Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sostenibilidad

Just another web-blogs Sites site

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Agriculture and Food Security
    • Climate change
    • Ecosystems and Biodiversity
    • Environmental and Social Safeguards
    • Infrastructure and Sustainable Landscapes
    • Institutionality
    • Responsible Production and Consumption
  • Authors
  • English
    • Español

Part I: Why are safeguards important for sustainable growth?

February 8, 2017 por Andreas Georgoulias Leave a Comment


The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) defines the term “Safeguards” as a “set of policies to ensure protection against environmental and social harm, improve development value for stakeholders, and enable countries and clients to meet best international practices.” In relation to sustainability, the purpose of implementing safeguards is to develop projects that maximize positive environmental and social outcomes while minimizing risks and negative impacts on people and natural capital.

idb-envision-safeguard-policies-in-promoting-sustainable-infrastructure-1In an attempt to identify how and in what way safeguard policies contribute to sustainable infrastructure projects, a comparative analysis was conducted between the IDB safeguards policies and the Envision Rating System for Sustainable Infrastructure. Furthermore, a detailed case analysis of nine IDB-funded projects revealed how the application of safeguards impacted sustainability performance in practice, as well as the role of specialists in utilizing the safeguards framework to facilitate sustainability improvements.

The Envision Rating System was developed by the Zofnass Program at Harvard University and the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. It is a comprehensive framework of 60 sustainability indicators, or credits, which encompass the full social, environmental, and economic impacts of a project.[1]  Credits are grouped into five categories that correspond to principal areas of impact applicable to all infrastructure types:

  • Quality of Life;
  • Leadership;
  • Resource Allocation;
  • Natural World; and
  • Climate and Risk.

Our analysis demonstrates that IDB safeguard policies provide a comprehensive coverage of sustainability dimensions. Safeguards address 99% of Envision points within all five Envision categories, whereas they substantially exceed Envision on issues of gender diversity and indigenous peoples. Overall, safeguards provide a comprehensive framework through which sponsors can anticipate, account for, and mitigate environmental and social risks in a timely manner.

Contributions of IDB Safeguards and added contributions by IDB Safeguard specialists. This graph shows the total number of Envision points that were influenced by initiatives implemented by Safeguard specialists
Contributions of IDB Safeguards and added contributions by IDB Safeguard specialists.
This graph shows the total number of Envision points that were influenced by initiatives implemented by Safeguard specialists

The analysis of the nine IDB-funded projects demonstrated that the application of safeguards was instrumental in achieving a high Envision sustainability rating in all projects. In most cases safeguards doubled the overall Envision sustainability performance of the projects, while in those projects where IDB was involved earlier in the project cycle, the Envision sustainability performance was tripled. Moreover, in many cases, most commonly in the Climate and Risk category, projects would have achieved a zero or very close to zero Envision rating without the application of safeguard policies, and project sustainability performance in specific Envision categories was increased by up to 26 times.

Safeguards in practice – The case of Haiti

The Caracol Industrial Park (PIC) in northern Haiti is a clear example on how IDB’s safeguards promote sustainability in practice. In 2008, the Government of Haiti, the United States Government and the IDB agreed to support the establishment of PIC at Haiti’s Northern region. The site, designated by the Government, was a 250 hectare greenfield site in the rural community of Caracol. Through a series of grants, IDB provided basic infrastructure, industrial facilities, management support and complementary resources required for the construction, operation and expansion of PIC.

The Haitian Government’s limited capacity and the tight timeline to plan and implement such a complex project introduced considerable challenges. In addition, the lack of mechanisms and procedures needed to ensure the region’s sustainable development implied impacts on local livelihoods, community displacement, increased gender inequality, and environmental risks.

Contribution of IDB Safeguards in the Climate and Risk Envision category Caracol Industrial Park (PIC), Haiti
Contribution of IDB Safeguards in the Climate and Risk Envision category
Caracol Industrial Park (PIC), Haiti

PIC would have achieved the lowest Envision score from all nine projects evaluated in our research without the implementation of safeguard policies. Safeguards more than doubled the project’s Envision performance. Particularly significant was the contribution in the Leadership, Resource Allocation, and Climate and Risk Envision categories, where the project would have achieved a very close to zero score without safeguards.

PIC’s main positive impact is the generation of new employment, which improves the quality of life of communities and promotes long-term economic development. The IDB:

  • Contributed to creating and improving institutional capacities by supporting PIC’s management agency;
  • Ensured that right compensation was provided for resettled families;
  • Played a major role in relation to the protection of the environment by creating the Three Bays National Park, which was declared a protected area in order to help mitigate PCI’s direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts; and
  • Supported baseline studies and a social and environmental impact management plan that considered both short and long-term hazards.

Overall, all projects undoubtedly facilitated long-term economic development and promoted social welfare. Safeguard policies provide the foundation through which necessary interventions to improve quality of life and stimulate opportunities for sustainable growth are introduced in IDB-funded projects.

 

[1] Plus 3 new credits of the Vulnerable Groups subcategory, added by the Harvard Zofnass Program in collaboration with the IDB for application in Latin American projects. At the time of writing this blog post, the next version of Envision was under development, which includes most of these aspects.

 

Top photo credit: Pogonici/Shutterstock


Filed Under: Environmental and Social Safeguards

Andreas Georgoulias

Prof. Andreas Georgoulias is an expert on sustainable infrastructure and large scale developments. He is the research director of the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at Harvard, where he teaches since 2007. He has published three books and numerous case studies on his area of work. His current projects include the Infrastructure 360 Awards with the Inter-American Development Bank, a wide interdisciplinary effort to assess health impacts of cities in Asia, and research on waste-to-energy facilities. He is the lead developer of the Zofnass Economic Tool, a comprehensive analytic model that quantifies the external costs and benefits of infrastructure. In the past, he has led the development of the first rating system to assess sustainable infrastructure, now deployed in the US and globally as Envision, collaborated with Obermeyer, Hochtief, UniCredit Markets and Investment Banking, and the US General Service Administration. He has consulted for the Economist Intelligence Unit and the United Nations Development Program, and led urban development plans in Cameroon, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Prof. Georgoulias holds degrees in Architecture Engineering from the University of Athens, a Master’s and a Doctorate from Harvard.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

SEARCH

Sustainability

This blog is a space to reflect about the challenges, opportunities and the progress made by Latin American and Caribbean countries on the path towards the region’s sustainable development.

SIMILAR POSTS

  • Part III: Can safeguards help countries improve their sustainability performance?
  • Sustainability and Safeguards have come a long way in 10 years …
  • Part II: Does early safeguards involvement in projects improve sustainability performance?
  • Sustainable Infrastructure: Lessons Learned, but what Next? (Hint: It has to do with Planning)
  • The top 10 Environmental and Social Safeguards Blogs of 2019

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Derechos de autor © 2023 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube
This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
To learn more about cookies, click here
x
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT