|
Steve Gorman
Executive Coordinator, World Bank-GEF
During the GEF’s third replenishment period (GEF-3), the World Bank continued
to expand its portfolio of GEF cofinanced projects with total grant commitments
reaching $3.1 billion by the end of FY06. This included working with our partners
to develop projects in the two new focal areas of land degradation and persistent
organic pollutants. Additionally, the World Bank responded to new and emerging
priorities for the global environment by expanding its work most notably in
adaptation to climate change and in transport. Going forward, I believe these
areas will be of increasing strategic importance for the GEF during the fourth
replenishment phase (GEF-4).
Managing Climate Risk: Integrating Adaptation into World Bank Operations
Climate change is intrinsically linked to the eradication of poverty—the
mission of the World Bank Group. Infrastructure, agriculture, human health,
water resources, and environment projects are exposed to the risks of physical
threats to the investments, potential underperformance, and the possibility
that projects will indirectly contribute to rising vulnerability by triggering
investment and settlement in high-risk areas. It is, therefore, important to
integrate comprehensive climate risk management into development planning,
programs, and projects.
The analytical work, projects, and programs provide invaluable experiences
on climate risk management but the awareness of climate risk in the World
Bank’s
work could be further strengthened.
I see several ways in which the World Bank
Group with GEF support can help its clients better manage climate risks:
• Integrating
climate risk management into the project cycle, by adopting early
risk identification (for instance, by applying a quick and simple risk-screening
tool) and following up throughout the design process, if necessary
• Integrating climate risk management
into country and sector dialogues,
•
Enhancing internal support for and coordination of climate risk management
by expanding analytical work and capacity for cross-support by the Global Climate
Change Team and the Hazard Management Unit of the World Bank and by actively
developing climate risk management activities within regional departments
•
Supporting proper financing mechanisms for adaptation, using the Investment
Framework for Clean Energy and Development and using new funding mechanisms
created under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and
the Kyoto Protocol to leverage maximum adaptation results within the World
Bank’s development activities and investments
By enhancing climate risk management, the World Bank Group and its
GEF partners will be able to better address the growing risks from
climate
change and,
at the same time, make current development investments more resilient
to climate
variability and extreme weather events.
Promoting Global Environmental Priorities in the Urban Transport
Sector
Transport, a key infrastructure sector, acts as a stimulus to economic
growth and is an important element of poverty reduction, regional
and national development,
and limiting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The growing energy
use by the transport sector is increasingly contributing to climate
change
and
degrading
local air quality in developing country cities.
Under its Operational Program 11 (OP 11), the GEF provides grant
financing to support the global environmental priority of mitigating
GHG emissions
from the urban transport sector. These projects demonstrate the
importance of integrating
global and local environmental priorities through policies and
investments that translate into transport efficiency, air quality
improvement,
and reduction in GHG emissions.
The World Bank has implemented GEF urban transport projects in
Manila, Mexico City, Lima, and Santiago that have promoted
public transport
through bus
rapid transit systems, integration of multiple transport modes,
nonmotorized transport,
land use and transport policies, management of transport demand,
and development of institutional capability for management
of urban transport
systems.
The World Bank is also designing regional and programmatic
approaches under OP 11 to scale up urban transport improvements,
maximize
economies of scale,
reduce transaction costs, strengthen local capacity for sustainable
transport policies and programs, and capitalize on the synergies
of transport interventions
in cities with similar transport profiles.
I believe, future projects could more effectively mainstream
environmental dimensions into urban transport planning by
focusing on strategies
for dealing with other heavy polluting modes such as freight
transport and
high-density
intercity transport, and new market-based and information-based
mechanisms. In addition, attention to transport demand in
growing secondary cities,
strengthening of market-based mechanisms to foster transport
efficiency, promotion of private
sector participation, safety and efficiency, and information
technology are important ways of improving the environmental
impacts of the
urban transport
portfolio.
|
