Events in 2005 and 2006

Following the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004, the World Bank committed more than $835 million to help countries recover. Working with many of the tsunami-affected countries to assess damage and reconstruction needs, we have been helping communities to rebuild damaged infrastructure, to revive businesses, farms, and services, and to reestablish people’s livelihoods, including providing small cash grants to hundreds of thousands of tsunami-affected families.

March 7, 2005: The International Development Association signed a series of agreements with seven African countries for the Africa Emergency Locust Project. Beneficiary countries are Burkina Faso, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal. Each country has moved forward on individual strategies to combat the infestation and limit the damage to future harvests. The project encourages coordination among the many donors who have come forward with aid.

April 18, 2005: The Czech Republic graduated from being a recipient of World Bank financial and technical assistance to being an important partner and provider of development assistance.

April 24, 2005: The World Bank substantially boosted its support for combating malaria with Rolling Back Malaria: The Global Strategy and Booster Program—a strategy to mobilize financial and technical resources within the development community and private sector to expand prevention and treatment of malaria.

May 20, 2005: A revised policy on Indigenous Peoples was endorsed by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors, reflecting a strategic shift toward a broader, direct engagement with Indigenous Peoples’ communities. According to the revised policy, the Bank will provide financing to development programs that affect Indigenous Peoples “only where free, prior and informed consultation results in broad community support for the project by the affected Indigenous Peoples.” The new policy requires a social assessment that spells out steps that will ensure that Indigenous Peoples affected by projects using World Bank financing will receive culturally appropriate social and economic benefits.

May 25, 2005: The 2005 Global Development Marketplace set the stage for a new thematic approach toward incubating solutions to some of the most demanding development challenges and using the results to inform thinking and knowledge-sharing within the World Bank and the development community at large. Environment was chosen as the first theme. More than 2,600 proposals were received, which were reviewed by over 150 environmental experts both within and outside the World Bank. Thirty-one winning projects shared a total award pool of $4 million. The theme of the 2006 Global Development Marketplace is innovative solutions for water supply, sanitation, and energy services in developing countries. Local projects will again share $4million in awards.

June 1, 2005: Paul D. Wolfowitz took office as the tenth World Bank Group President, succeeding James D. Wolfensohn. He expressed his deep belief in the mission of the World Bank—helping the world’s poorest lift themselves out of poverty. He also affirmed the urgent need to find the right balance among debt relief, loans, and grants; the Bank’s role as lender, grantor, and technical advisor; and timely, high-quality delivery of financial support versus the need for conditions, accountability, and safeguards.

August 24, 2005: The Global Program for Sustainable Fisheries (PROFISH) was launched to turn the rising tide of depletion of fisheries and degradation of marine habitats. PROFISH is a partnership between developing countries, donors, technical agencies, and the private sector to create incentives for sustainable fisheries, better controls, and improvements in the equitable distribution of fisheries benefits to combat poverty. PROFISH is also a platform for dialogue among stakeholders on contentious issues like subsidies, foreign access agreements, and transparency in fisheries..

October 24, 2005: The World Bank Group received the 2005 Green Power Leadership Award, which recognized the Bank Group’s leadership among the largest purchasers of green power in the United States. The award is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Center for Resource Solutions. The Bank has been working for more than 10 years to reduce its environmental footprint, particularly through energy efficiency. In 2004, the World Bank Group took its greening program a step further by purchasing 101,700 megawatts of renewable energy certificates, primarily in wind power, to cover 100 percent of the electricity load of its headquarters buildings in Washington, DC

December 15, 2005: To help Pakistan recover from the October 8, 2005, earthquake on the Pakistan-India border, the Board of Executive Directors approved an International Development Association credit for $400 million. The Earthquake Emergency Recovery Credit is supporting housing reconstruction, livelihood support, import financing, and capacity building in Pakistan and will also make funds available for other sectors as needed, such as social protection, health, education, agriculture, roads, water supply, and other infrastructure.

December 19, 2005: The World Bank’s Umbrella Carbon Facility signed emission reductions purchase agreements with two Chinese companies for the largest emission reductions project on record. The two private chemical companies in Jiangsu Province are expected to reduce emissions by about 19 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. The Bank also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese Ministry of Finance to collaborate in the design and development of a Clean Development Fund, which will apply to sustainable development activities the revenues accruing to the Government of China from the sale of emission reductions.

March 28, 2006: The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved financing and implementation details for the World Bank’s contribution toward the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), which will cancel the IDA debt of some of the world’s poorest countries starting on July 1, 2006, at the start of the Bank’s new fiscal year. IDA is expected to provide more than US$37 billion in debt relief over 40 years. Starting on July 1, 2006, IDA is expected to provide US $37 billion in debt relief over 40 years.

May 10, 2006: At the 2006 Development Marketplace Award Ceremony, President Wolfowitz awarded $5 million to 30 innovative projects that will provide concrete benefits to their communities by meeting their basic needs for clean water, hygienic sanitation, and access to energy.

June 5, 2006: On World Environment Day, The World Bank Group announced that we are becoming carbon neutral for emissions from our Washington, D.C. headquarters facilities, for the Spring and Annual meetings in 2006, for daily staff commutes in the Washington area, and all operational travel from headquarters. The Bank Group engages in energy conservation programs and invests in projects to make up for––or “offset”––the amount of carbon we release into the atmosphere from operating our buildings, traveling, and commuting.