A New Green Order? The World Bank and the Politics of the Global Envi

by Young, Zoe

• ISBN13: 9780745315485
• ISBN10: 0745315488
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781849640732
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-20
• Publisher: Pluto Press

Summary

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a publicly funded, multi-billion dollar experiment in global resource management. It was set up in 1991 under the auspices of the World Bank to fund international conventions on climate change and biodiversity. Investigating the workings of this little known aid fund, Zoe Young takes a critical look at the conflicts involved, focusing on how the GEF's agenda relates to questions of globalisation, knowledge and accountability in the United States and the World Bank.Zoe Young explains how the GEF was formed by Western governments to deflect protest against the environmental impacts of the World Bank and the IMF in the 1980s, while retaining control of the scope of the new treaties. She examines the central paradox of the GEF: although intended to promote reform and co-operation for 'global' conservation, the GEF cannot challenge damaging economic policies or powerful interest groups. Instead it has helped to put prices on nature and open up Southern resources and markets to 'global' experts and investors. As our landscapes, fertility, cultures and ecosystems are being destroyed every day, Zoe Young gives a disturbing account of the complex issues that must be addressed before the world's environment can be managed more democratically -- and effectively.

Author Biography

Zoe Young has researched and written about the GEF for several years with the University of Hull, and co-directed the documentary 'Suits and Savages - Why the World Bank Won't Save the World' with Conscious Cinema.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgements	x
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms	xi
Greening the New World Order?	1	(17)
`The Future of the Earth ... In Our Hands'	1	(2)
The GEF in Context	3	(2)
Establishing the GEF	5	(3)
The GEF in Practice	8	(5)
Understanding the GEF	13	(3)
Outline of the Book	16	(1)
Conclusions	17	(1)
Global Enclosures and their Discontents	18	(30)
Globalisation and its Institutions	19	(7)
Shaping Development from Above	26	(8)
Integrating Environment and Development	34	(6)
Multilateral Environment Agreements	40	(7)
Conclusions	47	(1)
Creation of a Global Green Fund	48	(32)
The GEF's Initiation	49	(8)
The Institutional Arrangement Created	57	(7)
UNCED and After	64	(14)
Conclusions	78	(2)
Getting the New Facility in Order	80	(48)
Review and Restructuring	82	(9)
The New Governance Structure	91	(13)
The New Operational Structure	104	(12)
The New Issues Emerging	116	(11)
Conclusions	127	(1)
Putting Plans into Practice	128	(46)
Summary of GEF Project Work	129	(2)
Raising the Money	131	(8)
Sources of `GEFable' Projects	139	(9)
Allocating the Money	148	(9)
Distributing the Money	157	(8)
Devolving Finance	165	(6)
Risks in the GEF Portfolio	171	(2)
Conclusions	173	(1)
Competition, Cooperation and Distorted Feedback	174	(35)
Inside GEF	175	(10)
Relations in the GEF Family	185	(7)
Participation and Feedback	192	(8)
Democracy, Science and Knowledge	200	(8)
Conclusions	208	(1)
Can Anyone Save the World?	209	(23)
Revisiting Assessments	210	(7)
Sustaining Systems	217	(8)
Possible Alternatives to Spending on a GEF	225	(4)
Final Thoughts	229	(3)
Appendices	232	(30)
References	262	(16)
Index	278