Such conditions have traditionally focused on safeguards. International financing institutions (e.g. multi-lateral development banks, UN Global Environment Facility) impose strong obligations on borrowing countries to include environmental aspects in project proposals submitted for financing. For example, the World Bank has a well-developed system of safeguards, which include the environment and natural resources as well as indigenous peoples as environmentally-dependent groups. These oblige all proponents to check projects against environmental criteria and to develop an Environmental Management Plan to facilitate monitoring of implementation.

Today, however, there is a larger range of environmental mainstreaming ‘encouragement’ from donors that – because it has not yet really built on local mainstreaming processes – has had the effect of conditionalities, albeit not vigorously pursued. Much of this derives from the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (see Chapter 2). It has led to, for example:

• support to include environmental considerations in poverty reduction strategies;
• the development of SEA guidance and accompanying awareness-raising¹ and training, and support to undertake SEAs of country policies, plans and programmes;
• efforts to integrate climate change mitigation, vulnerability assessment and especially adaptation in development decisions;
• and a drive to improve natural resource management for long-term pro-poor economic growth.

The real ‘hook’ in the Paris Declaration – building country-based systems for integrating environment and development – has not been treated too seriously. In large part this may be due to the Heads of country offices being inundated with cases for ‘mainstreaming’ or ‘special pleading’ regarding a wide range of sectors and issues, and to current incentives to shift towards budget support rather than deal with ‘technical’ issues.

Progress with environmental mainstreaming was addressed at a High-Level Forum held in Ghana in September 2008, attended by donors and 100+ partner countries, to review progress on the Paris Agreement. This forum agreed the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) which states that it is vital that environmental sustainability is addressed in “a more systematic and coherent way” in all policies. The AAA commits developing countries and donors to “ensure that their respective development policies and programmes are designed and implemented in ways consistent with their agreed international commitments on gender equality, human rights disability and environmental sustainability”. It remains to be seen whether this commitment will lead to the environment being taken more seriously in practice.

But the Paris Declaration and Accra AAA have not resulted in entirely beneficial outcomes. In Asia (at least), they have resulted in civil society organisations receiving much reducing funding. Local NGOs have become effectively ‘starved’ of donor support. The strong focus on budget support has “led to a ‘feed-fest’ for government bureaucracies and donors have become risk averse, lazy and unimaginative” (Aban Kabraji, personal communication). Thus, the Paris Declaration also represents a constraint to mainstreaming via civil society and green parties.

For many years, donors have undertaken environmental studies and analyses as part of preparations for support to countries. During the 1990s, there was considerable focus on country environmental profiles (CEPs). The EC now uses CEPs as a programming tool feeding into country support strategies. These include recommendations for environmental integration in key areas. In recent years, there has been an effort to improve upstream country environmental analytical (CEA) work. The primary producers (and users) of CEA work are the multi-lateral development banks and the European Commission. However, there is also a wide range of secondary users (particularly bilateral donors). The World Bank, for example, introduced CEAs in 2001 in response to its (then) new Environment Strategy. These are typically initiated and carried out by regional teams and aim to integrate environmental issues into country assistance strategies (CASs), poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs), development policy lending (DPL), and development assistance strategies and programmes. By 2008, the Bank had initiated 25 CEAs. A desk review of experience of CEAs (Pillai, 2008) notes that:

“it is important that preparation of CEAs be undertaken not only to meet due diligence requirements of OP8.60, but seen as an opportunity to enhance dialogue and engagement with partner countries to strengthen institutional capacity on environmental-development issues”.

There is increasing recognition by the MDBs and EC of the need to anchor CEA work within country domestic processes and promote country government ownership. Aligned to this, some people have suggested that a common assessment on environmental sustainability should be undertaken as a complement to the common country assessments (of development) already prepared to inform all new UN development assistance strategies.