World Bank Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

World Bank - Essay Example The fundamental role of the Bank has undergone various conflicting opinions. Some of the shareholding countries borrow from it while others may provide fund. It is a financial intermediary working for the advancement of the national interest of the countries. The project brings forth the role of World Bank towards the international public policy management in the present scenario. It includes conflict prevention and changing international environment, fighting poverty, the health and food provisions for the poor countries, monitoring various socio-economic conditions, helping for improving global trading, project structuring and its monitoring and much more. World Bank has various international public policies and instruments which are used for the betterment of various countries especially in the conflict affected countries. It works at different levels according to the different phases of conflicts, analyzing them and implementing those into strategies and programs. One of the special measures taken is for poverty reduction and other for the Low-Income Countries Under Stress (LICUS). For the implementation of these policies and instruments the Bank has started for the Watching Brief where normal Bank assistance will not be possible; e.g. Haiti, Somalia, Sudan. It would allow the Bank to maintain minimum level of engagement, to monitor evolving socioeconomic conditions as well as the prospects to change. This would allow the Bank to re-engage with additional activities whenever needed or asked by the countries. (AEA, 2004)1 Another policy adopted by World Bank is the Transitional Support Strategy (TSS). It is a short to medium term Bank assistance strategy for the countries that do not have Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) or the ones that are not still ready for CAS e.g.: Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste while in transition from conflict. The main objective of this policy is peace and recovery along with the needed assistance. With the stages of Watching Brief and TSS the World Bank would be able to assist even under full fledged CAS. These three levels of engagement are set out in OP/BP 2.30 and provide enough flexibility to the Bank for its involvement and assistance. CPR unit has also developed a Conflict Analysis Framework (CAF) to help Bank analyze more systematically while preparing policies, strategies and programs (CPR 2002e).2 World Bank also takes initiatives in project design and its implementation in developing countries. For Example in the recent project assessment for Sri Lanka the lack of sensitivity to any conflict may also constrain World Bank's interventions (World Bank 2003b)3. World Bank and IMF are the world's largest public lenders and help avoiding Great Depression-like economic disasters. But this help comes with strings attached in the form of policy perceptions as "structural adjustment policies". It means across the country privatization of public utilities and publicly owned industries. It focuses resources on growing export crops for industrial countries than supporting family farms for local communities. This has led to serious problems of inequality and environmental destruction in Latin America, Africa and Asia. (WBIMF, 2007) 4

Climate Change, Global Warming, Renewable and Nuclear Energy Essay

Climate Change, Global Warming, Renewable and Nuclear Energy - Essay Example However, the recently experienced variation particularly in the rise of global temperatures is arguably not as a result of natural variation alone but also the contribution of human activities. These activities are responsible for the heightened Carbon Dioxide levels and other heat trapping gases. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and other Green House Gases (GHGs) such as Methane (CH4), and Nitrous Oxide (N20), contribute to global warming through their green house effect. These gases trap and retain the heat reflected from the earth’s surfaces, hence leading to extreme temperature rise (Turk & Bensel, 2011). The U.S. National Climatic Data Center indicates that global temperatures have been on the rise for the past three centuries. The last century saw an average rise in global temperatures of about 1.58 F with the Arctic warming twice as much (Turk & Bensel, 2011). The past 50 years data on severe temperatures have indicated a significant rise in temperatures; in other words, frosts, cold days and nights were less whereas heat waves, hot days and nights were more prevalent (Turk & Bensel, 2011). Also, this warming has not been attributed to the earth alone but also the oceans which have for the past years absorbed most of the heat present in the atmosphere. As a result, the oceans temperatures have increased significantly too. With time, this heat (from the oceans) will be released back to the atmosphere and this might result in further atmospheric warming. Currently, vast research suggests that global warming is ever increasing due to the high concentration of green house gases within the atmosphere. The green house effect is experienced widely. In fact, scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies have established that there is a lot of absorption of sun’s energy than its emission. Hence, this imbalance is the chief cause of the green house effect (Pewclimate, 2011). The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) produced a report in 2009 regarding the status of impacts of climate change in the U.S. According to it, human activities have greatly contributed to the rise in the concentration of the three main green house gases: Methane, Carbon Dioxide and Nitrous Oxide. Indeed, from the pre-industrial period these gases have increased in astonishing percentages. Carbon Dioxide has increased by 40 percent; Methane by 148 percent and Nitrous Oxide by 18 percent (Harding, 2007). Predictions indicate that with th e current rate in increase of global temperature, 2050 will be devastating as the global average temperatures will exceed to almost 280 C. This will result in sudden and irreversible changes such as loss of the Amazon forest, vast melting of the Greenland cap, and release of Carbon dioxide from the soils (Turk & Bensel, 2011). Worse still, it is feared that smoke, hazes and specks emitted from the fossil fuel and vegetation could be currently mitigating global warming by acting as a cover which could be averting solar energy back to space. The current trend of cleaning up air pollution will eradicate this â€Å"global dimming effect† resulting in future increases in average global temperatures by almost 100 C (Turk & Bensel, 2011). Renewable Energy Recently, there has been a major concern to switch from using fossil fuels to the renewable forms of energy. However, to achieve this, we should take note of two things. First, there should be intensive research so as to offer alte rnative sources of energy in order to cut down on the prices of energies. Second, there is need for the energy prices to depict their true value; in other words, these prices should reflect hidden costs such as the environmental costs which are linked to the