Assessing the environmental impact of development policy lending on coastal areas
Coastal areas host a range of diverse habitats, including some of the most productive ecosystems on Earth in terms of goods and services. They are also the most inhabited areas on the planet, which makes them critically important both from an environmental and a human point of view. Through a combination of direct and indirect impacts, including the effects of global warming, human activities are increasingly threatening coastal areas. This toolkit complements the assessment obtained through the development policy lending (DPL) general toolkit. It provides guidance on possible significant effects on coastal natural resources, which will suggest to stakeholders whether or not a full-scale CEA or SEA should be performed to further appraise a proposed package of policy reforms.