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impacts. 



These "Initial Environmental Examinations" (lEEs) constitute a serious undertaking. 

 In some cases they may be brief; in other cases, if we have reason to believe that a particular 

 activity could pose environmental issues, we conduct a full Environmental Assessment, 

 which may require substantial analysis. And, most importantly, when we discover possible 

 unintended environmental impacts, we change our program designs — by adding 

 environmental monitoring components to agricultural programs that might result in expanded 

 use of chemical fertilizers, for example. 



But this commitment is far more than regulatory. Over the last twenty years, our 

 entire approach to development has evolved in a way designed to integrate environmental 

 sustainability and safety into everything we do. We have made a special effort to respond to 

 the environmental provisions of the DFA, especially in the area of institutional and policy 

 reform. Programs designed by us in these areas now include specific provisions to protect 

 long-term environmental interests from possible negative consequences. For instance, in 

 Madagascar, we have helped the government to develop policies and regulations aimed at 

 controlling and mitigating environmental damage from urban and industrial growth, and from 

 pesticide use. 



A second key element of our work in Africa is to focus on the direct links between 

 the environment and economic growth, particularly as it affects the rural poor — the bulk of 

 the continent's population. We know we can make a difference because we are already 

 doing so. 



In Mali, Francois Coulibali and his family have doubled — in some cases tripled — 



