improving access and reducing transport costs -- and, thus, indirectly stimulating new and/or enhanced local productive activities, important as these are, especially in remote regions -- but also seek to identify and promote socio-economic and other opportunities to enhance the income, employment and living conditions of resident populations, especially the poorest. This also clearly points to the need for any such interventions to be as participatory as possible. 7. Finally, while the consistent and effective application of Bank environmental and social safeguards are important in such situations, strong, consistent and demonstrated local political will and support are even more essential for such initiatives to be successful. In summary, whether their primary objective is to stimulate local development or to strengthen interregional territorial and economic integration, major interurban and rural road improvements, especially in natural resource rich frontier regions, are likely to have significant direct, indirect -- including induced development -- and cumulative environmental and social impacts. These need to be properly and clearly identified, anticipated, and adequately addressed. While each case will have distinct needs and requirements depending on the particular geographic, ecological, economic, socio-cultural, and political-institutional context involved, it is essential that these contexts be properly understood through a sufficiently comprehensive upfront environmental and social assessment and subsequent participatory environmental and social management and monitoring process. In this regard, project design and preparation will benefit from the effective use of Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) that should also focus on a broader set of development initiatives in the same direct and indirect area of influence as that of the major road improvement in question. Such assessments should also contemplate potential project impacts that cross national borders, as appropriate. In addition, a more holistic or comprehensive spatial – rather than sector by sector -approach to sustainable development around the physical and economic corridor polarized by the road segment to be improved is recommended. Building on its successful experience to date, the IDB should not only approach road improvement projects in areas having similar characteristics elsewhere in Latin America in the same comprehensive, creative and proactive fashion, but it also has an excellent opportunity to lead the way with regard to the promotion of environmental quality and socio-cultural protection objectives at the subnational level through the systematic
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