal communication, K. Kouakou, EIS Secretariat, May 1995.

Another opportunity to improve the flow of knowledge through bettercommullications is to develop a network that offers specialized technical assistance forurbaii envirolimental maniagement. Effective programs exist in Asia and the Mediterraneanbasin that could serve as models for Africa. A similar program, called MELISSA(Managing the Environimenit Locally in Sub-Saharan Africa) is under preparation withWorld Bank support in collaboration with other partners.

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D. Focusing on Geographic Priorities

As discussed in chapter 1, Africa is characterized by a number of ecological zonesthat do not correspond to political boundaries. Furthermore, areas have been identified thatrequire special emphasis, for example, certain coastal zones, major river basins and lakes,tropical forest systems, and major urban areas.

Regional and Subregional Environmental Issues

The World Bank with support from the GEF has already contributed to the processof tackling subregional environmental issues by preparing projects for Lake Malawi andLake Victoria and conservation management projects in border areas (for example, Coted'lvoire/Burkina Faso, and Mozambique/Zimbabwe [see Figure 16]). Although the directbenefits of these efforts have yet to be determined, it is clear that the World Bank can play animportant role in facilitating the process of transboundary environmental management andinternational collaboration, without which integrated natural resource management ofcommon ecosystems will not be feasible.

Two initiatives that illustrate this approach have recently been launched: in CentralAfrica the World Bank is currently consulting with countries, donors (USAID and FAO), andNGOs to establish the basis for monitoring the world's second largest tropical rain forest; insouthern Africa, at the request of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), theWorld Bank is initiating a dialogue with countries, donors, and NGOs on regionalenvironmental issues, including natural resource management, environmental information,and large transboundary ecosystem management. The World Bank through both IDA and theGEF will help stimulate countries to focus more on transboundary issues. This could be donethrough environmental operations such as ESPs.

Coastal Zone Managenment

Promoting an integrated approach to coastal zone management in Sub-SaharanAfrica has until recently been a concept entirely alien to the World Bank, which has providedits assistance along sectoral lines; however, recent analytical work on the Niger Delta,supported by the World Bank is an important step in this direction (see Box 32).

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Box 32: The Niger Delta: Environmental Development Strategy, an Integrated Coastal ZoneManagement Approach

The Niger Delta is one of the world's largest wetlands and includes by far the largest mangroveforest in Africa. Its biological diversity, which includes a unique and highly diverse flora and fauna,is of global significance. Within this extremely valuable ecosystem, oil activities are widespread;Rivers and Delta States produce 75 percent of Nigeria's petroleum. At the same time, an expandingpoor rural and urban population makes most resource and land use decisions in the region. Theirdecisions are driven by a lack of development, poor health, stagnant agricultural productivity,limited opportunities in urban areas, rapid population growth, and tenuous property rights. Conflictsbetween local comnmunities and private and public developers over resource ownership and use,particularly tied to oil activities, are increasing and have resulted in outbreaks of violence.

An integrated and participatory resource management approach has been adopted and supported bythe World Bank to analyze the problems and to identify priority interventions. Key participatoryelements in the process have included:

. Commissioning studies by Nigerian NGOs and academics in key areas (biodiversity, pollution,fisheries, flooding and erosion, and legal policy)

. Obtaining stakeholder input and feedback on preliminary sector reports* Working with Shell Petroleum, the largest private stakeholder, on an extensive survey of

environmental problems in the region. Helping to establish state coastal zone coordinating committees• Assisting state governments in organizing environmental development strategy workshops

The World Bank's draft report Defining an Environmental Strategy for the Niger Delta presents ananalysis of the critical environmental issues in the delta as a whole, together with their economic,social, and institutional underpinnings. It also identifies strategic options for addressing priorityconcerns within the framework of an integrated coastal zone management strategy. The next stepsinclude stakeholder workshops to:

* continue the process of information and awareness raising,. develop consensus on the priority environmental and social issues, and. frame an action plan for possible investment activities.

Sozirce: Personal communication, D. Moffat, Central-Western Africa Department, The World Bank, May1995.

Within the framework of the post-UNCED strategic process, a paper has beenprepared on this theme (see World Bank 1995e). The paper recommends a three-stageapproach in which Phase I identifies problems, Phase II prepares an action plan forintegrated coastal zone management (ICZM) using local expertise to develop nationalcapacity, and Phase III implements the plan and related investments.

This phased approach closely mirrors the NEAP process by focusing on specificecosystems. The World Bank will encourage the coastal countries of Sub-Saharan Africa toprepare suchl plans, particularly where coastal zones are already affected by majorenvironmental problems or where environmental degradation is likely to lead to significanteconomic and social problems (for example, the collapse of fishing stocks). Preparing actionplans, whichl could be incorporated in the ESPs, should focus on the following aspects:

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* Technical training related to coastal habitat and multiple use zoning* Policy research and formulation* Use of planning and management tools, including Geographic Information

Systems (GISs) and Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs)* Institution linkages* Improvement of public administration and accountability

The risk related to global issues, particularly the risk of sea level rise compoundedby subsidence effects in some coastal areas, should be aiialyzed in the ICZM plan;infrastructure investments in high risk areas should be discouraged. Enforcement of suchmeasures would contribute to the protection of rich but fragile coastal ecosystems.Operational implications arising from the preparation of ICZM plans would need to beincorporated in World Bank Country Assistance Strategies.

E. Addressing Global Environmental Challenges

Global Environment Facility. As discussed in chapter 2, the Global EnvironmentFacility has contributed to the process of mainstreaming environmentally sustainabledevelopment by (1) providing impetus at the project level in the three focal areas of climatechange, biodiversity, and international waters and at the policy and strategic level, where ithas contributed to developing biodiversity strategies and (2) incorporating global issues intothe NEAP process in a number of countries. With establishment of the GEF as a financinginstrument directly linked to international environmental conventions, the position andinfluence of the GEF can be further sharpened to promote the global environmental agenda.Priority actions include the following:

* Developing a better balance in GEF operations among the focal areas relevant toAfrica (biodiversity conservation, climate change, and pollution of internationalwaters) and incorporating global dimensions in sector analysis and operations (forexample, greenhouse gas abatement issues in the context of energy sectoroperations).

* Developing operations that build on the synergy among the above focal areas.

* Using GEF as a booster for developing and promoting the use of renewableenergy, organic matter recycling, urban pollutioni abatement, watershedmanagement, and other activities with a high degree of impact on the globalenvironment.

* Focusing oni ecotourism in biodiversity projects in joint ventures with theInterinational Finanice Corporation.

* Helping countries fulfill their obligations under the conventions, particularly incountry statement preparation and implementation.

A special partnership will be developed with the French Global EnvironmentFacility (FGEF) (Fonds Fran,ais pour l'Environnement Mondial [FFEM]), a US$80 millionfund set up and managed by the French and following the same criteria as GEF with a focuson Africa.

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Combating Desertification. Although the question of additional resources to financethe objectives of the Desertification Convention has stalled for the time being, the WorldBank through its own operations and activities has an important role to play with its partners(UN and bilateral agencies, and NGOs) in helping countries concerned tackle the problem ofland degradation. Key actions include the following:

* Helping to ensure that land degradation and desertification action programs areintegrated in ESD planning.

* Focusing on land degradation and desertification in natural resource managementprojects.

* Promoting technologies that increase drought resistance, for example, waterharvesting, vegetative and rock bunding, and building organic matter content toimprove soil water entry and retention and ensuring that these technologies arefurther developed and disseminated through agricultural services.

* Helping improve the information base on the extent and economic implications ofland degradation and desertification.

* Raising public awareness on the cost of land degradation and the economic valuesof implementing preventive rather curative measures.

* Developing pilot GEF applications to land degradation and desertification basedon carbon sequestration.

Einsuring that World Bank staff are fully informed and trained on the convention.

IV. MAINSTREAMING ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS INTO

THE WORLD BANK

Chapter 2 analyzes the World Bank's experience in Sub-Saharan Africa inpromoting the transition to environmentally sustainable development. A key element in thistransition is the development of new ways of doing business that build on synergies andlinkages between sectors. This implies building on existing trends in the Africa region andmaking them the norm. It also implies that where new approaches show some success, theyshould be rapidly disseminated and adopted throughout the region. Environment SupportPrograms can provide a useful framework in this process and should be promoted to followup NEAPs.

A. Planning, Economics, and Information

From the discussion of National Environmental Action Plan experience in Africa(chapter 2), it can be concluded that NEAPs have been useful for each country in setting outthe panorama of environmental issues it faces; however, NEAPs have yet to make asignificant impact on the development planning process, either at the macroeconomic or

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sectoral policy level or as a contribution to reorienting public expenditure. This requiresgreater involvement of ministries of finance and planning in NEAP processes.

As the first generation of NEAPs are being completed and moving towardimplementation, the challenge for African countries is to keep the process alive but cost-effective. As experienced in several countries, NEAPs may lead to more local environmentalaction plans, while also triggering subregional planning to deal with transboundaryenvironmental problems. Regular updating of NEAPs will also be needed to incorporatelessons from field operations, better information, and further evolution in science andtechnology. Several countries, for example, Madagascar, have already decided to carry outthis type of updating, and funds have been budgeted accordingly in the Environment SupportPrograms. Other countries should be encouraged to do the same.

While advising countries to keep their NEAPs as permanent participatory processesand to integrate them into their overall development planning, the World Bank and otherdonors will also strengthen incorporation of environmental concerns in their assistancestrategies. For the World Bank, mainstreaming the environment will be particularlyimportant in the following areas:

Country Assistance Strategy (CAS). The CAS is the priority instrument for inclusionof ESD concerns. As recommended by senior management,39 CASs will present the keyfindings of NEAPs and indicate how they help shape World Bank strategy and workprograms. CASs will also include global environmental concerns and GEF support inrelation to global environmental conventions. Environmental perspectives will also be fullyintegrated into all the other areas of World Bank work, including Country EconomicMemoranda, Policy Framework Papers, and Staff Appraisal Reports for investment andadjustment operations.

Establishing Country Environment Strategy Papers (CESPs) as a permanentinstrument would contribute to ensuring the maintenance of environmental issues at the coreof World Bank assistance. With respect to policy-based operations, such as StructuralAdjustment Credits, the analytical framework for including environmental impacts will bedeveloped. Ongoing work in Ghana, Tanzania, C6te d'lvoire, and Zimbabwe should helpprovide this framework.

Poverty Assessments. Poverty assessment guidelines and practice that do notcurrently address linkages between poverty and environment will be adjusted. Much greatereffort is needed to incorporate environmental issues systematically in poverty assessments.

