The World Bank has taken a gigantic gamble by merging its environment and infrastructure departments, says a senior official.
The merger will make or break climate change initiatives such as that on deforestation, says Vinod Thomas, director general of the Bank’s independent evaluation group (IEG) that reports to the board. “If done well, this could be one of the Bank’s biggest contributions. If done poorly, it could be a disaster”, Thomas told Emerging Markets.
The merged infrastructure and environment department, launched in July and headed by vice-president Kathryn Sierra, could be a powerful force in the battle against global warming, Thomas believes.
It can integrate climate change principles into the Bank’s revitalised infrastructure lending programme – “not as a side issue” – and make a big difference. Over the coming year the IEG will undertake a major review of environmental outcomes from Bank activity. During that same period, the decision to bring together environment and infrastructure will also be put to the test. “The merging of the groups is good, but the real effort, the action on financing is far too slow,” Thomas said. “It’s being done willy-nilly – a disaster waiting to happen.”
“Unlike in the last 25 years, in the next 25 years every effort on infrastructure must incorporate climate change issues.”
Recent IEG research that shows that many environmental disasters are “man made” – such as flooding and other local and global damage from heavy deforestation and “completely unmanaged development” in Bangladesh, Brazil and Indonesia.
Thomas also believes that, to tackle deforestation, it is vital to amend the Kyoto principles to give credit for standing forests, and not only cultivated plantations. A new alliance to combat illegal logging – which undermines sustainable development and costs an estimated $15 billion a year in lost revenues – was launched in Singapore on Saturday, supported by the Bank, CSOs and senior politicians from the UK, Japan, Indonesia and Cameroon.
Another World Bank initiative launched in Singapore yesterday aims to improve opportunities for women to participate in countries’ economic development. The four-year, $24.5 million plan, launched with support from the German and Norwegian governments, will focus on women’s ability to engage in infrastructure, agriculture and finance. A similar plan launched in 2001 found more success in health and education than in economic sectors.
“This is not about trying to impose one set of cultural standards, such as western standards, on other countries,” Bank president Paul Wolfowitz said. “Quite simply, investing in women is smart development policy.”