Fostering Green Growth in Fragile States

Project Summary:

The objective of this grant is to provide technical assistance (TA) in support of Fragile and Post-Conflict countries, specifically in green initiatives and economic growth, with the help of geospatial infrastructure, data and analytics. FCV countries still face major structural challenges that complicate the adaption of green growth strategies. In this context, the World Bank’s KGGTF supports TA that helps those countries develop geospatial data and analytics. These developments will introduce green-growth approaches and ultimately improve decision making, planning, policy implementation and monitoring. This grant will also provide more cost-effective data options for policy, legal and operational work. KGGTF’s support will ensure that natural resources and assets can provide their full economic potential on a sustainable basis while protecting livelihoods and increasing beneficiary well-being.  

List of Activities:

1. Inception Report - Scoping, increased awareness of green growth issues and how to address them using geospatial data
2. Study Visits - Increased awareness of Korean experience and improved knowledge of best practices 
3. Strategy paper - Improved understanding of green growth in the selected countries and improved decision-making 
4. Stakeholder consultations - Increased Awareness and buy-in within each country
5. Knowledge dissemination - Increased awareness of green growth and how to apply it to different country contexts

Outcomes:

Output 1:

• Inception Report

Output 2:

• Strategy paper on operationalizing green growth principles using geospatial information

Output 3:

• Knowledge Exchange Study Visit to Korea to learn from Korean expertise; memo or visit; action plans for lessons learned 

Output 4:

• Workshops; Conferences 

Output 5:

• BBLs; communication pieces such as blog posts, media articles and videos about the use of green growth for development

Outcomes:

• Improved efficiency:  The enhanced use of geospatial information would help to improve environmental management and address climate change across all three countries. Further environmental benefits of geospatial applications are evident in areas such as water management, biodiversity protection, natural resource management, and pollution reduction. The geospatial datasets will contribute to improving planning at local government levels and in smart cities in terms of allocating resources for urban planning and the development of utilities.    
• Greater resilience:  This TA will help to increase the capacity of the countries to foster economic growth and development while ensuring that natural resources are protected and managed correctly. The resilience capacity needs to be developed within the countries while also involving different stakeholders. This TA will help to develop action plans such as: (i) disaster risk management plans; (ii) deforestation; (iii) air and water pollution mitigation; and (iv) land resources and land use in urban areas. Governments could use this data to prepare plans to incentivize the participation of the private sector to increase the resilience of the country by implementing environmentally-friendly practices.
• Increased competitiveness: The objective is to promote a paradigm shift. Developing geospatial datasets will improve public and private sector decision making to enhance and/or expand the use of spatial data infrastructure for making green-growth oriented investment decisions and sustaining growth. It will also improve the skills of the local workforce to promote innovation and efficiency.

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

• Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corporation (LX): Semi-Governmental Agency under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MoLIT)
• Green Technology Center-Korea (GTC-K)
• National Spatial Data Infrastructure Center (NSDIC of MoLIT, for history of Geospatial Information System)
• Korea Research Institute for Human Settlement (KRIHS, for policies and the establishment of territorial, regional and urban master plans)
• Statens Kartverk (Norwegian Mapping Authority): a development partner that has worked in close collaboration with the Bank in past land and geospatial activities in Kosovo