World Bank Stepping Up to Curb Climate Change.. Maybe

 I'm back after some time off; four wisdom teeth were taken out last week, rendering me somewhat (if not totally) useless. But back to the issues..

World Bank president Robert Zoellick announced last week that the organization will stop funding to middle income countries for the building of coal fired power plants. What's more, the World Bank will only give loans to the poorest countries only after they have exhausted alternative sources.

The World Bank plays a significant role in financing major infrastructure and development projects worldwide in developing nations. However, they have been criticized for a strong focus on economic development without regard for environmental concerns, in particular the role that their development projects may have in global climate change. This program in particular has received criticism for not doing enough to help developing countries with alternative sources, and may in fact just be a so called "green-washing" of the World Bank's image, while they continue to go on with business as usual.

This argument, more importantly, highlights the crux of one of the most relevant environmental problems we face today. As research suggests, countries tend to develop more pro-environmental attitudes once they have achieved some level of economic success and stability, which seems to indicate that in order to create a more environmentally friendly global society, that the poorest nations need to be lifted out of poverty and into economic prosperity. This may come at a cost, however. If organizations like the World Bank, which certainly are doing their best to alleviate poverty and its associated miseries, they can not use traditional modes of resource extraction and exploitation to create wealth. If done so, the environmental costs will be enormous, and by the time that developing nations become developed, so much of our natural environment may be lost, and climate change so irreparably set into motion, that conservation efforts and environmental protection may simply have failed.

In order to meet the needs of nations seeking to emerge from generations of poverty, a strong commitment must be made from groups such as the World Bank and the IMF to economic development that is strictly based in sustainable development principles, with an emphasis on clean technology. If this is not done, our world and its future ten billion inhabitants may be left to a world strapped for resources and a healthy environment.

For a more controversial, though perhaps more truthful take on the World Bank and IMF and their role in alleviating poverty and encouraging development, check out this video..