First Meeting of the Kitakyushu Initiative Network

20-21 November 2001

ADB’s Activities in Urban Environmental Management[1]

Masami Tsuji

Environment Division

Asian Development Bank (ADB)

1. ADB Operations

(1) Introduction

ADB’s development work is aimed at improving the welfare of the people of Asia and the Pacific, especially of the 900 million poor living on less than a dollar a day.

ADB’s projects and programs, whether poverty interventions or otherwise, emphasize one or more of the following priorities: (i) economic growth, (ii) human development, (iii) gender and development, (iv) good governance, (v) environmental protection, (vi) private sector development, and (vii) regional cooperation.

Each priority is related directly to the three pillars of ADB’s poverty reduction strategy: (i) pro-poor, sustainable economic growth, (ii) social development, and (iii) good governance.

Other crosscutting priorities are law and policy reform and social dimensions of development.

Sectors: ADB’s operations are diverse, covering: (i) agriculture and natural resources, (ii) energy, (iii) finance, (iv) industry and nonfuel minerals, (v) social infrastructure, transport, and communications, and (vi) activities involving multiple sectors.

Development Tools: ADB lends to governments and to public and private enterprises in its developing member countries (DMCs). ADB’s principal tools are loans and technical assistance (TA), which are provided to governments for specific, high-priority development projects and programs. ADB’s lending both supports and promotes investment for development based on country’s priorities. In 2000, ADB provided loans totaling US$5.8 billion, and TA activities totaling US$172 million.

(2) How does ADB promote Urban Environmental Management?

Policy Papers and Strategies: As of now, ADB developed 36 policy papers and strategies[2] for various issues, such as ADB’s long- or mid- term strategic framework, sectoral policy (agriculture, energy, fisheries, health, etc.), and policies on crosscutting issues (cooperation with NGOs, poverty reduction, governance, involuntary resettlement, etc.). Environment policy is under preparation in consultation with various stakeholders through meetings in many member countries and the website. Among these papers, Urban Sector Strategy serves for the promotion of urban environmental management.

The Urban Sector Strategy recognizes that urban environmental conditions in the region are threatened by rapid and often uncontrolled growth, inadequate and poorly maintained infrastructure, industrialization, and increasing vehicle densities. The strategy recognizes the importance of preventive action, which need not be capital intensive, compared with remedial action. The strategy also mentions ADB’s involvement in the sector including water supply, sanitation, and solid waste management as well as various other urban issues. The strategy listed up the following aspects that need to be considered: (i) acknowledge the complexity, (ii) community involvement, (iii) target beneficiaries, (iv) increase emphasis on the environment, (v) enhance the focus on urban transport, (vi) housing for the poor, (vii) service delivery, (viii) social equity, (ix) spatial planning and effective land management, and (x) local government.

As one of the policies for improving urban management, there is a section on urban environmental management in the strategy. It includes following issues with detailed priority strategies: (i) stimulate demand for investments and policy reform, (ii) address industrial waste management, (iii) manage domestic waste, (iv) control air pollution, (v) strengthen urban environmental management systems, and (vi) provide for disaster mitigation. There is also a section on policies for urban subsectors. For water supply, sanitation and solid waste management, the following issues are raised: (i) increase institutional autonomy, (ii) improve financial resource management, and (iii) use performance indicators. The strategy contains some more information on target countries and subsections, choice of project location and components, etc.

CSP: The Country Strategy and Program (CSP) (i) defines ADB’s medium-term development strategy as agreed with the DMC, (ii) identifies and describes ADB’s distinctive role, focused on ADB’s overarching goal of reducing poverty, as well as the DMC’s development priorities, (iii) is anchored on strong poverty, economic, social, and sector analysis, and (iv) determines ADB’s country-specific poverty reduction strategy, thematic, and sector priorities in the country. The CSP is prepared with the DMC’s active participation through consultation with the government and other stakeholders – civil society, NGOs, the private sector, and other aid agencies. It is prepared once every five years. A CSP update is prepared every year taking into account the continued relevance of the CSP, its implementation, and its operational program for the next 3 years[3]. CSPs contain information on future loan and TA projects.

