Environmental Impacts of Structural Adjustment Programmes: Synthesis and Recommendations

The major question explored in this paper is: "What are the environmental effects of stabilization and structural adjustment programmes?" Implicit in this question is a desire for policy makers and advisors to provide the appropriate recommendations to ensure a healthy environment and economy for the nation undertaking structural reform. Unfortunately, the only concise answer to the question would be that it depends on a number of factors, thus implying that economic policy makers cannot apply a simple, standardized set of reforms to any given economy and expect predictable, consistent, or even beneficial results.