ABSTRACT
Environmental organizations, particularly in the United States, have challenged the Bank’s development model forcefully enough to win his accolade as a ‘major threat’. Richard Webb adds that the environmentalists are ‘prepared to place much greater weight on uncertainties than has been the case. Demands on staff time for the preparation and execution of more complex, environmentally beneficial loans would necessarily increase. Staff nervousness is doubtless heightened because environmentalists, taking advantage of the Bank’s own environmental impact assessments, routinely make its life miserable. The environment is a battlefield between non-governmental organizations and the Bank but it is also, inside the Bank, turning into a major geo-political conflict between North and South. The available evidence suggests, rather, that the Bank hangs on tooth and nail even in the face of the most damning environmental or human rights evidence. The board’s decision immediately triggered blanket condemnation from the world’s environmental community.
