중남미

Ratings for the Environmental Sustainability and Urban Resilience Project for Mexico were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory, and Bank performance was satisfactory. Lessons learned include: close collaboration with the Government of Mexico contributed to strengthen environmental sustainability and urban resilience, even in a socially and economically challenging time such as the COVID19 pandemic. The government was able to modify operational rules such that program implementation and associated administrative procedures could be streamlined and simplified during emergency situations, thus enabling, for example, effective collaboration with beneficiaries while adhering to strict social distancing guidelines. However, the reduction in the budget of some programs or institutions can impact the achievement of some indicators, even though the objectives and targeting criteria supported by the policy measures have contributed to a more effective application of resources. Complementing supervision activities with additional efforts to enhance the analysis of policy impacts can increase the quality of the monitoring and evaluation of the outcomes of the Prior Actions. Some of the selected results indicators for this operation required the generation of estimations and new data. For that reason, the World Bank and the GoM worked together to develop studies to fill the data gaps. This was valuable because the generated information helped stakeholders to understand the positive impacts of these policies that without the additional monitoring effort would have remained unknown. The World Bank´s technical assistance was key to raise the ambition in the monitoring and evaluation and it contributed to generate further capacities in the implementation agencies. The DPF laid the foundation for further interventions in support of improved environmental and climate governance, especially through the enhancement of environmental permitting processes regarding land use change. This DPF supported the implementation of changes in laws and programs as well as in programmatic instruments to enhance environmental sustainability and urban resilience. Building on this, the World Bank supported an operation approved in May 2022, Mexico inclusive and sustainable economic growth. The prior actions of Pillar 2 of this DPL were closely related to the prior actions reviewed in this ICR. This is the case of an amendment to the Forest Law to establish that SEMARNAT can only authorize land use change in forest lands for projects that, among others, mitigate the loss of forests’ carbon storage capacity. Another prior action that was closely linked to this operation supported avoiding the issuance of land use change authorizations in forest lands that were previously deforested. With this new operation, the PAs supported by the Environmental Sustainability and Urban Resilience DPF are furthered and strengthened, contributing also to the sustainability of the outcomes.