Asian Development Bank must craft a policy that truly protects people and the planet

Civil society organisations are keen to see the ADB adopt new measures that promote comprehensive and genuine safeguarding of the environment and communities affected by the bank’s projects. What we need is an environmental and social framework that truly upholds the principle of “do no harm” in planning, design and implementation.

Despite the Safeguard Policy Statement’s vaunted new approach to avoiding, mitigating or minimising adverse impacts on the environment and people, ADB projects have caused irreparable damage to communities and the environment.

An operational review of the Safeguard Policy Statement by the ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department found substantial gaps in safeguard delivery and safeguard failures at the project level due to lack of due diligence. Key problems with the ADB’s safeguard policy, according to the Independent Evaluation Department, include a lack of meaningful consultation at the project design phase, gaps within environmental and social impact assessments and a lack of time-bound project-related information disclosure to affected communities.

Almost half the world’s population lives in a country that spends more on external debt service than on investments in health or education, the report said. If these countries were to invest resources at the levels needed to meet internationally agreed climate and development goals, many of them would become bankrupt in the next five years.

Scientists estimate that global biodiversity declined by 2 to 11 per cent, largely due to land-use changes, but climate change will be the primary driver of biodiversity loss by mid-century.

For the past two years, civil society organisations have been engaging with the environmental and social framework review