Public Expenditure Reviews (PERs) represent an important instrument throughwhich the priorities expressed in Environmental Action Plans should be tested against therealities of the budget process. They should also enable the more obvious linkages amongeducation, population dynamics, natural resource use, and poverty to be expressed. Sincethey often forn the basis for sectoral and structural adjustment operations, it is important thatenvironmental considerations are incorporated. The PER addresses the question ofintersectoral priority given to environmental management (as expressed in recurrent andinvestment resource allocation). Also, the PER needs to (1) ensure that resources areavailable for a core environmental institution to fulfill its basic functions, (2) incorporatepricing and cost-recovery considerations toward improved environmental management andcorrect market failures, and (3) promote decentralized (district, community, household, and

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individual) responsibility for natural resource management as a key to incorporating rationalprice signals into environmental management.

Enivironmental Economics and Externalities. Successful World Bank activities inbuilding staff capacity in environmental economics internally as well as the capacity ofAfrican professionals need to expand and should be followed by a more systematic analysisand incorporationi of environmental externalities in World Bank economic analysis.40 TheWorld Bank will contilue to help "greening" National Accounts to take environmentalvalues into account. The Bank has already started providing assistance to a small number ofcountries including Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Such assistance will beprogressively expanded to other countries.

Eivironmental and Geographic Information. A critical tool for understanding andexploiting intersectoral linkages is the use of environmental and geographic information inall its dimensions. The World Bank has made some progress on promoting the use ofgeographic informationl in its client countries, but it needs to integrate modern techniquesusing spatial information in its own work and internal processes.

B. Improving the Project Cycle for "Environmental" and "Non-Environmental" Projects

To accelerate the trends outlined in the preceding sections, the country assistanceand project cycle together with the incentive structure in the World Bank will continue torequire modification and adaptation. The guiding principles (World Bank 1994f) of theWorld Bank's Africa Region set out the challenges and provide directions to improveoperational effectiveness, particularly through reinforcement of country teams, systematicclient consultation, and broader sectoral approaches, involving local stakeholders as keymechaniisimis for improving results on the ground. These improvements are highly pertinentto environimenital managemeit. The key areas in which more can be done to improve theproject cycle include the following:

Developinlg Pilot Projects to Promote Participation. Recent trends in project designare encouraging the use of pilot projects in which the distinction between preparation andimplementation is blurred. This trend will require a continued commitment to providingresources on the basis of a project design that is conceptual rather than a blueprint.Promotinig participation by stakeholders in the design of a project cannot be achieved on thebasis of surveys and ideas that only lead to project activities years later. Project conceptprinciples and a solid work plan need to focus on getting resources to the communities,rathier than trying to resolve all the issues up front.

Recently prepared natural resource and wildlife management projects in BurkinaFaso, C6te d'lvoire, and Madagascar are showing interesting results. Pilot and demonstrationenvironmenltal management projects, whether urban or rural, lend themselves to thisapproach. This will require a considerable degree of trust and flexibility by governments andby World Bank management. Environmental Support Programs, while not pilot projects inthemselves, also provide a sound framework for the design and implementation of pilotprojects (see Box 33).

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t:.:Box 33: The Association Nationale d'Actions pour 1'Environnement Madagascar (ANAE)

.ANAE is an offspring of the NEAP process in Madagascar. Created in 1991, this NGO of NGOs,,aimns to support environmental community proJects. ANAE's board includes eleven directors'representing the key national NGOs and churches and two directors representing the govemnment.ANAE's funds come from bilateral donors, particularly Switzerland, within the framework of theMadagascar ESP. Since its inception, it has financed more than 800 community miniprojectsdealing with a range of local environmental problems, including watershed management,.reforestation, and waste management. In all cases the funds disbursed leverage additional resourcesin cash or kind from the communities.

Source: The Multi-Donor Secretariat Newsletter, January 1995.

Increasing Suipervision Resources and Improving Effectiveness. A number of trendscan be observed in the Africa Region and elsewhere to improve supervision effort. Theseinclude use of electronic messaging to provide more rapid response to project managers,devolution of supervision responsibilities to resident missions and equipping themappropriately, and greater emphasis on on-site visits. Existing trends in the development ofpartnerships with NGOs (for example, IUCN) and sharing supervision with other donors willalso help improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of supervision.

Developing Indicators and Enhancing Monitoring and Evaluation. A criticalingredient in improving the effectiveness of the World Bank's activities to promoteenvironmentally sustainable development is the need to develop and adopt a clear set ofmonitorable indicators. A relatively simple set is being developed in the World Bank(1995d), but it will become more sophisticated as the data base improves and asenvironmental information systems mature. Closely associated with indicators is the need toimprove in-country evaluation capacity, involving local consultants and universities. Withinthe World Bank itself, a solid, continuously updated data base is required to monitor trendsin the portfolio, both for projects with an environmental focus and also for projects incategories A and B (projects likely to have environmental impacts).

C. Promoting Multisectoral Approaches

From an institutional and operational perspective aimed at improved performanceand cost-effectiveness, the trend toward "broader sectoral approaches" in the design andmanagement of World Bank operations should be encouraged; however, promotingenvironmentally sustainable development requires that this trend be complemented byincreased focus on cross-sectoral issues as discussed above. As can be seen from thescientific community, the increased specialization of research in the past few decades isgiving way to a much more interdisciplinary, collaborative approach. This trend is due to thefact that the real world does not divide itself into neat compartments; sectoral boundaries, socarefully erected during the last fifty years, have been found to impede rather than enhanceproblem resolution. In the World Bank, some effort has been made to reduce theseboundaries, particularly through the increased responsibility given to Country Teams(composed of World Bank staff working on a specific country) as management units and thecombining of divisions with common interests. Recent work on natural resource

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management that has been developed in South Africa with World Bank support illustratesthis new approach (see Box 34), which should be broadly adopted.

Box 34: Improving Natural Resource Management in Soulth Africa

The World Bank has recently provided support to the South African Land and Agricultural PolicyCommittee (LAPC) to review agricultural policies in relation to natural resource management in thenew context of South Africa. This work has demonstrated the power of cross-sectoral approaches towater and land issues and the inherent weakness of traditional sectoral analysis. The work hasparticularly shown how water and land laws were themselves instruments of apartheid. Togetherwith subsidy and input policies, the legal framework had a significant impact on the management ofnatural resources as a whole. For example, the work shows that designing a program to resolveSouth Africa's urban water supply problems would require inputs from many disciplines, includingagricultural policy, land laws, energy, forestry, watershed management, industrial and mining wastemanagement, rural sociology, and climate specialists, to name but a few. Such an effort wouldrequire far more than the traditional supply-oriented "engineering" approach, focusing on civi!engineering solutions. Parallels can be drawn with urban environmental issues, which blendseamlessly with urban development problems and which defy a single sector approach to eitheranalysis or solution design. Implementation, on the other hand, can more logically be devolved tothe responsible agencies (that is, road departments are responsible for road construction planningand management; water supply companies build water infrastructure).

Source: Daniel W. Bromley, Natural Resource Issues in Environmental Policy in South Africa.University of Wisconsin at Madison, February 1995.

Withini the World Bank, encouragement will be given to examining problems ratherthani sectors and task managers given the resources and responsibility to work across sectoralboundaries more systematically than is done at present. Greater use of multisectoral teams(for example, sociologists, ecologists, economists, natural scientists, and engineers) will beencouraged. Typically, the involvement of different disciplines helps improve priority-setting by focusing on the benefits that each sector might capture from a given set ofinterventions. For example, the benefits of slower population growth may be understood andmarginal increases in expenditure for population programs may be considered a highpriority; however, when large amounts of resources are required for basic education, thebenefits to economic growth in the short- to medium-term may be disputed. Giving relativeweights to the two interventions may be difficult, but it is well known that improvededucation for girls, from primary education upwards, is a potent factor in reducing thefertility rate. This knowledge will enhance the priority to be given to primary education.Looking at each sector in isolation, therefore, may be misleading.

D. Sharpening the World Bank's Environmental Capacity

Fulfilling the ambitious agenda set out above will require that the positive trendsoutlined above are actively encouraged and enhanced. It will also require a majorcommitment from staff and management to modify the way in which resource allocation andincentives are defined. This does not simply mean a large increase in the resources allocatedto envirolimenital programs but a genuine modification of the way in which all activities aredesigned and implemented. Changing the average operation can be a much more effectiveinstrument than making marginal resource reallocations. It will also imply a significant

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effort in terns of human resource development, likely requiring a major increase in theresources devoted to training in this field.

StaffProfile. There is a need to improve the environmental staff profile in the regionthrough recruitment, training, and retraining. Particular emphasis should be placed on thebalance between technical and economic staff and between "green" and "brown" agendaspecialists; more attention will be given to developing the capacity to deal with cross-sectoral issues and to the social dimensions (sociologists and anthropologists). Each countrydepartment will be appropriately staffed. Environmental and social science capacity of theresident missionis will be enhanced by hiring local environmental and social science staff tofocus on the supervision of environmental projects as well as on the implementation ofenvironmental mitigation plans and in-country capacity building.

Training should be a continuous process with:

* increased annual time reserved for environmental training and closely monitoredprogress,

* systematic retooling of economists in environmental economics, including(I ) short-term training for all economists to build awareness and (2) longertraining to turn traditional economiiists into environmenital economists, and

X systematic environmenital training of sectoral specialists focused on the interfacebetween their respective sectors and the environment.

Informationi management systems inside the World Bank will be improved, both atthe country team and subregional levels, in liaison with in-country EIS activities and withother donors and NGOs.

V. DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE FINANCING FOR IMPLEMENTING THEENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Worldwide, private financial flows to developing countries are increasingdramatically. In Sub-Saharan Africa, however, public financing remains the main sourceof capital investmenit while private flows are still too limited. In addition, this mainsource is furtlier reduced by debt servicing, particularly for the most indebted countries.To finance environmentally sustainable development, the challenge for African countriesis therefore to be more effective with scarcer public flows while focusing more onmobilizing private flow.

A. Doing Better with Scarcer Public Financing in PromotingEnvironmentally Sustainable Development

Sound economic policies are good for the environment. The elimination ofsubsidies, for example, on energy is an effective way to redirect public financing towardenvironmentally sustainable development. The drastic reduction of nonpriority publicexpenditures, such as those devoted to the military, is another obvious way to mobilizepublic resources for the same purpose. Internalizing environmental costs, for example, by

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increasing stumpage fees in logging constitutes another instrument to raise public revenueand to ensure proper reforestation.

Privatization of public services, particularly in water supply, sanitation, and wastemaniagement has proved a good instrument in freeing public financing, attracting privatecapital, while increasing effectiveness. The World Bank Group is already involved in thistype of operation, which needs to be further developed.

