Providing loans for the environment

In 1993, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a record US$1,200 million in loans for 13 projects that will benefit the environment. Of these finances, 65% were directed to urban environmental projects and particularly water quality, and 35% were directed to green environmental projects and environmental institution building. Examples include among others: $130 million for environmental protection and resettlement at Yacyreta; $110.2 million for environmental management of, and $50 and $350 million loans to a sanitation programme for, Guanabara Bay basin in Brazil; in Argentina, $150 million for sanitation and flood control in the Reconquista river basin, and $5 and $25 million loans for the development of environmental institutions; $130 million for the Medellin river sanitation project, $58 and $23 million loans for the national environmental programem, Colombia; $14.9 million for an Ecuadorian coastal resource programem; and $16.7 million for natural resource management of a Hondurian reservoir watershed.