MANAGING SUSTAINABILITY WORLD BANK-STYLE:
AN EVALUATION OF THE WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2003
World Summit Paper #19; Managing Sustainability World Bank-Style:
An Evaluation of the World Development Report 2003; With contributions
from Liane Schalatek, Barbara Unmüssig, Herman Daly, Marieke Huysentruyt,
Raj Patel, The IDS Environment Group, Lawrence Surendra and Pamela Foster.
The World Bank’s annual World Development Report (WDR) is the Bank’s
flagship publication. This year’s WDR 2003 entitled Dynamic Development
in a Sustainable World – scheduled to be launched at the World
Summit – represents the major World Bank contribution to the discussion
about sustainable development in Johannesburg. Given the importance of
the World Bank as both major global development agency and major development
financier, the Bank’s most “up-to-date” thinking about
an ecologically, socially and eco-nomically-balanced development deserves
scrutiny, attention and critical vigilance by an engaged civil society.
The draft version of the WDR 2003 regrettably was only made available
by the World Bank for a few weeks on their website until the end of May
– and only after repeated prodding from non-governmental organisations.
Some earlier, very limited consulta-tions with civil society about a first
draft of the report did take place, but only selected few NGOs were even
invited to attend a couple of videoconferences and actual meetings with
WDR authors. Bank staff justified this with a shortened production time-table
for the report. The unique opportunity for a broad geographic and stakeholder
involvement that one would have expected for a major international organisation’s
discussion and strategy paper for the World Summit was not taken up –
the first in a long series of missed opportunities that characterise this
year’s WDR, as some of the commentators argue.
This publication, a co-operation between the Heinrich Boell Foundation
Washington and the London-based Bretton Woods Project, offers a timely
first collection of “intermediate” discussion pieces on the
WDR 2003. The term “intermediate” highlights the fact that the
commentaries collected in this brochure are based upon a draft of the
WDR, not the final version to be launched in Johannesburg. It also emphasises
our hope that this publication can act as a stepping-stone towards further,
broader, and stimulating debate on the WDR 2003. Although the publication
is a useful first evaluation of the 200-plus-pages of the WDR 2003, it
is, by no means, an exhaustive or definitive one. We are looking forward
to hearing your feedback as well as your own assessment of the WDR 2003.
[ pdf; 63 pages ]
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