ESD planning as initiated by NEAPs combined with Public Expenditure Reviewsis essential to putting the priority policies in place and developing the right instruments.For example, environmental assessments at the project and sector levels are key toidentifying priority investments, selecting the best alternatives, and thereby increasing useof resources on projects that are both economically and environmentally sound. Asproposed earlier, ESD planning needs to be decentralized and pursued at the local level forlocal governmenits and communities to become more effective in selecting their priorityinvestments. Increasing this effectiveness implies a great effort in capacity building anddeveloping proper information systems as also proposed in earlier sections of the paper.

B. Financing Environmentally Sustainable Development at the LocalLevel

Environmental funds, such as in Madagascar (see ANAE, Box 33), have provedeffective in financing ESD in local communities by matching resources, in cash or in ki'ld,mobilized at the local level. A key ingredient for success is the development of aparticipatory approach whereby a community, with outside facilitation, identifies itspriorities and decides on key ESD investments. Social cohesion and local Ladership areessential as well as the need to raise substantial local resources to be matched byenvironmental funds.

From an institutional viewpoint, environmental funds are usually better managedby NGOs than by public agencies. NGOs often have a greater ability to work with localcomnmnunities. This is the case in Madagascar where ANAE is a federation of NGOs in thesense that it regroups on its board the key leaders of the NGOs and churches of thecountry. This federation has proved effective and provides checks and balances among theNGOs with minority participation of the government.

Nongovernmental agencies for executing public works such as AGETIPs (Box12), constitute another effective instrument to help local communities invest inenvironmentally sustainable development and implement their projects through labor-intensive techniques, particularly in water supply, sanitation, and waste management.Today, AGETIPs are operational in ten African countries where they have helped mobilizelocal resources, stimulated development of associated small businesses with substantialjob creation, and increased effectiveness in local public works. AGETIPs have created aregional association called AFRICATIP. AGETIPs in combination with environmentalfunds deserve to be supported and promoted in other African countries.

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C. Focusing More on the Private Sector

The private sector is becoming a key player in financing environmentallysustainable development. To enhance its role in this domain, however, enabling conditionsare needed, some depending on public policies and incentives, others on the private sectorcapacity to organize itself. Removing subsidies and incorporating the environmental costsin pricing are once again essential, together with the enforcement of environmentalassessments and audit procedures. The public sector can also participate in buildingprivate sector capacity in the environment by sponsoring training, disseminating eco-efficient techinologies and facilitating the development of capital markets geared towardthe financinig of environmentally sustainable development. The public at large, throughconsumers' associations and other NGOs, also has a determinant role in influencing theevolution of businiesses toward environmentally sustainiable development.

NEAPs need to focus more on establishing enabling conditions to promoteenvironmenitally sustainable development in the private sector. NEAPs, however have tobe complemenited by similar planninig exercises led by the private sector itself. On aworldwide scale, the Businiess Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) is promotingnational Char-ters for the Environimenit. Such charters result from consultation and debatewithin associations of industrialists and private entrepreneurs with a view to promotingeco-efficienit techinologies, recycling, energy conservation, and pollution abatement. Thistype of charter should be encouraged in Africa with support from the internationalcommuniity.

Looking at the structure of private businesses, African countries usually have alarge sector of microenterprises. Specialized extension services are, thus, needed topromote ESD. Sectorvise, agro-processing is key for the promotion of ESD because of itslinkages with agriculture and the existing technologies to turn organic waste managementinto an additional benefit for enihancinig soil fertility through recycling. Other key sectorsfor promoting ESD are nature-based tourism, renewable energy, forestry, water andsanitation, and urban waste management.

The World Bank Group is more and more involved in promoting ESD in theprivate sector. IFC has been in the forefront by viewing more and more environmentalissues as new business opportunities. Special attention has been paid to reaching smallbusinesses throughi the Africa Enterprise Fund. IFC has also developed environmentaltraining programs. Within the World Bank Group, IFC, MIGA, GEF, and the Bank havestarted to work together on developing better-adapted financial instruments. This needs tobe enhaniced in the future in association with other financial partners. A promising area isthe developimienit of mutual environmental funds. Current experience in the capital marketis favorable. The establishment of a mutual environmenital fund for Africa should beexplored by the World Bank Group.

D. Dealing with Subregional Ecosystems

While GEF has been instrumental in dealing with transboundary issues related tobiodiversity conservation, reduction of greenhouse gases, and pollution abatement forinternational waters, it has been more difficult to address other types of issues related tosubregional ecosystems, for example, those concerning river basins and coastal zone

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problems. The need exists to help set up effective subregional mechanisms to deal withthese issues. The World Bank Institutional Development Fund (IDF) should be used andadjusted to provide financial support for facilitating the establishment of suchmechanisms.

The IDF is a grant facility for financing technical assistance (TA)4' forinstitutional development. It provides a quick-response instrument for funding small,action-oriented schemes linked to the World Bank's economic and sector work and policydialogue with borrowing countries. The grants, currently of up to $0.5 million, areexecuted by the recipient.42

VI. DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENTAL PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS

Communication, partnerships, and networks are common themes in the WorldBank's work to promote and participate in environmentally sustainable development.Creation of linkages with NGOs, other donors, and academic and a broad range of otherinstitutions has been a primary goal of environmental activities in the Africa region. Incommon with other activities in the World Bank's Africa Region, in which over 40 percentof all operations involve NGOs, environmental and grassroots NGOs play a key role inhelpinig the Bank be more effective. This applies at the policy formulation, project designand preparation stages through implementation. The World Bank has played a significantrole in encouraging and promoting two networks-the Network for EnvironmentallySustainable Development in Africa (NESDA) and the Program for EnvironmentalIniforiimationi Systems in Africa (PEISA). NESDA, based in Abidjan, will shortly become anindepenident foundation, and PEISA's secretariat will soon be relocated to South Africa.

Continued efforts need to be made to improve synergy among the component partsof the World Bank Group: International Development Association (IDA), InternationalFinance Corporation (IFC), and Economic Development Institute (EDI).

Recent efforts have been made to develop the synergy between the IFC'sEnvironiment Division and the Africa Technical Department and to assist and contribute toeach others' work in the Sub-Saharan African region. Key areas where closercollaboration is being explored include the following:

* Ecotourism* Renewable energy* Urban water supply and sanitation initiatives* Environmental information systems* Project environmental assessment

IFC/Africa Region partnership is also developing in environmental legislation anddevelopment of GEF projects. This partnership continues to be redefined to improve thequality of the World Bank Group's interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The World Bank will also need to expand its environmental partnership withoutside agencies, including bilateral and multilateral donors, environmentally specializedNGOs, African universities, the private sector, and the media. Regarding bilateral andmultilateral donors, the World Bank is already cooperating with most of them to promote

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ESD in Sub-Saharan Africa. The USAID/World Bank partnership in particular illustratessuch cooperation and its further development (see Box 35).

iBox 35: Building Up USAID/World Bank EnvironmenJal Partnership

Since 1987, the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development have workedtogether to provide support to African countries involved in environmental planning andmanagement initiatives. Early collaboration developed while assisting Madagascar in the design ofthe first National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP). One of the fruits of this ongoingcolaboration was creation of the Multi-Donor Secretariat (MDS), hosted by the Bank and fundedby USAID. The MDS works extensively in Africa by providing assistance to NEAP preparation andimplementation through environmental support projects and programs. This collaboration has alsoyielded USAID support for the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa(NESDA).

* The next few years will see an expansion in this collaboration to include the following areas:sustainable financing of environmental initiatives to help African countries develop endowmentfunding and other vehicles to ensure sustainability of key environmental institutions and programs,developing capacity for environmental assessment procedures, training for environmental andnatural resource management, and access to environmental information through electronicnetworks. Finally, the Bank and USAID will continue to support the NEAP process, particularlycritical aspects of implementation.

Source: Personal communication. Albert Greve, May 1995.

World Bank partnerships with other donors have also been successful, particularlywith Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada, France, and Germany. Closeenvironmental collaboration has also been sought with the African Development Bank andwill be expanded in the future. Finally, the World Bank will continue to work closely withOECD and its "Club du Sahel" on desertification issues.

Regarding environmentally specialized NGOs, the World Bank has alreadycooperated with several of them including the World Resources Institute, World WildlifeFund, Conservation International, the International Institute for Environment andDevelopment, and the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Partnerships with these NGOsneed to be strengthiened and targeted at African NGOs that require support for capacitybuilding, information sharing, and participation in ESD operations. The IUCN/WorldBank partnership illustrates this direction (see Box 36).

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Box 36: Developing Strategic Partnerships: the World Bank and IUCN

To respond to the challenges described in this paper, the World Bank needs to develop a wide rangeof strategic partnerships at both local and international levels. These will enable the Bank and itsclients to draw on the growing pool of technical expertise and social competence of local NGOs aswell as international networks and organizations. The recently signed aide-memoire between theWorld Bank and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), a global network of national governments,government agencies, and NGOs, provides an experimental framework for such a partnership in thefield of environment.

Although essentially different in their missions and mandates, both institutions pursue a number ofcommon and complementary objectives in terms of sustainable development and conservation.IUCN's worldwide membership, its largely decentralized and regionally driven programs, and itsglobal commissions and networks of environmental specialists make it a valuable partner indeveloping environmental policies and programs of the World Bank and its clients. The partnershipwith IUCN will facilitate the involvement of local institutions and expertise in both policy andprogram development.

The IUCN/World Bank partnership seeks to build on positive examples, such as the IUCNlWorldBank Marine Protected Areas Report (Kelleher, Bleakley, and Wells 1995), which has broughttogether Bank staff and IUCN commission members from around the world to develop a globalsystem of marine protected areas. The aide-memoire defined priority areas for collaboration as wellas specific initiatives for the first year of the agreement. These include cooperation on a handbookon natural habitats and ecosystems, an African network of environmental strategy practitioners,collaboration on GEF issues and liaison at the country level, and possible environmental jointventures in southern Africa.

Source: Personal communication, Achin Steiner, IUCN, based on an IUCN/World Bank aide-memoire, 1995.

Regarding the UN agencies, environmental partnerships will be pursued withUNDP/UNSO on desertification issues and environmental strategies: UNEP onenvironmental legislation, river basins, and marine ecosystems; FAO on sustainableagriculture and natural resource management; and Habitat (a UN agency based in Nairobi,Kenya) on urban environimental management.

Partnerships with African universities will be strengthened through joint trainingprograms and applied research. Finally, the World Bank in association with other donorsshould expand its support for African media in all its forms (television, video, radio,newspaper, and journalism training) as a critical ingredient for building environmentalawareness.

