Annual Report on the Environment and Natural Resources 1996

Date issued
Jan 1997
This Annual Report details the Bank's activities in environment and natural resources during 1996. The Bank has translated its sustainable development mandate into five priority areas of activity: its government lending operations, private sector debt and equity funding, technical cooperations and grants. The Bank's activities enhance human capital formation, seek to eradicate rural poverty and promote sustainable agriculture, advance integrated natural resources and environmental management, improve the nature of urban development, and address critical needs for economic and financial modernization. The recently established Sustainable Markets for Sustainable Energy Program embodies this effort to bring new ideas and practices to the region in the form of pilot projects for energy efficient technologies and practices and sources of clean energy. Overall in 1996, the IDB and the Multilateral Investment Fund approved 12 environmental and natural resources loans for a total of $815 million, up from $796 million a year earlier.