Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I General instruments
- PART II Atmosphere
- PART III Oceans: global
- PART IIIB Oceans: regional
- PART IV Freshwater resources
- PART V Biodiversity
- PART VIA Hazardous substances and activities: nuclear
- PART VIB Hazardous substances and activities: pesticides
- PART VIC Hazardous substances and activities: waste
- PART VII Human rights and the environment
- PART VIII War and the environment
- PART IX Trade and the environment
- PART X Environmental impact assessment and access to information
- 38 Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, 25 February 1991
- 38A Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment, 21 May 2003
- 39 Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, 17 March 1992
- 40 World Bank Operational Policy 4.01 on Environmental Assessment, January 1999
- 41 Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, 25 June 1998
- 41A Compliance Committee and Procedures for the Review of Compliance
- 41B Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers, 21 May 2003
- PART XI Liability for environmental damage and breaches of environmental obligations
- PART XII The Antarctic
40 - World Bank Operational Policy 4.01 on Environmental Assessment, January 1999
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I General instruments
- PART II Atmosphere
- PART III Oceans: global
- PART IIIB Oceans: regional
- PART IV Freshwater resources
- PART V Biodiversity
- PART VIA Hazardous substances and activities: nuclear
- PART VIB Hazardous substances and activities: pesticides
- PART VIC Hazardous substances and activities: waste
- PART VII Human rights and the environment
- PART VIII War and the environment
- PART IX Trade and the environment
- PART X Environmental impact assessment and access to information
- 38 Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, 25 February 1991
- 38A Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment, 21 May 2003
- 39 Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, 17 March 1992
- 40 World Bank Operational Policy 4.01 on Environmental Assessment, January 1999
- 41 Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, 25 June 1998
- 41A Compliance Committee and Procedures for the Review of Compliance
- 41B Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers, 21 May 2003
- PART XI Liability for environmental damage and breaches of environmental obligations
- PART XII The Antarctic
Summary
Editorial note
The World Bank first adopted Operational Directive 4.01 on Environmental Assessment in 1989, its objective being to ensure that the development options adopted were sound and enduring from an environmental perspective and that environmental consequences were recognised at an early stage in the project cycle and included in the project scheme. The Directive was the subject of significant criticism, including the failure to provide for a ‘no-action alternative’ whereby the project may be stopped because the environmental risks are too great to allow the project to proceed at all, and its silence as to mandatory requirements concerning the provision of information to local populations and their right to participate in the environmental impact assessment process. In 1999 the policy was converted into a new format, now reflected in Operation Policy (OP) 4.01 and Bank Procedures (BP) 4.01, which has sought to address these and other issues. The Bank Procedures explain how the Bank staff shall implement the Bank's policies.
By OP 4.01 the World Bank requires environmental assessment (EA) of projects proposed for Bank financing to help ensure that they are environmentally sound and sustainable, and thus to improve decision-making (paragraph 1). EA is described as a process, which evaluates a project's potential environmental risks and impacts in its area of influence; examines project alternatives; identifies ways of improving project selection, siting, planning, design, and implementation; and includes the process of mitigating and managing adverse environmental impacts throughout project implementation.
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- Documents in International Environmental Law , pp. 1097 - 1108Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
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