Safeguard Policies Update

The World Bank Board's Committee on Development Effectiveness today provided Bank Management with clearance to consult publicly on a first draft Environmental and Social Framework. See press release. This first draft builds on the decades-old safeguard policies and consolidates them into a more unified framework. The goal is to make them more efficient and effective in the way they are applied and implemented.

The proposal maintains and builds on existing protections, including the protection of disadvantaged and vulnerable people, Indigenous Peoples, and communities and the environment, including provisions for pest management, dam safety, natural habitats, and cultural heritage.

The draft framework was developed following a five-month long consultation effort that involved more than 2,000 people in over 40 countries. It includes a vision statement on environmental and social sustainability, a policy outlining the World Bank responsibilities and ten environmental and social standards that are required for the partner country.

The draft standards include: assessment and management of environmental and social risks and impacts; labor and working conditions; resource efficiency and pollution management (including the consideration of climate change and adaptation and green-house gas emissions management); community health and safety; economic or physical displacement of people (involuntary resettlement); biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of living natural resources (forests, habitats, sustainable management of living natural resources, production of living activities such as food safety, responsible harvesting, international standards); indigenous peoples, cultural heritage, financial intermediaries and sub-projects and stakeholder engagement.

The proposed draft standards intend to provide clearer definitions and guidance, and clarify the roles of the Bank and the borrowing country. This proposal strengthens the Bank's ability to manage environmental and social risks and impacts in the projects we fund and ensures that risks are assessed, managed and mitigated throughout the lifetime of the project. It covers more, not fewer, risks, including adding protections on labor, project impacts on climate change, and introducing non-discrimination as a core principle.