ABSTRACT
This chapter considers issues around environment and climate change, structural constraints, and the use of cost-benefit analysis for decision making. It focuses on three kinds of constraints. The first involves overcoming apparent conflicts between policy objectives by finding opportunities to exploit win-win situations. The second is overcoming internal institutional constraints, such as limitations placed by governing charters and policies. The third relates to information constraints that may make it more difficult to choose rationally among options, forgoing good opportunities. Opportunities can also be missed because of structural constraints that affect the ability of development organizations to provide optimal services to clients. In 1997, the World Bank identified ten policies as safeguards that would direct development in ways that would do no harm. A 2010 evaluation found that the World Bank's safeguard policies needed to be more balanced, with several enhancements in the area of social risks.
