Structural adjustment and the environment: the need for an analytical methodology

• Published in: Ecological economics Vol. 27; no. 3; pp. 267 - 281
• Main Authors: Kessler, J.J, Van Dorp, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.1998; Elsevier
• Series: Ecological Economics
• Subjects: Environmental assessment; Environmental impact; IMF; IWF-Kredit; Macro-economic reform; Multilateral financial institutions; Natural resources; Structural adjustment; Sustainability indicators; Umweltbewertung; Welt; Wirtschaftsindikator; World Bank; Natural resources; Environmental assessment; Structural adjustment; IMF; World Bank; Multilateral financial institutions; Sustainability indicators; Macro-economic reform; Environmental impact
• ISSN: 0921-8009; 1873-6106
• DOI: 10.1016/S0921-8009(97)00184-5

This article shows how prevailing World Bank and IMF orthodoxy affects the environment in the South, and offers an analytical methodology for dealing with it. Existing studies and reviews conclude that structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) in developing countries have both negative and positive environmental impacts, and that both types of impacts show great variation. This article summarises the methodological difficulties in environmental impact assessments (EIAs) of SAPs and reports on a study on the environmental impacts of SAPs which took as the entry point of analysis, the three natural resources, soils, water and forests, contrary to other studies on this subject. The methodology developed for this study aimed at generating more specific conclusions for variable ecological regions and social groups. The methodology appears to be a useful starting point to develop practical strategic environmental assessment (SEA) tools for planning SAPs and other policies oriented at sustainable development. Such tools would be applied at the earliest possible stage of development planning, preferably before SAPs are implemented. Available SEA tools and methodologies should be reviewed, adjusted and improved to serve the purpose of identifying the crucial environmental and social issues involved, to be considered during the economic adjustment process, and to identify key sustainability indicators. It can be concluded that the methodology developed for this study has been useful to further clarify and specify environmental impacts of SAPs, and to identify relevant key issues which, in the absence of necessary data, contribute to finding relevant indicators of an efficient monitoring system.