21 January 2004
The current Environment Policy at the IDB dates from 1979 and is widely considered to be an inadequate policy for protecting the environment from the negative impacts of IDB investments. The IDB has therefore agreed, in response to commitments made in the previous round of replenishments, to develop an Environment and Safeguard Compliance Policy. The draft profile for this policy was released to the public after it was approved by a special committee of the IDB Board of Directors on March 11, 2004. The draft profile has been largely criticized as insufficient in several important areas. The Asia Pacific Environmental Exchange (APEX) prepared a report entitled, “Failing Grades: A Report Card on the Inter-American Development Bank’s Environmental and Safeguard Compliance Policy.” on the IDB policy in which they compare the draft profile against existing policies at other Multilateral Development Banks. The report plainly shows that the draft profile fails to meet certain minimum standards. The report card was presented to the IDB and received significant attention from the press. Environmental Defense has been actively involved in coordinating a response on the Environment Policy and similarly argues that the policy is inadequate in several areas. A subsequent discussion with the Manager of the IDB Environment Unit highlighted that although the draft Environment Policy had been substantially weakened by internal opposition, the environmental handbook, a nonbinding set of guidelines for IDB staff, would be an adequate measure to ensure satisfactory environmental standards. BIC also participated in various meetings with Executive Directors in which the draft environment policy was one of the main topics for discussion.
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The current policy can reviewed on IDB's website: