Sostenibilidad

Recently I was in Jamaica attending the Coral Lifeline workshop organized by the Centre of Marine Sciences from the University of the West Indies – I learned a lot including that coral reefs are critical!:

After living in Jamaica for five years, every time I visit for work, I try to squeeze in whatever time I have to say hello to friends. On my last visit I was very fortunate to have meetings on both sides of the weekend allowing me to spend my off days in a familiar place with familiar people. My friends and I decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity and headed east to Hellshire, a popular Jamaican hang out spot along the coast known for its fresh fish and other seafood done to order.

We all agree that we want quality infrastructure, because we know that quality reduces project risks, increases availability and durability over a project’s lifecycle, improves customer experience and as such makes the infrastructure worth the investment. But how can we ensure quality? The IDB –as well as other development banks– uses a suite of safeguard policies to ensure the environmental and social quality of the infrastructure projects it finances.

It had been a while since I had really crawled around in a mangrove wetland.  Once you have climbed over the roots of a red mangrove, seen the pneumatophores (the roots that stick out of the ground like breathing tubes) of white mangrove, spotted blue crabs in abundance scurrying back into their holes to avoid capture, or taken in the “sweet” aroma of decaying organic matter, - it all comes back to you in flash.  My return to the mangroves was on a recent survey of the wetlands on Big Corn and Little Corn Island, two small islands off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.

The IDB has made a strong commitment to strengthening and using country systems for both fiduciary and non-fiduciary aspects of Bank loans.  While notable progress has been made in the former, the latter, which include national systems for development effectiveness and environmental and social safeguards, require different approaches.  Notably, and recognizing the diversity of environmental and social governance approaches in our region, IDB’s approach for the strengthening and use of safeguard systems has been focused on country dialogue, capacity building and controlled pilot st

Food loss and waste negatively impact the environment. Much food is lost or wasted throughout the food supply chain, from agricultural production until final household consumption. In developing countries the greatest food loss takes place during the initial phases of the food supply chain, mainly due to technical, storage, refrigeration and transportation management problems. However, there's also a large amount of food either wasted during consumption or thrown away, even when still edible. This is unacceptable.

When we think of health and education, we envision the well being of human beings, as these are essential elements for all of us to live a full life and reach our potential, both as individuals and as members of society. At the Inter-American Development Bank, projects in these sectors are usually classified as “low safeguard risk,” since their environmental impacts are often minor.

During my work trips to Latin America and the Caribbean as an Environmental Specialist for the Bank, I discuss the importance of safeguards and sustainability with our clients and stakeholders. In that context I try to encourage innovative solutions to protect the environment, solutions that go beyond the minimum requirements.

In a previous post on understanding natural capital accounting, we presented the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) Central Framework as an important advance in support of evidence-based policy and analysis.