DRAINFRAME as a tool for integrated strategic environmental assessment: lessons from practice

The Drainage Integrated Analytical Framework (DRAINFRAME) was developed by the World Bank's Agriculture and Rural Development Department to look at and act upon agricultural drainage from an integrated natural resources management perspective. The approach has been field-tested in three World Bank-funded projects: an irrigation improvement project in Egypt, a problems and opportunities assessment in relation to Pakistan's national drainage master plan, and a strategic assessment of a public-private partnership project for surface water supply to a desert region in Egypt. The latter study paved the way for a fully fledged environmental and social impact assessment. The cases provide useful lessons on the proper timing of the DRAINFRAME assessment, the role of public participation, and the influence that a proper and timely assessment can have on further development of water resources management plans. The paper links the DRAINFRAME approach to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), an increasingly common tool to assess the potential social, economic and environmental consequences of policies, plans and programmes in an early and more effective manner. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.