greening aid understanding the environmental impact of development assistance may 2008

[...]... multilateral environmental aid, 1980–1999: billions of constant US$ for ‘green’ (globally significant) and ‘brown’ (local issues) projects 33 2.6 Count of aid projects by type of environmental aid, 1980–1999 36 2.7 Amount of aid from all donors to environmental aid of four types, 1980–1999 37 3.1a Top ten recipients of environmental aid, by type, 1980–1989 57 3.1b Top ten recipients of environmental aid, by... in the issue.’ The European Commission reported that ‘along with other donors, [we face] a number of difficulties in calculating the precise amount of environmental expenditure There is no generally accepted definition of an environmental project” or of the environmental component of an integrated development/ environment project.’ They concluded that their ‘statistical system does not enable an environmental. .. institutions that may promote or hinder the passage of environmental policy in general, and environmental foreign aid policy in particular Hypotheses tying aid allocation to high GDP per capita and ‘postmaterialist values’ are supported, but they are better able to explain the fall in ‘dirty’ aid than the rise in environmental aid Environmental lobbies appear to be reducing the share of aid allocated for... ‘lock-in’ unpopular reforms 36 Others claim that the formal decision rules of multilateral development banks enable them to provide more effective aid than multilateral grant-making agencies 37 Another body of literature identifies the criteria by which aid is allocated among recipient countries as a key determinant of environmental aid effectiveness 38 Whether the type of donor and the formal decision rules... effectiveness of these two different types of aid 23 Throughout the rest of the book, we will explore whether environmental aid has the same characteristics as development aid in general, or whether it is allocated to more capable recipients, and is thus potentially more effective at achieving its stated purposes 24 Gaps in Understanding Aid Allocation and the Environment Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, scholars... affect environmental aid allocation is explored in Chapter 8 Understanding Environmental Aid: The Principal–agent Framework What motivates increases and cutbacks in the environmental aid budgets of donor countries? Why do some environmental aid donors channel funds through multilateral agencies, while others use their own bilateral agencies? Why do some recipient countries get more environmental aid than... cent of what experts said was needed, respectively Shifting priorities in environmental aid at the end of our study period showed climate change and biodiversity aid increasing, but water and land aid dropping These case studies lay some groundwork and highlight the need to understand what is driving the allocation of environmental aid In Chapters 3 and 4, we analyze an important bargain in the aid. .. donors of environmental aid Brazil and Kenya are both of biological importance to donors with their rainforests and ‘charismatic’ fauna Egypt lacks both of these, but receives great amounts of environmental aid because it is a geopolitical keystone in its region, especially to the United States The chapter raises the core question of whose needs get met—donors’ or recipients’? Chapter 4 is the core of. .. governments spend the most on foreign assistance for the environment and why? Total environmental aid from bilateral donors skyrocketed in real terms during the 1980s and 1990s, from $5.8 billion in the first five years of the 1980s to $27.4 billion in the latter half of the 1990s Meanwhile, funding for aid projects with overall negative environmental impacts declined significantly over the 1990s, from... principal–agent theory to explain crossnational patterns in environmental aid donation We empirically evaluate whether citizens of developed countries authorize and financially empower their elected of cials to resolve specific regional and international environmental problems, or whether they find their primary motivation in a broader set of values We also test for the impact of interest group influence by environmentalist, . Count of aid projects by type of environmental aid, 1980–1999 36 2.7. Amount of aid from all donors to environmental aid of four types, 1980–1999 37 3.1a. Top ten recipients of environmental aid, . range of questions surrounding development assistance and the environment. The compilation and analysis of the PLAID database that forms the back- bone of this book has put us in the debt of many. environmental aid allocation—is it received by countries with the greatest environmental problems? Is it being used to offset the impact of other types of aid, or addressing geopolitical, rather than environmental