Safeguard Policy Statement & Strategy 2020 Midterm Review
Appendix 4: Safeguard Policy Statement
Approved on 20 July 2009, the new Safeguard Policy Statement reaffirms and strengthens ADB's
commitment to ensuring that borrowers/clients meet ADB safeguard requirements to avoid,
minimize, mitigate and/or compensate adverse impacts of ADB operations on the environment
and project-affected people.
The policy commits ADB to assessing country safeguard systems, assisting borrowers/clients to
strengthen both their approaches and country capacity to manage environmental and social
risks, and to increasing ADB oversight during implementation.
As a central part of ADB's mission to promote environmentally sustainable and inclusive
economic growth, the new Safeguard Policy Statement consolidates and builds upon current ADB
policies on Environment, Indigenous Peoples and Involuntary Resettlement that are already
applied to all bank-supported projects in developing member countries (DMCs).
The policy ensures that ADB's safeguards are harmonized with other multilateral development
banks and remain relevant to the evolving needs of DMCs and private sector clients.
The policy contains new provisions on biodiversity conservation, community health and safety,
and physical cultural resources. Key features include emphasis on capacity development of
borrowers and more attention to safeguard implementation and supervision.
The Safeguard Policy Statement became effective on 20 January 2010.
For further details, please see http://www.adb.org/site/safeguards/main
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