converted or degraded by the operation, then the project should be ineligible for Bank financing.
B. Critical Cultural Sites For the purposes of this Policy:
The same process described above should be followed to identify if a project may impact natural habitats. Where the environmental assessment process concludes that the operation is likely to significantly convert or degrade natural habitats, the project would be eligible for Bank financing if:
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Cultural sites are any natural or manmade areas, structures, natural features and/or objects valued by a people or associated people to be of spiritual, historical, and or archaeological significance. Material remains may be prominent, but will often be minimal or absent.
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There are no feasible alternatives acceptable to the Bank.
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Overall Benefits vs. Environmental Costs. The environmental assessment process demonstrates that overall benefits from the project substantially outweigh overall environmental costs. In order to demonstrate that, the EA should present an analysis of the costs and benefits of the project, including nonfinancial costs and benefits and environmental and social impacts, computing all mitigation measures to be adopted. In order to justify significantly converting or degrading a natural habitat, the EA or the borrower should explain the importance of the expected benefits and the associated project and environmental costs.
Critical cultural sites include but are not restricted to those protected (or officially proposed by governments for protection) such as World Heritage Sites and National Monuments, and areas initially recognized as protected by traditional local communities (e.g., sacred groves).
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Damage, in the context of a critical cultural site, means spoiling, compromising or impairing the condition or quality of a critical cultural site to the point that it will reduce its spiritual, historical or archeological value.
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Mitigation and Compensation Measures. The borrower develops mitigation and compensation measures acceptable to the Bank. This may include minimizing habitat loss and/or to protecting and maintaining an area ecologically similar to the one being significantly converted or degraded. These measures should be proposed/carried out in consultation according to Directive B.6, must be established in the ESMP with specific budget allocations and a monitoring and supervision program designed to ensure the proper execution of these measures. The ESMP recommendations must be incorporated into appropriate loan contractual conditions. For further requirements regarding the ESMP, please refer to Directive B.5.
Regarding critical cultural sites the following procedures apply: •
The project team must verify, in consultation with a specialist if necessary, that the project does not damage a critical cultural site.
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Pre-screening Phase. The project team should, together with the borrower, identify, early in the project preparation phase, whether or not critical cultural sites might be affected by the operation. This may be done with the support of qualified professionals cultural heritage authorities as applicable.
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Screening. The project team must fill out a safeguard screening form (see Directive B.3) in which it indicates whether or not the operation might affect critical cultural sites or if further analysis is required to determine this.
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Socio-cultural Assessment. If the initial assessment indicates that the project is likely to affect critical cultural sites, analytical work,
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