The World Bank has released a draft new environment strategy for public consultation. It aims to move the Bank from a defensive to a proactive and integrated approach, arguing that longer-term development prospects must be maintained by preventing soil degradation, freshwater scarcity and climate change. It recognises that institutional boundaries in the Bank and in governments often prevent coordinated planning.
The strategy argues that the Bank “has a role in helping to address regional and global environmental problems through its global reach, financial strength, its role as implementing agency for the financing mechanisms serving global environmental conventions, and its potential to integrate additional financing mechanisms into its own operations.”
The Bank plans to bring the Environment Strategy to the Board in December 2000. www.worldbank.org/environment/strategy/
