A review of the Bank’s lending for the urban environment was conducted during FY2002-2003. The review was designed and carried out to fill a knowledge gap in the understanding of the Bank’s current commitments toward improving the urban environment. Partial reviews had been carried out before—as part of the urban development or the environment sector portfolios, for example—but no comprehensive effort had been made to measure overall investments in Bank project activities designed to have a positive impact on the urban environment. The portfolio review was also conceived as a vehicle to facilitate exchanges among different infrastructure sectors and between the staff of the infrastructure and environment networks, which share responsibility for the urban environmental agenda. The review covers some new and emerging urban environmental issues, such as those related to the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.
As of March 2003, there were 264 ongoing operations aimed at improving urban environmental quality, investing over US$12 billion, or 12.6 percent of the Bank’s total lending. Urban environment, as a policy and operational agenda, is shared mainly by the Bank’s Urban, Environment, Water and Sanitation, and Energy sectors. While the Bank’s investments are directed at the much needed basic environmental services especially for the urban poor, the challenge of improving urban environment or livability in large cities needs further attention. Increasing climate variability, its impacts especially sea-level rise, and urban impacts of natural disasters are some of the new challenges which are becoming more and more part of the daily challenges facing cities in the developing world, seventy percent of which are located on the coasts. The volume provides pragmatic recommendations on how to deal with the challenge of this Expanded Brown Agenda.
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