Buttarelli, Giorgio (A.A. 2017/2018) The reform of the world bank safeguard policies: the new standard on biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of living natural resources. Tesi di Laurea in Organizzazioni internazionali, Luiss Guido Carli, relatore Pietro Pustorino, pp. 133. [Single Cycle Master's Degree Thesis]

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Abstract/Index

The aim of this work is to express an objective judgment on the Reform of the World Bank Safeguards, in particular on the new standard on biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of living natural resources. The first chapter will offer a general description of the World Bank Group (WBG). In particular, it will examine its gradual development, each of its member institutions, their functioning and operations. The Group reunites the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), each focused on a particular aspect of development. The Group itself has no juridical personality and can be regarded as an organizational form that builds on a number of institutional and administrative linkages between its components. As such, it provides countless opportunities for constant dialogue and cooperation among its affiliates. The WBG institutions, in particular the IBRD and IDA (together known also as “the World Bank”) have also maintained an intense relationship with other International Organizations since their very birth, namely the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the United Nations (UN). The second chapter points out that the WBG institutions have developed Operational Policies and Procedures (OPPs), which can be regarded as instructions given to their staff that concern the manner in which their operations should be conducted. The chapter focuses on the Policies and Procedures developed by “the World Bank” and explores their true normative value. Indeed, the OPPs have an internal dimension, but they may also enter the loan and credits agreements concluded with the Institutions’ clients thereby acquiring an external dimension and becoming binding on the borrowers. This happens in particular with the Bank’s environmental and social standards. The World Bank has employed several mechanisms to assure compliance with its Policies and Procedures. The most effective was undoubtedly the Inspection Panel, the first independent accountability mechanism ever created in a development Bank. Development experts have affirmed that the Panel has actually contributed to a “legalization” of the World Bank Policies. Indeed, the Panel has better clarified their meaning and scope, has limited the Bank Management’s discretion in applying such policies and has furthered their normative development. The Chapter goes on to examine the history and the function of the Panel, recognising its successes and benefits, notwithstanding its intrinsic limitations. The last chapter of this thesis restricts the focus on the World Bank’s primary environmental and social standards: the Safeguard Policies. These documents set out the requirements aimed at preventing harm to the people and the environment in carrying out financed projects. This chapter recalls the slow expansion of the Bank’s mandate and the development of its growing engagement in the field of environmental protection. The Safeguard Policies represent the apex of this internal “Cultural Revolution” and immediately become a successful model of pursuing a Sustainable Development. In the following years, the development landscape has been shaken by important changes: the Bank has attracted new clients, other Financial Institutions have conceived more visionary sustainability policies and even new development priorities have arisen in the international community. The Bank soon realized that it was necessary to review its set of Safeguard Policies. Following an ambitious reform process, the new Environmental and Social Framework (the ESF) finally entered into force in October 2018. This upgraded system exhibits a specific standard that focuses on one of the most highly debated issue in the international arena: Biodiversity conservation. The second part of this chapter is entirely devoted to a deep analysis of this Standard (ESS6) and its distinctive features. In particular, this examination will explore how international law regulates the themes addressed in ESS6.

References

Bibliografia: pp. 122-132.

Thesis Type:	Single Cycle Master's Degree Thesis
Institution:	Luiss Guido Carli
Degree Program:	Single Cycle Master's Degree Programs > Single Cycle Master's Degree Program in Law (LMG-01)
Outstanding Thesis:	Department of Law
Chair:	Organizzazioni internazionali
Thesis Supervisor:	Pustorino, Pietro
Thesis Co-Supervisor:	Virzo, Roberto
Academic Year:	2017/2018
Session:	Extraordinary
Deposited by:	Maria Teresa Nisticò
Date Deposited:	24 May 2019 07:55
Last Modified:	24 May 2019 08:28
URI:	https://tesi.luiss.it/id/eprint/23648

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