VII. PLAN OF ACTION

To translate the agenda described above into field operations, the World Bank willstart implementing the following action plan:

* Helping African countries pursue environmental planning as a participatory processat the national and local levels. The World Bank will provide support to complete,improve and update the first generation of NEAPs and to help interested local

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governments and communities translate NEAPs into local environmental action plans,particularly in urban areas. Good practices will be progressively developed as experienceis capitalized.

* Promoting national Environmental Support Programs (ESPs) to implement NEAPs.Several countries have prepared their ESPs, which are now under implementation withfinancial support from the donor community. These programs usually include: (1)improving environmental policy and legislation, particularly environmental assessmentprocedures, (2) building institutions, developing partnerships, decentralizing decisionmaking, and promoting participatory approaches, (3) supporting environmental capacitybuilding, information, and communication, (4) providing resources and assistance toenvironmental planninig at the municipal and provincial levels, and (5) establishingfinancial mechanisms to support environmental community miniprojects. The WorldBank, whicih has been a key player in providing assistance to ESPs, will pursue its role,while drawing lessons of good practice from early experience.

* Developing the environn7ental content of investment lending. Building nationalenvironmenital agencies, while necessary, needs to be complemented with the developmentof environmental capacity at the sector level. The World Bank's initiative to base itssupport on integrated sector programs provides the opportunity to do so. These programswill be an appropriate framework to deal with sector-related environmental issues bydeveloping sector-wide environmental assessment procedures, building the environmentalcapacity of sectoral institutions, and developing sector-specific environmental policies.Special attention will be paid to integrating environmental aspects into education, energy,tourism, and private sector development, while continuing the progress made in doing soin agriculture, infrastructure, urban management, and transportation.

* Establishing a soilfertility initiative to focus resources on this most important ofAfrican environmental problems. The objectives and activities of the proposed regionalframework have been outlined in section 11 of this chapter.

* Incorporating environmental concerns in adjustnment lending more systematically andforcefully. Special effort will be made: (1) to introduce market-based instruments,implementable regulations, and improved natural resource security through better-definedaccess rights and (2) to carry out environmental assessment of adjustment operations andimplement mitigationi plans.

* Enhancing ihe capacity to prepare and manage cross-cutting operations tocomplement the sectoral approach. Preparation of several new types of env ironmentalprograms has started to deal with issues such as integrated coastal zone management andtransboundary environmenital problems. Capitalizing on the experience of these programsthrough good practices and progressively expanding them will be important. These effortswill help the World Bank promote multisectoral approaches, focusing on problems ratherthan sectors and using multidisciplinary teams more.

* Strengthening environmental training, public information, and communication.Capacity building will be essential to firmly establish new cross-sectoral environmentalagencies as well as environmental units in the sectoral ministries. Training will be equallyimportant for the private sector and local NGOs. Public information and communication

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on environmental matters will be supported as an essential instrument to provide checksand balance.

* Developing financial instruments for effective financing of environmentallysustainable development. More specifically, the Institutional Development Fund (IDF)should be adjusted and expanded to help facilitate the establishment of transboundarymechianiisms to deal with subregional ecosystems. IDF should also be open to supportingNGOs directly as financial intermediaries to reach local communities without necessarilyinvolving governments. The establishment of a mutual environmental fund in Africashiould be explored with IFC to support the private sector in businesses benefiting theenviroiinenit. Finally,joint operations between the Bank, IFC, and MIGA should be moredeveloped to leverage more private flows from various partners.

To implement the above plan of action, the World Bank will further mainstreamthe environiment in its internal instruments and procedures and enhance its environmentalcapacity. In particular, the Bank will do the following:

* Mainstream the environment in Country Assistance Strategies. This activity, which isabout to start with a small group of countries, will involve the World Bank's countryteams and the environmental coordinators in the operational departments, with supportfrom the Africa Technical Department and Environment Department. Good practices willbe developed in this process. Similar efforts are planned for Public Expenditure Reviewsto secure needed fundinig for nascent environmental institutions and activities. Other keyBan1k inlstruments, such as Poverty Assessments and Country Economic Memoranda, willbe progressively targeted.

* Prolmiote environmental assessments as a proactive toolfor project and programdlesign. Environmental assessments will be used upstream in a larger number of projects,sectoral programs, and adjustment operations to select the best alternative designs in termsof environlmental impact and sustainable development. Methodologies for carrying outthese assessments will be improved by incorporating environmental economic analysis,geographic informationi systems, and simulation of environmental risk, particularly due toclimate variability. A special effort will be made to develop assessment capacity in thefield and to strengthien popular participation. Capitalizing on experience through thedevelopment of good practices will be enhanced particularly for the new methodologies.

* Invest in environmental training particularly for nonenvironmental staff The WorldBank's Economic Development Institute, Environment Department, Training Division,and Africa Technical Department are joining forces to implement a comprehensive, three-year environmental training program, in which staff are strongly encouraged to participate.The program is expected to be open to national professionals to contribute to buildingrelationshilps between World Bank and local staff. This program has been conceived of asa key instrument to mainstreaming the environment into the World Bank's countryassistance strategies. Other donors, for example, the United States Agency forInterinationial Development (USAID), may join the program.

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Box37: A Joint Action ProgramforEnvironmental Training

The World Bank's Africa Technical Department, in partnership with its Economic Development ..Institute, Training Division, and Environment Department, has designed a joint action programrtoaccelerate staff environmental training in macroeconomic, sectoral, and project work. The program,which will be open to African professionals, is expected to facilitate preparation of policy measuresand investnent programs to promote enhanced environmental sustainability. The core of theprogram will focus on environmental economics, giving special attention to environmentalvaluation. It will cover natural resource management, urban and industrial pollution, and socialdimensions. Training sessions in Washington will be complemented by regional workshops: inAfrica undertaken by key African universities and training institutions. Training activities will befunded by a range of sources, including the World Bank budget, bilateral grant cofinancing, andparticipation fees. Other donors, such as USAID, are being invited to join the program.

Source: Patrice Harou. 1995. A Note on Emvironemntal Trainingfor Africa. BackgroundDocument, Washington, D.C.: EDIAE, The World Bank. Based on contributions from FrangoisFalloux.

* Inprove internal environmental staffing, organization, and networking. Alloperational units will be equipped with focal environmental points, which will constitutedepartmenital and regional environimenital networks. This organization will facilitateinformation sharing, dissemination of lessons and best practices, and rapid response toclients. Internal networks will be linked to clients' and partners' networks to facilitateinteractive information and reduce transaction costs in preparing and implementing fieldoperations.

e Develop environmental information systems In several environmental projects,environmental monitoring and evaluation systems are meeting the priority demands ofproject managers and stakeholders while simultaneously assessing results in the field andactual environmental impacts. These systems need to be expanded systematically to theoverall environmenital portfolio as well as to sector lending with environmentalcomponients. Special effort should be given to innovative cross-cutting operations tooptimize learinig in early implementation and to the development of indicators forenvironmentally sustainable development.

* Enhance environm?ental networking and partnerships, particularly with NGOs.Implementing the above action plan requires even closer collaboration among affiliates ofthe World Bank Group, whicih will need to expand environmentalpartnerships andnetworks with a broad range of external institutions such as UN agencies, multilateral andbilateral donors, academic and research institutions, and nongovernmental organizations(NGOs), particularly those in Africa.

* Monitor the implementation of the plan of action.

From a geographic point of view, the plan will focus on the followingenvironmental priorities:

* Sudano-Sahelian Belt. The focus will continue to be on reversing the spiral ofland degradation as has been done through natural resource management projects

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with the World Bank's assistance. Within the new context of implementing theDesertification Convention, the World Bank, together with other donors and UNagencies, will provide cost-effective support to national programs that pay moreattention to drought preparedness, integrated water resource management, andsustainable fuelwood supply. Special attention will be paid to sanitation and wastemanagement, a critical environmental risk in drought-prone areas.

* Humid WYest Africa. The focus will be on integrated coastal zone management(particularly from C6te d'lvoire to Nigeria), conservation of the remainingprimary rain forest, and protection of the high watersheds of major river systems(particularly in Guinea and Sierra Leone). Coastal zones already account for abouta third of the total population in the subregion. Special attentioll will be requiredfor improving urban and industrial environmental management. The World Bankwill accelerate the buildup of its support in this field. Assistance is being given inNigeria to prepare an integrated coastal zone management program focused on theNiger Delta. A similar operation is planned for Ghana. More of these operationswill be promoted.

* Congo Basin. The main focus will be on conserving the second largestcontiguous primary tropical rain forest of the world, monitoring its evolution, andplanning its sustainable use. As a first step, the World Bank is preparing a projectfor environmiienital monitoring in the basin, a unique biodiversity area, to befinanced by the Global Environment Facility. Other donors, in particular USAID,are involved. Attention will also be paid to coastal zones, particularly in areaswith intense urban and industrial development; however, World Bank assistancein environmental management is likely to continue to be limited in the subregion,at least in the near future, given the current political situation, particularly inZaire.

E East Africa. The World Bank's assistance will continue to focus mainly onreversing land degradation through erosion control, agroforestry, and intensivesustainiable agriculture, while helping preserve the region's unique biodiversity,which remains the main foreign exchanige earner through tourism. A number ofoperations are being prepared including one for Lake Victoria to make its multipleuses more sustainable. Major cities will also need support to improve urbanenvironmental management, particularly in the coastal zones (for example, Dar esSalaam and Mombasa).

* Southern Africa. Improving urban environmental management throughpollution control and improving living conditions will be essential in the countriesin which urban population already represents more than half the total population,for example, South Africa. In the countryside, efforts should balance conservingbiodiversity-the foundation for flourishing tourism-and making agriculturemore sustainable. This will help achieve food security and will variously involvesuch diverse changes as land reform (particularly in South Africa and Zimbabwe),adjustment to drought and climatic variability, and integrated water resourcemanagement. Support to integrated coastal zone management will also berequired, in particular in Mozambique.

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* Indian Ocean Islands. The World Bank's assistance will continue to focus onreversing land degradation while intensifying efforts to protect unique biodiversityin Madagascar. Pollution control due to urban and industrial development will bea priority on the small islands to make such development compatible withbooming tourism.

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ENDNOTES

The World Bank (1994f, p. 167) indicates only a 20 percent share for agricu]ture of GDPas a weighted average for 1992, while Cleaver and Schreiber (1994, p. 226) give 31percent in 1991.

2 Crosson and Anderson (1995, p. 15) indicate a potential for irrigation of 16.5 millionhectares, that is, about 8 percent of the land presently under crops (p. 7) but only about 1.6percent of the potential cropland.