2. Regional Cooperation for Urban Environment

Regional and International Fora: ADB assists DMCs in developing regional and subregional cooperation programs. From this viewpoint, ADB contributed substantively and financially to various regional/international activities both for specific topics such as climate change, cleaner production, and comprehensive framework such as the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific 2000 (MCED) and regional/subregional consultation for the preparation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). ADB contributes to the Cities Alliance (CA) developed by the World Bank and UNCHS (Habitat).

Publication: Asian Environment Outlook (AEO) 2001, a report by ADB provides in-depth policy analyses of salient environmental issues common to many of DMCs. It was developed in cooperation with various organizations including IGES. It recommends specific actions to policy makers for achieving environmentally sustainable development. For urban sector, it recommends to (i) identify new sources for urban infrastructure revenue, (ii) consider infrastructure financing innovations for urban environment such as municipal, tax-free bonds, pollution charges or “green” taxes, and empowerment of local authorities to raise financial resources, (iii) link urban planning with private investment plans, (iv) shift from outdated automobile and bus or jeepney transport by removing reverse incentives that support such use, and (v) prepare integrated, 20-year urban and industrial development plans based on national guidelines that include recognition and anticipation of slum growth.

RETA: The improvement of urban environment in each country is promoted based on the implementation of the CSP, including the implementation of loan and TA projects. In addition to this, ADB contributes to the urban environmental issues by implementing regional TAs (RETAs). In the field of urban environment, ADB is implementing a RETA for Poverty Reduction through Urban Environmental Improvement.

MAPES: Through the implementation of the RETA mentioned above, the second Mayors’ Asia-Pacific Environmental Summit (MAPES) was convened in Honolulu on 4-6 May 2001, in collaboration with various partners including City and County of Honolulu, UNEP, UNDP/UNCHS (Habitat), ICLEI, ICMA, USAID, USAEP, AEON Group Environmental Foundation as well as ADB. Four hundred delegates from 28 countries and 118 cities, including over 100 Governors and Mayors, attended the MAPES. Snap shot cities case studies, consisted of those of (i) Wuhan, PRC, (ii) Phuket, Thailand, (iii) Kitakyushu, Japan, (iv) Ebeye, Marshall Islands, (v) Hyderabad, India, and (vi) Los Angeles, USA, were introduced. Four parallel workshops on (i) sustainable water and waste management, (ii) sustainable tourism, (iii) urban air quality and sustainable energy, and (iv) sustainable regional and urban planning were held with presentations and discussions. The workshops were a good opportunity to learn innovative measures in many cities in the region on each topic. Participants were expected to bring back good practices to apply these to home cities. On the last day, a Communiqué on Livable Cities was prepared and adopted. The Communiqué contains not only background, findings, actions, and policy framework for livable cities, but also commitments of many Mayors. This is based on the recognition of the importance of implementing concrete measures in a planned timeframe. For example, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, committed to (i) carry out and complete the city’s Environmental Management Strategy divided into phases of 2001-2005, 2001-2010,and 2001-2020, (ii) expand the community environmental education program, from the streets and out into the whole society, (iii) continue to carry out the following programs: a) air and ground water quality monitoring, b) cleanup the Nhieu Loca – Thi Nghe canal drainage system, c) anti-flooding measures, improving drainage during the rainy season, d) support enterprises to reduce emissions and engage in cleaner production, upgrade the Dong Thanh landfill, and (iv) launch the Dong Nai – Saigon River Basin Management Plan. Nonthaburi, Thailand will (i) minimize solid waste by 20% by the year 2003, (ii) increase green area 5% in the city, (iii) climate change campaign for Nonthaburi city to avoid global warming, and (iv) maintain sustainable healthy city. The outcome of the MAPES was introduced at an ADB Annual Meeting Seminar.

3. Partnership and outreach

It is important to mainstream environmental issues by integrating these into national and local policies. It is also important to ensure implementation of environmental programs in a certain timeframe. For urban environmental issues, the ownership of local governments is serious, as well as regional cooperation and network. The partnership should be not only among local governments, but also between local governments and various stakeholders including private sector, NGOs, multilateral/bilateral aid agencies, international and regional organizations such as UN organizations, ICLEI, and ICMA. ADB can provide local governments and their network such as this meeting with its experience and arrangements for the promotion of urban environment in prioritized specific cities in consultation with national governments.

[1] The views expressed in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Asian Development Bank.

[2] All of these are available at the website of ADB (www.adb.org).

[3] CSPs and their Updates are available at the website of ADB.