24 • Technologies To Maintain Biological Diversity 



systematic MDB efforts to promote sound en- 

 vironmental and resource policies akin to the 

 World Bank's wildland policy, 2) work to 

 make projects consistent with international 

 and recipient country environmental policies 

 and regulations, and 3) seek to involve recip- 

 ient country environmental officials and non- 

 governmental organizations in project formu- 

 lation processes. 



A significant part of all international devel- 

 opment assistance efforts are funded by the 

 World Bank and regional MDBs. Thus, these 

 organizations are uniquely situated to influence 

 environmental aspects of development, includ- 

 ing the maintenance of biological diversity. In 

 fact, the MDBs' priorities and policies can be 

 the single most important influence on the de- 

 velopment model adopted by developing coun- 

 tries. MDB agricultural, rural development, and 

 energy programs all have profound effects on 

 biological resources in developing countries. 



In 1986, the World Bank promulgated a new 

 policy on the treatment of wildlands in devel- 

 opment projects. The bank recognizes that al- 

 though further conversion of some natural land 

 and water areas to more intensive uses will be 

 necessary to meet development objectives, 

 other pristine areas may yield benefits to 

 present and future generations if maintained 

 in their natural state. These are areas that, for 

 example, may provide important environ- 

 mental services or essential habitats to endan- 

 gered species. To prevent the loss of these wild- 

 land values, the policy specifies that the Bank 

 will normally decline to finance projects in 

 these areas and instead prefer projects on al- 

 ready converted lands. Conversion of less im- 

 portant wildlands must be justified and com- 

 pensated by financing the preservation of an 

 ecologically similar area in a national park or 

 nature reserve, or by some other mitigative 

 measures. The policy provides systematic guid- 

 ance and criteria for deciding which wildlands 

 are in need of protection, which projects may 

 need wildland measures, and what types of 

 wildland measures should be provided. 



In 1980, the World Bank, Inter-American De- 

 velopment Bank, Asian Development Bank, and 

 six other multilaterals signed a "Declaration 



of Environmental Policies and Procedures Re- 

 lating to Economic Development," and formed 

 the Committee on International Development 

 Institutions on the Environment (CIDIE), un- 

 der the auspices of the United Nations Envi- 

 ronment Programme. The agencies agreed to 

 systematic environmental analysis of activities 

 funded for environmental programs and proj- 

 ects. However, a subsequent study found that 

 these policy statements by the MDBs were not 

 effectively translated into action. Criticisms of 

 how well MDBs implement environmental pol- 

 icies remain strong. And it is too soon to deter- 

 mine the effectiveness of the World Bank's wild- 

 land policy. 



The United States is limited in its ability to 

 effect change at MDBs because the banks are 

 international institutions run collectively by 

 member nations. Since the United States is a 

 large contributor, however, it does have con- 

 siderable influence on bank poHcies, which are 

 determined by boards of directors. 



The primary way Congress affects policies 

 of these banks is by requesting that the U.S. ex- 

 ecutive directors — who are responsible to the 

 Secretary of the Treasury— carry out congres- 

 sionally approved policies. These requests may 

 be made at oversight hearings or in the language 

 of appropriation legislation. For instance, the 

 1986 House Committee on Appropriations Re- 

 port stated guidelines for the U.S. executive di- 

 rectors (Sec. 539), which included the addition 

 of relevant staff, development of management 

 plans, and commitment to increase the propor- 

 tion of programs supporting environmentally 

 beneficial projects. To continue this guidance, 

 Congress could require the U.S. executive di- 

 rectors of MDBs to encourage the adoption of 

 a policy similar to the World Bank's wildlands 

 policy statement. 



FINDING 7: Constraints on international ex- 

 change of genetic resources could jeopardize 

 future agricultural production and progress 

 in biotechnologies. Such constraints are be- 

 coming more likely because developing coun- 

 tries with sovereignty over most such re- 

 sources believe that the industrial nations 

 have benefited at their expense. Debates on 