3 GLASOD was carried out by the International Soil Reference and Information Centre andUNEP. The original maps are in Oldeman and others (1990), but see Oldeman (1993, p. 9)for a numerical interpretation of the maps. The latter, however, gives only area figures: forall of Africa, the total "degraded area" is 494 million hectares, of which 321 millionhectares is at least moderately degraded. The total land area in all Africa (not only SSA) isabout 2,964 million hectares with cropland taking up 181 million hectares and permanentpasture 900 million hectares (WRI 1994, p. 284).

4 This is based on the area assessment of degradation in Oldeman (1993, p. 9) and theproductivity loss estimates in Chou and Dregne (1992, p. 251), arriving at an average lossof productivity of 11.5 percent using mid-interval estimates. Crosson and Anderson (1995p. 14) use the same logic but apply the productivity decline to the entire area potentiallycultivable.

5 Bojo (1994) provides background on cost concepts used and the results of twelve empiricalstudies across SSA.

In the 1980s, 2.9 million hectares according to Cleaver and Schreiber (1994, p. 18) and 4.1million hectares for 1981-90 according to Sharma and others (1994, p. 17).

7 World Bank 1990b, p. 139. The definition of "poor" is an annual income of less than $370.

8 Environmental indicators can be negatively correlated to income (such as for populationwithout safe water or adequate sanitation), take an inverted U-shape relationship (such asfor urban concentrations of particulate matter and sulfur dioxide), or show a positiverelationship with income (such as for tle amount of waste per capita or carbon dioxideemissions per capita). See World Bank 1992b, p. 11.

9 See S. Mink (1989) and also World Bank (1992a, pp. 2-17-2-19) for a succinct discussion.

'° The annual average population growth rate was 3.0 percent in 1980-92 and projected at2.8 percent for 1992-2000 (World Bank 1994f, p. 211).

The fastest population growth projected in 1992-2000 for any country in SSA is that forCote d'lvoire (3.5 percent), while the lowest is that for Guinea-Bissau (2.0 percent) (WorldBank 1994f p. 210). This implies doubling times of about twenty and thirty-five yearsrespectively. The average growth rate of 2.8 percent implies a doubling in twenty-fiveyears.

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12 Total population was 543 million in 1992, while the labor force (ages 15-64) totaled 287

million. Assuming that the population above sixty-four is negligible, the implied share ofyouth is 47 percent.

13 The coastal zone can be understood as the area from the Exclusive Economic Zone (that is,

200 miles from the shoreline) to the inner edge of the coastal plain, where tidal influencesare replaced by continental hiydrological processes. In practice. the limits of the coastalzone are often arbitrarily determined by jurisdictional limits. See World Bank (1995e p. 10and annex 1) for further details.

14 Serageldin (1993, p. 83) takes this perspective as a point of departure in explaining the

particular difficulties of achieving sustainable development in SSA.

1 5 Cultivated land per capita is calculated over the total population.

16 The relative severity of erosion is indicated in FAO (1986, p. 191). While the magnitude of

erosion derived in this study can be disputed (Bojo and Cassells 1994). there is no reasonto doubt the identification of the relatively most affected areas.

1 7 See Snrech 1994 and Vernier 1994 for a discussion of hot spots and future migrationscenarios.

IS This scenario is developed by Crosson and Anderson (1995).

19 According to a 1984 report of the European Commission, average working time over a lifespan in the European Union is expected to decrease by almost 40 percent in the next twodecades.

20 "Information civilization" refers to structural and social changes induced by the explosivedevelopment of information and communication technologies.

7.1 Tlhe Intermet, the explosively growing electronic communications network, now links morethan 5 millioni computers together in 46,000 networks with about 40 million users.Although African communication networks are evolving rapidly, particularly forenvironienital matters, they start from a low level. The number of computers remains low,communications costs are high, and there are only some 6 million telephones in SSA, some8 million TV sets, and 24 million radios (Mukasa 1994), making SSA the least preparedregion for adopting new information technologies.

22 Forge (1995) develops this theme in detail.

23 See the World Bank's Operational Policies and Bank Procedures OP and BP 4.02

respectively (October 1994) for details on the Bank's perspective on Environmental ActionPlans. The "building block" paper on NEAPs by Greve and others (1995), the globalreview by Lam pietti and Subramanian (1995), and the review of best practices by theEnvironimenit Department (1995c) provide further detail. Further background can be foundin Falloux and Talbot (1993).

24 Systematic tabulations to support the general profile presented in this section can be found

in Lampietti and Subramanian (1995).

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25 Examples are the Environment Programs for the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea, the Black

Sea, and the Danube River Basin. The management of the latter has significant impacts onassociated marine environments (World Bank 1995e, p. 66).

26 CASs are defined in Bank Procedures 2.1 1 (January 1995). The CAS is the central vehiclefor World Bank Board review of the World Bank Group's assistance to borrowers. Thedocumiienit has a strictly prescribed format, including the historical perspective of thecountry and recent econornic and social performance, its external environment, itsdevelopment objectives and policies, the Bank's core strategy, and an agenda for boardconsiderationi. Limited to fifteen pages or fewer, it is not designed to be a comprehensivedocument. Environmentally sustainable development is briefly mentioned in the prescribedformat as one of several considerations in the strategy section. Specific mention is alsomade of the need to rely on the conclusion of any NEAP, if available. The CountryStrategy Papers (CSPs) were merged with the CASs as per the board steering committee'sdecision on April 4, 1994.

27 CESPs are presented in more detail in the "building block" paper by Boijo (1995).

28 Public Expenditure Reviews are not defined in the Bank's Operational Manual but can be

described as a standard Bank document to assess periodically the performance of publicr evenues and recurrent and capital expenditure. The scope of each PER varies considerablydependinig on the country.

29 Operational Directive 4.15 (December 1991) on poverty reduction defines the nature and

role of poverty assessments. The attention given to environmental linkages is very limited,however.

3(' In the World Bank's yearbook on environment, A'Iaking Development Sustainable (1994h),"enviroiinmenital projects" are defined as (1 ) having primarily environmental objectives, (2)approved by the World Bank Board prior to July 1, 1993, and (3) under implementationthlroughout fiscal 1994. The interpretation of what exactly constitutes "environmentalobjectives" is outlined in detail in annex B (pp. 207-2 10) of the same publication. Thetwenty-five projects thus identified form the bulk of the sample used here. A full list ofprojects is shown in annex 3.

3 1 See the 'building block" papers by Leitmanin (1995), Sfeir-Younis (I995), and thebackground paper by Bernstein (1995). described in annex I of this paper, for backgroundonl this section.

-32 See the "building block" paper by Smit (1994), described in annex I of this paper,reglarding urban agriculture.

33 iEnvironimiental Assessments (EAs) are governed by Operational Directive (OD) 4.01(October 3. 1991). An EA covers environmental impacts in the area of influence of aproject and is the borrower's responsibility. Full EAs are required for "Category A"projects which are likely to have significant environmental impacts. "Category B" projects,which have less significant impacts, require only an environmental analysis that includes amitigation plan. Projects that are unlikely to have adverse environmental impacts do notrequire any environmental analysis. The World Bank Environmental AssessmentSourcebook (Volumes 1-111) (1991) and numerous updates issued separately give detailedsLIpport for undertaking specific EAs.

1I 13

34 IlThe consultation process concerning this discussion paper was facilitated by theScandinavian Seminar College, a Nordic NGO. Three meetings were organized in Africa:Abidjan. Cote d'lvoire, March 1995: Naivasha, Kenya. April 1995: and Harare,Zimbabwe. Apriil 1995.

35 This section is based oni World Bank, 1995m.

36 Cane and others (1994) reported that 60 percent of the variance of maize yield in

Zimbabwe can be accounted for by sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorialPacific Ocean, halfway arouLid the world.

37 tInformliatioii in this section refers to chapter 36 of Agenda 21 entitled "Education, Training,and Public Awareness," although this themiie recurs thiroLIgh1out the document.

38 The Operational Policy (OP) 10.04 of September 1994 states that evaluation of Bank-

finaliced projects takes into account any domestic and cross-border externalities-a largeproportioni of whicli are environmenital. Global externalities are considered in the economicanalvsis wvhen the project is related to an inter national agreement or when the GlobalEnvironimilenlt Facility is involved. Global externalities are fully assessed (to the extent toolsare available) as part of the environimienital assessment process and taken into account inproject designl and selectioni.

3Y Personal comiiiniliicationi. S. Sandstromli, niaging (lirector, The World Bank, December 6,1994.

40 "A project miav have domestic, cross-border, or global externalities. A large proportion of

sucih exterinalities are enviroiiniental. The economic evaluation of Bank-financed projectstakes into accouLnt anv domestic and cross-border externalities." (OP 10.04 - September1994. Paraeraph 8).

41 TA is broadly defined to include "the transfer, adaptation, mobilization, and utilization ofservices, skills. knowledge, technology, and engineering to enhance a developing country'shumilan, economilic. techinical, analytical, managerial, and institutional capabilities on asustainable basis." See OP/BP/GP 8.40 on TA.

42 See OP/BPIGP 8.4] for fiurther details.

114

Annex IPage 1 of 9

ANNEx 1: POST-UNCED SERIES:BUILDING BLOCKS FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

Inspired by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Bank has launched a process toreflect on how best to help African countries achieve environmentally sustainable development. Aspart of this process, a series of thematic "building block" papers has been compiled, each address-ing one facet of environmentally sustainable development (ESD). These papers are available fromAFTES.

Country Eiivironmental Strategy Papers

by Jan Bojo

Country Environmental Strategy Papers (CESPs) were developed in the Africa Region ofthe World Bank as a way of bringing environment into the mainstreaml of World Bank operations.The IDA-9 negotiations and the demand for National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs) in allborrowing countries further justified the need for them. The importanice of a completed CESP isthat, perhaps for the first time, the World Bank has made a comprehensive assessment of a coun-try's environmental problems.

CESPs seek to (I) strengthen the Bank's country dialogue about environmental policy, (2)support the country's NEAP, (3) scrutinize the environmental impacts of the Bank's country port-folio, (4) train Bank staff in multidisciplinary environmental issues, and (5) facilitate donor coor-dination. Most CESPs contain a brief introductioni to the country followed by an analysis of envi-ronmental conditions and causes of environmental problems. They then go on to assess currenitenvironmental structures, programs. and strategies and make suggestions for a World Bank envi-ronmental strategy.

After a brief introduction to and profile of CESPs, this paper examines CESPs in theAfrica Region, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. It then looks at future steps, includingintegration in country department work, regional strategies, and maintaining momentum.

Achieving a Sustainable Agricultural System in Sub-Saharan Africa.

by Pierre Crosson and Jock R. Anderson

As the farming systems of Sub-Saharan Africa are intensified under growing populationpressures, their sustainability becomes increasingly a matter of economic. social, and environi-mental concern.

