WB to review sustainable dev loan June

The World Bank's (WB) board is scheduled to review June 23 possible financing for Colombia under a first programmatic development policy loan for sustainable development, according to a bank document. A first operation will provide US$150mn that will be disbursed in a single tranche. The five highest environmental problems in terms of the cost of environmental degradation equal 3.7% of Colombia's GDP, according to the WB. These costs are mainly linked with increased mortality and morbidity and decreased productivity associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene; natural disasters; poor urban air quality; soil erosion and salinization; and the use of fuel wood in rural households which results in poor indoor air quality. To address these challenges, the government is introducing broad-based reforms to mainstream environmental management in sectoral policy, in line with their commitment to meet the millennium development goals. The first loan will support initial actions that include developing a results-based framework for planning and monitoring progress of the national environmental management system, as well as improvements in inter-institutional coordination and increased public participation in environmental decision making. Further, it will help draft a water resource management law, an action program for establishing an air pollution control national policy and decrees related to environmental licensing and solid waste management. Colombia's finance ministry, with the support of the environment, housing and regional ministry (Minambiente) and the national planning department, will implement the actions to financed with the loan.