Environmental assessment (EA) in Africa : a World Bank commitment

The report contains the proceedings of the Durban World Bank workshop held on June 15, 1995. Environmental assessments (EAs) has been one of the most effective measures to identify and mitigate the negative environmental and social impacts associated with development projects. EAs treat environmental issues in a timely and cost-effective way, allowing projects to realize environmental and social benefits, rather than simply reacting to potential costs. The workshop was a rich and rewarding experience for all parties, and can be summarized as follows: a) Capacity building is a long-term process. b) Coordination among bilateral and multilateral institutions and international nongovernmental organizations involved in capacity building efforts is crucial and can produce significant cost-savings. c) Effective consultation with locally-affected people can play a key role in identifying and assessing environmental impacts, comparing alternatives, designing appropriate mitigation measures, and building local ownership and participation into the development process. An important step toward the full integration of the environmental dimension into mainstreaming economic decision-making must be to expand the application of EAs to provide guidance to policy-based lending.