This paper takes up this issue from the perspectives of demand, natural resource supply,and technology policy. In doing so, the paper addresses four questions: (I) what is a useful defini-tion of sustainable agriculture for Sub-Saharan Africa? (2) how might future demand for agricul-tural output in SSA challenge sustainability? (3) what are the sources for production that wouldpermit the region to meet future demand'? and (4) what institutional and policy conditions must bemet to achieve sustainable agriculture production'?

Annex IPage 2 of 9

The authors conclude that, although sustainable intensification of SSA agricultural sys-tems will be difficult, with commitment from governments and with strong and consistent supportfrom development agencies, agricultural needs can be met over the coming decades.

Institutional Structures for Environmentally Sustainable Development

by Albert Greve

As Africa works toward ESD, a critical issue emerges: how to establish appropriate andeffective institutional frameworks for plannilg and managing sustainable development. Of themany complexities involved in socioeconomic development, four elements are essential: (1) takingstock of problems and issues, (2) setting priorities for action, (3) formulating appropriate policies,and (4) implementing those policies and priorities.

This study examines these elements within the context of current knowledge about insti-tutional development in Africa, drawing lessons from specific country experiences. The paperdefines key questions that must be asked before making decisions about structural modifications orproposals for new structures. The study also seeks to offer ideas for helping countries move fromplanning and policy formulation to effective implementation and provide guidance to the WorldBank as it supports country efforts to develop systems for environmental planning and manage-ment.

Given the dynamic nature of environmental awareness, as well as the need to educatedecision makers and the public about the importance of environment, the paper argues for a dy-namic yet flexible approach in designing, modifying, or implementilg new structures for envi-ronmentally sustainable development in Africa.

A Framework for Integrated Coastal Zone Management

Freshwater, Coastal, and Marine Resource Management Team of the World BaLk's EnvironmentDepartment

The urbanization, industrialization, and environmental transformation along the world'ssea coasts is becoming an issue of global importance. The concentration of human settlements,economic activity, and resource mobilization is exceeding the capacity of natural systems in theseareas to respond to and recover from development pressures.

In Africa the lack of systematic policy, planning, and management structures for dealingwith these complex issues highlights the need for regional and cross-sectoral management. Alsoevident is the need for a strategic framework to guide Bank investments in this dynamic but fragilezone.

This report has two complementary objectives: (1) to present a rationale for incorporatingintegrated coastal zone management (ICZM) into the post-UNCED strategy for sustainable devel-opment, and (2) to provide a framework for World Bank investments in the sustainable manage-ment of marine and coastal resources in Sub-Saharan Africa. After an introduction to the contextand scope of the study in chapter 1, chapter 2 profiles the coastal zones of West and East Africaand chapter 3 reviews the efforts of the World Bank, NGOs, and other donors to address some ofthese issues. The final chapter projects a view of sustainable development in Africa's coastal zonesfor the year 2025 and offers a strategic framework for promoting ICZM in Africa. The report

Annex IPage 3 of 9

concludes that the Bank can play a critical role in planning for growth in the coastal zone andmaximizing the net benefits to society for generations to come.

Urban Planning and Environment in Sub-Saharan Africa

by J. L. Venard

Next to demographic growth, urbanization is the most dramatic change that Sub-SaharanAfrica has experienced in past decades. Although its total population has multiplied by 2.5 overthe past thirty years, its urban population has multiplied by five. Continued urbanization willtranslate both into an increase in the size of existing urban districts and an increase in the numberof cities, mainly the elevation of a large number of existing towns and villages to the status ofsmall cities.

From an environmental perspective, this poses two problems: (1) the expansion of citiesundermines the pre-existing natural environment and increases the risk of natural disasters (the"green agenda"), meanwhile, (2) the deterioration of the artificial environment that makes up theurban areas weighs on living conditions of city dwellers, particularly the poorest (the "brownagenda").

This paper looks at the relationship between urban planning and environment from along-term perspective. It first presents an overview of the current status of African urban devel-opment and how the present situation may evolve between now and 2025. Succeeding chaptersdeal respectively with a desirable scenario for urban planning from an environmental point ofview, water cycle and urban transport management, problems encountered in World Bank-supported urban projects, and, finally, a thirty-year strategy proposal.

National Environmental Action Plans: Lessons fromand Future Directions for Sub-Saharan Africa

by Albert Greve, Francois Falloux, and Julian Lampietti

National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs) are a strategic framework within whichenvironment and sustainable development issues are identified and prioritized. They are the basisfor managing, monitoring, and evaluating plans of action. The NEAP is a demand-driven process,based on local participation, which aims to mainstream environment into the overall developmentplanning process of a country.

Eighty percent of Sub-Saharan Africa countries are now involved in the NEAP process.Twenty-one countries have endorsed NEAPs, and nineteen countries are preparing their plans. Insome countries, political or economic difficulties have stalled the process. And several others,while not formally initiating NEAPs, have environmental strategies or are planning to preparethem.

This report reviews the African experience in preparing and implementing NEAPs orother strategies having similar characteristics and objectives. It also proposes new directions forcountries beyond the approval phase of their NEAP. The report describes common elements of theprocess and offers recommendations for countries preparing and implementilg NEAPs as well asfor the World Bank and other donors supporting NEAPs.

Annex IPage 4 of 9

Environmental Assessments in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Jean-Roger Mercier

The purpose of the Environmental Assessment (EA) in World Bank procedures is toensure that investment and noninvestment projects as well as policy dialogues between the Bankand the borrowers are consistent with the goals of environmentally sustainable development. Thetrue assessment of the environmental impacts of any project or program is the "reality check."This is why the role of those in the field is essential and, therefore, why any institutional strategythat does not try to reach the end users of environmental resources and services, especially themost vulnerable sections of society, is irrelevant to this exercise.

This paper briefly describes the current state of World Bank practices in ensuring thatBank-financed projects and programs contribute to environmentally sustainable development. Itgoes on to detail which directions the region's environmental specialists wish to follow in thefuture as well as the concrete actions that must be implemented.

Managing the Environment Locally in Sub-Saharan Africa (MIELISSA)

by Josef Leitmann

Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest urbanizing region in the world. Fast-growing cities areexperiencing a range of environmental problems similar to other areas of the world that haveexperienced rapid urbanization. This growth, combined with large populations that will continueto live in towns and villages, will also put increased pressure on rural ecosystems. Thus, there isa need for environmental management at the sub-national level. While the Bank's Africa Regionhas begun to address local environmental issues in some countries through lending and sectorwork, there has been relatively little exchange of information, expertise and experience betweenAfrican localities themselves. In other regions, there are successful networks that link communi-ties concerned with environmental issues and assist with the preparation and implementation oflocal environment action plans. These networks, through their support for local environmentalmanagement, can help improve the way the Bank does business. Options and next steps are pro-posed for creating an African network, Managing the Environment Locally in Sub-Saharan Africa(MELISSA).

Towards a Renewable Energy Strategy for Sub-Saharan AfricaPhase 1: Photovoltaic Applications

by Robert Clement-Jones and Jean-Roger Mercier

The overall objective of the RESA (Renewable Energy Strategy for Africa) is to main-stream Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) in World Bank work; specifically, by identifyingpriority sectors and activities, and by recommending practical actions to increase World Bankintervention in RET activities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Implementation of such a program throughAFTES is supported by the Africa Technical Department's mandate to provide task managers(TMs) and Country Departments with particular specialized skills. More specifically, the strategyaims to benefit Africa's dispersed rural populations by not only providing electricity for basichousehold energy requirements (e.g. with photovoltaic solar home systems), but also by providingthe energy services required for basic development needs such as nutrition, health services, andeducation. Conceptually, the RESA will help provide energy services across multiple sectors to

Annex IPage 5 of 9

the greatest possible number of Africans with cost-effective, environmentally appropriate, promis-ing technology that will enable them to improve their well being.

Climate Change

by Helga Hernes, Arne Dalfelt, Rolf Selrod, Terje Berntzen, Bjart Holtsmark, Lars Otto Naess,and Asbjzrn Aaheim

Sub-Saharan Africa currently contributes little to anthropogenic emissions of greenhousegases (GHGs), notably methane and CO2. The continent, however, is a major sink of carbon.Africa is highly vulnerable to the risk of climate change as manifested in increased climatic vari-ability and extreme events (for example, cyclones and droughts), particularly as they interact withland degradation and desertification, and in some areas at risk for sea-level rise (delta areas andsmall island states). This paper prepared by the Center for International Climate and Energy Re-search-Oslo (CICERO) is a state-of-the-art presentation of climate issues in Africa, includingclimate modeling and assessment of climate change, droughts, current emissions of GHGs, andthe impact of climate change on ecosystems and economies. Pointing to the low level of knowl-edge about the full range of climate issues in Africa, the paper calls for increased support fornorth/south and south/south research cooperation, capacity-building programs for decision makersin Africa on climate issues, public awareness, training programs, and schemes for practical re-sponses.

The paper also indicates the need to support regional and national planning initiatives toenable integration of climate considerations in national and regional development plans. Thiswould include plans for urban development, energy supply, transport sector development, regionalcooperation, and natural resource management. Increased support is also needed for technologytransfer to develop systems for improved climate prediction, early warning systems, and reliabilityof forecasting. together with its practical utilization. More effort is needed to develop mechanismsthat enable countries to cope with climatic variability whether or not induced by long-term climatechange.

Environmental Information Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Yves Prevost

Demographic growth, economic development and the rising expectations of populationsfor a better quality of life are putting an increasing pressure on land and natural resources, andthreaten sustainability. Major issues are raised concerning the depletion of natural resources andthe capacity of the environment to absorb waste without a significant decrease in the quality oflife. Since both resource availability and assimilative capacity are limited in absolute terms,maintaining or increasing the long-term carrying capacity of economic systems requires a moreefficient and sustainable use of land and natural resources. Sustainability can first be increasedthrough better knowledge of the condition of the land and natural resources, the degree and man-ner in which they are used, the underlying dynamic processes and the interactions between envi-ronmental components. Information on land and natural resources also has a major impact onpublic opinion by making constituencies more aware of the inherent constraints and possible solu-tions.

Annex 1Page 6 of 9

Biodiversity Conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Strategy for World Bank Assistance

by lnger Bertilsson and Andrew Bond

UNCED's adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the recent replenish-ment of the Global Environment Facility demonstrate the universal concern for biological re-sources and the commitment to biodiversity conservation. The World Bank is addressing conser-vation issues in its regular lending program through IDA- and GEF-funded projects onenvironmental and natural resource management.

