By Deborah Moore, Staff Scientist
Environmental Defense Fund
This paper is based on the written comments submitted to the Bank by the Environmental Defense Fund, the International Rivers Network, the World Rainforest Movement, and more than 40 other submissions, as well as on the group presentation by 25 NGO's at the World Bank/ NGO Consultation, May 28- 29, 1992.
Originally Published in September 1992
The World Bank is drafting a Water Resources Policy to guide Bank investments in the water sector. To facilitate review of the first draft Water Resources Policy, the Bank held a consultation with non- government organizations (NGOs) and professional organizations on May 28- 29, 1992.
The consultation was organized over almost a year of discussions between Bank staff and NGOs, to provide a forum for various outside interests to give input to the Bank on policy priorities, methods, and approaches. In addition, the Bank received approximately 50 written submissions from NGOs commenting on the content of the policy. During the consultation NGOs identified several priorities: the need for the Bank and governments to target projects to meet the essential demands of disadvantaged groups; the need to redress the bias towards large-scale centralized water development projects; the need to protect and restore degraded water- dependent ecosystems; and the need to develop specific implementation mechanisms to ensure that the Bank addresses these priorities. Issues were raised, requests for clarification were made, and areas of agreement and disagreement between the Bank and NGOs were defined. This background paper reiterates and clarifies many of the points NGOs made and provides evidence to support these reforms. Another summary memo was written by Bank staff, and reviewed by NGOs, that discusses the May 1992 consultation and outlines specific changes to the policy to which Bank staff agreed ("Lessons from the World Bank/NGO Consultation on Water Resources Policy, July 8, 1992," hereafter "Lessons" (Attachment 1)).
The development of a comprehensive water resources policy presents an opportunity for the Bank to correct the extremely poor performance record of its investments in the water resources sector, specifically in irrigation, one of the Bank's largest subsectors. This opportunity to set a new course for the Bank's water sector investments is particularly timely given the harsh criticism of the Bank- financed Sardar Sarovar Dam project in India revealed in the findings of the Morse Team's Independent Review (June 1992). The Independent Review was commissioned by former Bank President Barber Conable and the Bank's Board of Directors after years of controversy over resettlement and environmental impacts of the project. Furthermore, the Bank's own Operations Evaluation Department (OED) reviews have documented widespread and costly failures in the water sector and have resulted in stern recommendations that the Bank should concentrate its investments more towards improving existing water systems rather than building new ones (both in the India Irrigation Sector Review by India Operations Department, for example, and the 1989 OED Annual Review of Evaluation Results).
NGOs identified several key means to achieve the goals of providing basic water services for all and protecting water- dependent ecosystems. Many technologies and methods are already- available to make this transition to a more sustainable system of water management. What is required is for the Bank to re-prioritize its investments: to support demand management and water conservation programs that will stretch existing supplies; support primary sewage treatment projects and pollution control programs that will decrease mortality and disease and increase water quality; support small- scale irrigation and rainfed agriculture projects that are environmentally and socially sound; support community- based water management programs that will better meet the needs of local communities and water users; and support public participation in all levels of program planning and implementation. Specific mechanisms and institutional arrangements should be designed to implement and enforce the new investment guidelines, such as internal cross- sectoral committees that will review projects and analyze impacts and alternative options, as well as specific conditions on loans that will improve performance. While many of these programs are mentioned in the draft Policy, a close reading of the critical section on the Bank's role in water resources management reveals a set of extremely vague general comments about "implementing comprehensive frameworks" and "incorporating multisubsectoral considerations" without any operational specificity regarding criteria, conditions, mechanisms, or responsibilities.
The Bank correctly acknowledges the widespread concern over the status of the world's water supplies. International gatherings of experts have been calling for a new approach to water management since the first U.N. Water Conference in 1977. At the International Conference on Water and the Environment in Dublin in January 1992, where the World Bank sent a large delegation, more than 500 experts agreed that increasing access to safe water supplies, protecting the viability of freshwater ecosystems, and improving existing systems before investing in new ones were the priority goals to meet by the year 2000 (The Dublin Statement).
Following the commitments the Bank made at the Earth Summit towards promoting "sustainable development" the task now at hand is for the Bank to heed its own recommendations and those of the international community to adopt a new approach in favor of more economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable programs. Indeed, "Agenda 21," in Chapter 18: Protection of the Quality and Supply of Freshwater Resources, specifically commits multilateral institutions like the World Bank to working towards "holistic management of freshwater as a finite and vulnerable resource" through a variety of activities. The Bank's Water Resources Policy should provide specific goals, objectives, and principles to ensure that all Bank loans and credits result in efficient and productive investments, economic and social benefits, and long-term maintenance of our finite water supplies and water- dependent ecosystems.
The full report, Reforming the World Bank's Lending for Water: An NGO Critique of the World Bank's Draft Water Policy Paper, is available for $3 postpaid including shipping and handling.
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