Africa Development Bank Operational Safeguard Policies

1.30Africa Development Bank Operational Safeguard Policies

The AfDB is concerned about the environmental and social impacts of its activities and requires environmental assessments for all projects it is to finance. Its safeguards policies, aimed at preventing and mitigating undue harm to people and their environment in the development process, also provide a platform for the participation of stakeholders in project design and implementation. The operational safeguard policies are:

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  Operational Safeguard 1: Environmental and social assessment. This overarching safeguard governs the process of determining a project’s environmental and social category and the resulting environmental and social assessment requirements.
  

OS 1: Environmental and Social Assessment. This overarching safeguard governs the process of determining a project’s environmental and social category and the resulting environmental and social assessment requirements: the scope of application; categorisation; use of a SESA and ESIA, where appropriate; Environmental and Social Management Plans; climate change vulnerability assessment; public consultation; community impacts; appraisal and treatment of vulnerable groups; and grievance procedures. It updates and consolidates the policy commitments set out in the Bank’s policy on the environment.

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  Operational Safeguard 2: Involuntary resettlement: Land acquisition, population displacement and compensation. This safeguard consolidates the policy commitments and requirements set out in the Bank’s policy on involuntary resettlement, and incorporates a number of refinements designed to improve the operational effectiveness of those requirements.
  

The safeguard retains the requirement to provide compensation at full replacement cost; reiterates the importance of a resettlement that improves standards of living, income-earning capacity, and overall means of livelihood; and emphasises the need to ensure that social considerations, such as gender, age, and stakes in the project outcome, do not disenfranchise particular project-affected people.

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  Operational Safeguard 3: Biodiversity and ecosystem services. This safeguard aims to conserve biological diversity and promote the sustainable use of natural resources. It also translates the commitments in the Bank’s policy on integrated water resources management into operational requirements.
  

OS 3: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. The overarching objective of this safeguard is to conserve biological diversity and promote the sustainable use of natural resources. It translates into OS requirements the Bank’s commitments in its policy on integrated water resources management and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. The safeguard reflects the importance of biodiversity on the African continent and the value of key ecosystems to the population, emphasizing the need to “respect, conserve and maintain [the] knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities… [and] to protect and encourage customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation or sustainable use requirements.

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  Operational Safeguard 4: Pollution prevention and control, hazardous materials and resource efficiency. This safeguard covers the range of key impacts of pollution, waste, and hazardous materials for which there are agreed international conventions, as well as comprehensive industry-specific and regional standards, including greenhouse gas accounting, that other multilateral development banks follow.
  

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  Operational Safeguard 5: Labour Conditions, Health and Safety. This safeguard establishes the Bank’s requirements for its borrowers or clients concerning workers’ conditions, rights and protection from abuse or exploitation. It also ensures greater harmonisation with most other multilateral development banks.
  

OS 5: Labour Conditions, Health and Safety. This safeguard establishes the Bank’s requirements for its borrowers or clients concerning workers’ conditions, rights and protection from abuse or exploitation. It covers working conditions, workers’ organizations, occupational health and safety, and avoidance of child or forced labour.

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