This biodiversity strategy study summarizes the present status and emerging trends inAfrican biodiversity. The paper provides guidance on biodiversity conservation in three areas: (1)direct actions to conserve significant African ecosystems and species, (2) organizational and insti-tutional actions to support direct biodiversity conservation, and (3) measures that will help inte-grate biodiversity conservation considerations into development activities and link conservationwith economic progress. The strategy study defines gaps in knowledge and protection of biologicalresources, analyses key factors in protected area conservation and key thematic issues, and sug-gests principles for setting priorities for World Bank intervention. Finally, the study includes areview of the current literature on biodiversity conservation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Urban Agriculture as a Strategy

by Janis Bernstein, Jac Sniit and Annu Ratta

Rapidly increasinig populations in SSA cities has brought an increase in urban agriculture.Despite a lack of government support, horticulture, livestock, forestry, and fisheries are providingsignificant sources of food, agricultural products, and income for city residents. In some largecities, an estimated 20 to 40 percent of food demand is supplied by urban farming, 15 to 30 per-cent of jobs are in this field, and 35 to 70 percent of families in different SSA cities farm.

This paper argues that urban farming has a significant role to play in the sustainable fu-ture development ot SSA by complementing rural farming in meeting food needs, meeting partialenergy and wood demands, recyclilg a significant portion of urban solid waste and wastewaterinto farming, and ameliorating the living environment through greening and natural disaster pre-vention. The paper also suggests alternative national strategies to enlist urban agriculture in reduc-ing environmental degradation, improving food supply, and creating jobs, as well as ways inwhich the World Bank can aid these processes.

Mainstreaining ESD in World Bank Activities

bv Alfredo Sfeir-Younis

As African governments face a complex set of choices against an already difficult devel-opment backgrottnd, addressing environment and natural resource management becomes a momen-tous challenge for the World Bank. The current wisdom states that, to have a positive influence,the Bank must mainstream environmental and natural resource management concerns into keyelements of its operations, including policy dialogues, country strategies, and investment pro-grams.

This paper reviews the extent to which the Bank has done this. It presents key lessonslearned and suggests a number of actions. The author addresses a number of cross-sectoral issues,

Annex IPage 7 of 9

such as poverty alleviation, community participation, human resource development, institutionbuilding, absorptive capacity, and sources of growth. The study also addresses the linking of de-velopment performance with ESD potential and reviews the tools now available for decision mak-ers.

The author admits that, until ESD operations are fully implemented, the review is in-complete and must be seen as a continuing process

Legal and Institutional Aspects of Resolving Disputes and Promoting Cooperationin the Use and Management of Shared Water Resources

by Valentina Okaru

All Sub-Saharan nations share one or more international rivers, and each of the fourmajor river basins is shared by numerous countries within the continent. As African nations de-velop, they will require more water resources for development activities; but as the demand in-creases, the potential exists for increased competition between co-riparian states over the use andmanagement of scarce water resources.

Since the mid- 1960s, some African countries have established various regional organiza-tions to manage these river basins, but most organizations have been operated inefficiently, caus-ing wasteful use of the continent's water resources. Without effective mechanisms for resolvingdisputes and promoting cooperation for shared water resources, conflict and mismanagement areinevitable. So far, no intensive study has explored the role of the river basin organizations andtheir performance and operation.

Based on World Bank project documents and literature published by international lawjurists, this report examines the capacity of existing legal and institutional machineries for foster-ing cooperation and resolving disputes. It asks to what extent laws have played a role in avoidingor resolving disputes and what role, if any, have institutions played in enforcing laws. The reportconcentrates on selected upper and lower riparian nations sharing the four major river basins.After a review of the existing structures, the report proposes strategies for more effective legaland institutional frameworks as well as for Bank support to international water projects.

Environmental Education in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Nina Chee

One of the main affirmations of the United Nations Conference on Environment andDevelopment (UNCED) 1992 is that environmental education is essential for sound environmentalmanagement.

Pollution, resource looting, and indifference to the future has given way to increasingenvironmental awareness, adding a new and critically important dimension to development. Andnowhere are environmental concerns more compelling than in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rapidly ex-panding populations, with their ever-increasing demands on natural resources, cause widespreadand growing environmental damage, while accelerated urbanization is quickly degrading the envi-ronment.

Environmental education appears in many different forms, including public awarenessraising, training and extension and curriculum building. This paper takes stock of different envi-

Annex IPage 8 of 9

ronmental education activities undertaken by various aid agencies, professional and private asso-ciations, NGOs and local communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper also reviews the Bank'swork in environmental education through an analysis of project documents and other reports. Theinitial research shows that Bank experience in environmental education is very limited with fewlessons learned. Drawing on external and internal experience, the paper will identify priority ac-tivities and propose recommendations for practical actions. This includes the use of capacitybuilding for environmental assessments to increase public awareness and environmental training.The paper calls for increased World Bank intervention in environmental education activities inSub-Saharan Africa.

Social Implications of Development Intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa

by Cyprian F. Fisiy

The main assumption which has guided development efforts during these last decades hasbeen to seek ways by which universal signs and practices could be made to speak to Africa's re-alities. This is the premise on which social and spatial engineering has been made the centraltenet for the transplant of foreign models to SSA, in the laudable quest for "development."

Instead of reproducing similar products in SSA, the outcomes of these models have beena baffling amalgam of competing and conflicting social, economic and political situations andspaces which are not conducive to ESD. The pursuit of ESD requires a rethinking of variousprocesses of "intermediation" and the linkages between the different levels of institutions andagents. The articulation of strategies that link actors to institutions is critical in the production andespousal of the frame of reference for the different interactions.

The involvement of primary stakeholders will lead to the transformation of foreign devel-opment concepts to locally usable knowledge anchored on local values and knowledge systems. Itis from this standpoint that ESD will eventually be achieved through a participatory process thatallows for the appropriation, internalization, and the conversion of universal signs to usable localknowledge.

Coastal Zone Management Simulation Model

Resource Analysis Consultants

The Coastal Zone Management Simulation Model (COMA) is an integrated, inultidisci-plinary model designed to simulate long-term economic and environmental issues in the WestAfrican coastal zone. The model simulates the condition of coastal natural resources and socioeco-nomic variables in the year 2020 from the 1990 base year for seventeen coastal land cells fromSenegal to Nigeria.

The driving force for the model are user-defined demographic and economic scenariosfor each of the seventeen coastal cells plus coastal management scenarios that can also be definedby the user.

The model keeps track of land use for residential and economic activities and resultingnatural resource availability through rule-based simulation. The model calculates GDP, employ-ment, and a number of socioeconomic variables for six coastal sectors (fisheries, aquaculture,tourism, offshore oil and shipping, agriculture, and industry) based on a simple investment-drivenmodel of the economy. Discharges of five kinds of pollutants are calculated through emission

Annex IPage 9 of 9

coefficients for the socioeconomic activities, accounting for the presence of wastewater treatmentplants and specified environmental policy measures. The COMA model also provides a perspec-tive on coastal erosion, flood damages, food and fresh water availability, fuelwood use, mangrovevitality, and the sustainability of coastal fisheries.

Population Projection Model for Sub-Saharan Africa

The Futures Group

This model was developed for AFTES by the Futures Group, an independent consultingfirm. The model provides graphic presentations of population projections (through the year 2025)for individual countries, as well as for user-defined country groupings. It is a PC-based, menu-driven software that is operable by anyone, regardless of their programming backgroLnd. It isdesigned to operate under Windows, on a 486-based computer with at least 8 megabytes of RAM.It is an interactive model, allowing modification of assumptions about the variables and coeffi-cients used by the equations to forecast demographic development. The model also includes high-quality graphic displays. A twenty-one-page introduction to the model is available from AFTES.

Annex 2Page 1 of 5

ANNEx 2: GUIDANCE ON IDENTIFYING WORLD BANKENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS AND COMPONENTS

This annex indicates the criteria used to identify Bank projects and project components havingprimarily environmental objectives. For the most part, it is organized according to the traditional areasand sectors of Bank lending (urban development, transport, industry, agriculture, health, and so on);however, certain specific types of environmental interventions, such as watershed management orconservation and those involving cross-cutting environmental activities are also distinguished. It should benoted that this is a working list that will be periodically reviewed and updated as Bank initiatives insupport of country environmental management continue to evolve.

Project Sector Examples of Environmental Project Objectives orComponents

Infrastructure and Urban Development

Urban (planning, sites and Urban institutions and planning for position control, monitoring,services, housing) and regulation and enforcement; environment-based, land use

planning; slum upgrading; wastewater and solid waste treatment,management, and disposal; reduction of urban air, water, and noisepollution.

Transport (roads, airports, traffic Traffic management for reduced congestion; vehicle fuel efficiencyengineering) and modification; reduction of vehicle emissions; emission

standards and incentives for higher occupancy vehicles; masstransit; reduction of marine pollution, ships' waste, and spills; portenvironmental safety and cleanup; reduction of noise pollution;institution strengthening.

Water supply and sanitation Water quality management (ground and surface); water pollutionabatement; wastewater and sewage treatment, management, anddisposal; water pricing and conservation incentives; standardsetting, regulation, monitoring, and enforcement for qualitymanagement; institution strengthening

Disaster relief and reconstruction None

Telecommunications None

Industry and Finance

Industry Increased plant efficiency; reduction of waste and emissions; cleantechnologies; end-of-pipe pollution abatement; recycling; controland prevention of air and water pollution; hazardous wastetreatment, management, storage, and disposal; standard setting,regulation, monitoring, and enforcement for quality management;institution strengthening.

Industrial development finance Lending for pollution abatement; support to financial intermediariesto conduct environmental assessment.

Annex 2Page 2 of 5


Natural Resource Management

Agriculture and livestock Soil management, conservation, and restoration; extension forenvironmentally sound land management; surface and groundwatermanagement; pasture and grazing management; pesticidemanagement, such as integrated pest management; multisectoralwater allocation; input pricing for water and agrochemicals;institution strengthening; research extension.

Forestry Natural forest management, plantation development, andreforestation; management and afforestation for noncommercialuses (for example, social forestry, and extractive reserves);conservation management, including biodiversity; institutionstrengthening.

Watershed management Watershed and river basin protection, management, andrehabilitation; multisectoral planning and allocation; institutionstrengthening.

Land management Land mapping, titling, tenure, and transfers; land restoration andreclamation; institution strengthening.

Fisheries and marine resource Management of marine and freshwater resources; coastal zonemanagement management; biodiversity cunservation; marine and riverine

fisheries management; institution strengthening.

Conservation, including Conservation of terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity; protectedbiodiversity areas; ex situ conservation; financing mechanisms; training and

institution strengthening

Energy

Energy and power sectors Supply-side energy efficiency; demand-side management andconservation; reduced emissions; alternative and renewable energytechnologies; removal of energy subsidies; institutionstrengthening; standard setting, regulation, monitoring, andenforcement.

