The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is continuing consultation process on its safeguard policies, seeking valuable feedback from stakeholders' groups from across Asia and the Pacific as it updates its environment, involuntary resettlement and indigenous peoples safeguard policies.
The consultation process gives stakeholders a chance to review and comment on the key features of the safeguard policy update, including efforts to harmonise the ADB's safeguard requirements with other multilateral financial institutions. "We have a consultation process that's on track," said Director of ADB Environment and Social Safeguards Division Nessim J. Ahmad.
"The safeguard policy update is about improving our policies and focusing our efforts on more effective implementation of our projects in ways that better serve and protect the people and environment affected by development."
Ahmad said the intent was to "bring safeguard policies into one consolidated policy statement. The update process would help us develop a clear and shared understanding within the bank and among stakeholders of our basic safeguard principles."
The next meeting, to be held on January 30-31 in Sydney, will be attended the representatives from government, non-government organisations, academia, and the private sector in Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Multilateral financial institutions and other development agencies are also expected to join. The safeguard policy update (SPU) was initiated in 2005 to improve the effectiveness of ADB's safeguard policies and enhance their relevance to changing client needs and ADB's new lending products.
ADB's policies require that projects financed by the ADB avoid harm to people and the environment, and where avoidance is not feasible, minimise, mitigate and/or compensate for adverse impacts of these projects.
The consultation of the proposed SPU policies under the same umbrella, allowing the ADB to adopt a more holistic approach to ensuring those affected persons, communities, and the environment are fully protected.
A new feature of the proposed safeguard policy statement requires the ADB borrowers to establish local grievance mechanisms and strengthen disclosure of information to affected persons. The consultation draft also emphasises the need to strengthen existing country safeguard systems and establish strict criteria to determine whether these may be applied to the ADB-financed projects.
The consultation draft also proposes to increase the scope of the environmental safeguards coverage, leading to a more comprehensive set of principles and requirements. It introduces explicit principles and requirements on biodiversity protection, pollution prevention and abatement, including climate change considerations, and physical cultural resources, as well as key elements of the environmental assessment process.
The ADB provides a mixture of loan and grant financing, and technical assistance to its 14 Pacific developing member countries. The consultative meetings in Sydney follow similar meetings recently held in Central and West Asia, Philippines, South Asia, and for indigenous people's organisations in Asia.
More consultations are planned over the coming months. The consultation draft was posted on the ADB's website in October last year for comments until April. After the consultations, a draft policy will be prepared and made available for additional comments.
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