Population and Human Resources

Population None

Public health and nutrition Environmental health components

Education Environmental awareness and education; environmental extensionservices; environmental research, science, and technology

Social Resettlement associated with biodiversity projects; preservation of

Annex 2Page 3 of 5


cultural property.

Cross-Cutting Environmental assessment

Environmental ActivitiesNational Environmental Action Plans

Institutional development for environmental policy; regulation,monitoring, and enforcement; research

Natural resource accounting; environmental indicators;environmental valuation

Transfer of clean technology

Environmental technical assistance and training (Bank andborrowers)

Environmental information systems, including natural resourcemonitoring and geographic information systems.

SALs (monetaiy, fiscal, Reduction of subsidies for natural resource use.

exchange rate, tradepolicies)

Annex 2Page 4 of 5

LIST OF ALL PROJECTS WITH PRIMARY ENvIRONMENT OBJECTIVES IN THE AFRICA REGION SINCE

1984

BANK TOTALFY COUNTRY PROJECT NAME PRIMARY CATEGORY LOAN COST

SECTOR ($M) ($M)

Natural Resource Management (NRNI) Projects Total NRM-EMP ($M) 594.4 1060.3or Environment Manageement Program (EMP)

84 Zambia* Forestry III Agric. NRM 18.0 18.787 Uganda* Forestry/Fuelwood Agric. NRM 10.0 13.087 Ethiopia* Forestry Agric. NRM 39.6 45.087 Nigeria* Forestry 11 Agric. NRM 71.0 71.088 Madagascar Forest Mgmt. & Agric. NRM 7 22.6

Protection88 Rwanda Second Integrated Forest Agric. NRM 14.1 20.1

Project

88 Lesotho* Land Mgmt. & Cons. Agric. NRM 4.9 20.289 Sudan Southern Kassala Agric. NRM 20 35

Agriculture

89 Ghana Forestry Agric. NRM 34.9 64.690 Zimbabwe* Forest Resource Mgmt. Agric. NRM 14.5 14.590 CAR Natural Resource Mgmt. Agric. NRM 19 3490 Guinea Forestry & Fisheries Agric. NRM 8 23

Mgmt.

90 CIte d'lvoire Forestry Sector Agric. NRM 80 14790 Madagascar Environment I Agric. EMP 26 8691 Kenya Forestrv Development Agric. NRM 20 6591 Burkina Faso Environmental Mgmt. Agric. EMP 17 2591 Malawi Fisheries Development Agric. NRM 8.8 15.592 Benin Natural Resource Mgmt. Agric. NRM 14 2492 Kenya Protected Areas & Agric. NRM 61 143

Wildlife Services _

92 Tanzania Forest Resource Mgmt. Agric. NRM 18 2692 Nigeria Environmental Mgmt. Agric. EMP 25 3892 Mali Natural Resource Mgmt. Agric. NRM 20 3293 Gabon Forestry & Enviromnent Agric. NRM 22.5 38.293 Ghana Environment Resource Agric. EMP 18.1 35.9

Mgmt. .94 The Gambia Capacity Bldg. & Env. Agric. EMP 3 3

Mgmt. I I_I

From Agriculture Annual Review of Project Performance (ARPP) list of Natural ResouceManagement Projects.

Annex 2Page 5 of 5

BANK TOTALFY COUNTRY PROJECT NAME PRIMARY CATEGORY LOAN COST

SECTOR ($M) ($M)Energ Projects Total Energy Projects ($M) 54.3 101.588 Niger Energy Project Energy UENV 31.5 78.591 Burundi Energy Sector Energy UENV 22.8 23

RehabilitationUrban Environment Projects (UENV) Total UENV ($M) 152 248.890 CIte D'Ivoire Abidjan Lagoon Water Supply UENV 22 50

Protection & Sanitation90 Madagascar Tana Plain Water Supply NRM 31 69

Development & Sanitation91 Mauritius Environmental Urban EMP 12 21

Monitoring & Devt.92 Angola Lobito-Benguela Urban Urban UENV 46 59

Envir. Rehab.92 Mauritania Water Supply WS & San UENV 10.5 14.893 Seychelles Environment and Transp. UENV 4.5 7

Transport94 Togo Urban Development Urban UENV 26 28Total Commitment NRM + EMP + Energy + UENV ($M) 800.7 1,410.6

Annex 3Page 1 of 3

ANNEx 3: MAIN ISSUES IN THE CONSULTATION PROCESS

This paper has benefited greatly from the contributions of many World Bank staff andexternal reviewers, as specified in the acknowledgment section. It is inevitable, however, that,through modifications of the text, some issues raised are not exhaustively treated. This is dueprimarily to two factors. First, it is impossible to accommodate all requests for extensions of thetext within the constrained format of this paper. Second, some suggestions for revisions have beenirreconcilable with the views of the authors. In both cases, the points raised have stimulated ourthinking and deserve to be the subject of further discussion, outside the scope of this paper. Thepoints here are not ranked in order of importance, but rather from the more general to the morespecific.

THE SCOPE OF THE PAPER

There have been a number of conflicting statements made regarding the coverage ofvarious issues in the papers. On the one hand, it has been criticized for being "too broad," notfocusing enough on "the environment," and being too long, rendering the document inaccessible.On the other hand, requests have been made to develop in more detail issues of governance,peace, the political economy of countries, corruption, participatory processes, gender, education,agricultural research, science and technology, the crisis of African universities, structuraladjustment, and so on.

Such conflicting advice is inevitable; "environment" is not a sector but rather a cross-cutting domain that touches all sectors to a greater or lesser extent. We have attempted to balancethese conflicting requests; hence, the focus has remained on natural resource management and thelinkages with all aspects of human, social, and economic activities. The document has been"layered" with an executive summary, supported by three chapters, referenced with a large set ofendnotes, and further supported by an extensive bibliography and three annexes, including asummary of background papers. Instead of including an extra section in response to each requestfor an extension, we have tried to identify key sources and merely reflect major results or pointsin the text, while providing clear references for the interested reader.

ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN BY AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS

It has been suggested that we should give attention not only to what the World Bank hasdone to improve its management of environmental issues but also to review what Africangovernments have done.

This is indeed a challenging task that has not been possible within the constraints of thisexercise. The focus has been kept on the National Environmental Action Planning process, sincethis is a major instrument for Bank environmental support to Sub-Saharan Africa. Often, littleprevious national-level environmental work and legislation and few institutions exist.

To some extent, a national-level survey exists in the form of a Country EnvironmentalStrategy Paper (CESPs), which often deals with existing environmental institutions, legislation,and implementation in each country. The interested reader is therefore referred to those for thecountries of particular interest. CESPs, however, do not exist for all countries, and the coverageof such issues varies. Similarly, although the paper throughout makes references to activities byother donors, NGOs, and the private sector, it cannot nor does it pretend to deal exhaustively withthese actors' contributions. The paper only underscores the need for increasing partnerships at alllevels.

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URBAN BIAS?

It has been suggested that our emphasis on urban environmental issues and thesuggestions for increased attention to such problems reinforces the traditional and much criticized"urban bias."

If "urban bias" means favorable terms of trade for the urban versus the rural sector (forexample, subsidized food at the expense of farmers' income) and the biased provision of publicservices (for example, a large share of spending on a major hospital in the capital at the expenseof rural clinics), then this bias clearly has nothing to do with the measures suggested here.

This paper does not suggest that the government should manipulate prices to favor theurban population. Market forces should be left to determine such relations. Furthermore, thepaper does not argue that urban areas should be favored in terms of per capita public spending.What is argued, however, is that urbanization is rapidly changing the demographic landscape andthat governments in Africa as well as the Bank need to accommodate this.

WORLD BANK'S AGENDA OR STRATEGY FOR AFRICA

Some reviewers inside and outside the World Bank have found the paper too focused onwhat the World Bank has done and what it should do to better assist its client countries in theirtransition to environmentally sustainable development. They would have preferred a paperdefining a strategy for African countries and for the continent as a whole, which is more in thetradition of the World Bank.

The departure from this tradition originated in the initial consultations of African expertsand environmental specialists who thought that the World Bank, before defining strategies forothers, should look into its own affairs. It should review its processes and operations to drawlessons and improve its assistance to African countries to contribute to ESD. We have adopted thisapproach in a spirit of openness and transparency. Of course, the paper by its very nature dealswith African environmental issues and explores ways to address them to sharpen the World Bank'sassistance. We hope that this approach, rather than being regarded as too inward looking, could beconsidered as the starting point for a debate involving African countries and their partners toimprove overall cooperation in promoting environmentally sustainable development.

POVERTY AND ENVIRONMENT

Several reviewers considered the paper weak on poverty/environment linkages and that itdoes not incorporate a clear strategy for poverty reduction.

It is true that poverty/environment linkages are not fully documented in the paper simplybecause empirical data are lacking. More research is needed, as argued in the paper, whichparticularly recommends that the environmental dimension be incorporated in PovertyAssessments sponsored by the World Bank. It is also true that the paper does not provide acomprehensive strategy for alleviating poverty. It rather focuses on how environmentallysustainable development could contribute to poverty reduction. In this domain, the interestedreader should see poverty-focused documents, such as the Report on Poverty Reduction in Suib-Saharan Africa, prepared by a World Bank Task Force (still in draft in 1995).

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ENVIRONMENTAL INSTITUTIONS

Some reviewers would have liked the paper to make more concrete recommendationsregarding the environmental institutional framework. For example, should a country establish anenvironmental ministry and/or other structures such as an environmental protection agencyattached to the office of the president or prime minister?

The paper has deliberately avoided making precise recommendations on this issuebecause institutions have to be conceived within the specific context of individual countries.Furthermore, flexibility is needed as institutions evolve and develop capacities at their own pace.One institutional framework can be optimal today in a given country but will have to adapt tochanging circumstances tomorrow. These issues are discussed in Institutional StructuresforEnvironmentally Sustainable Development, one of the thematic background papers (see annex 1).

ENVIRONMENTAL "HOTSPOTS"

Some commentators have questioned the references to "hotspots" in the text, indicatingeither that the term is inappropriate or that they are not a complete listing. The purpose of thereferences to "hotspots" in the report is to give some examples of those areas which are subject toor will be subject to severe environmental stress through a combination of factors. We do notclaim to have included an exhaustive list of such areas, but have highlighted the ones which appearmost obvious, based on current knowledge. As for the term itself, it is not a pejorative term butis used widely to indicate an area or zone of stress (be it political, social, or environmental).

IMAGING

Report No: 15111Type: SR