Environmental and social risks of Chinese official development finance in Africa: The case of the Lamu Port project, Kenya

Unlike traditional donor countries, China has not established compulsory environmental and social risk (ESR) mitigation mechanisms for its Official Development Finance (ODF) projects. This article seeks to examine the various stakeholders’ relations concerning the ESR induced by Chinese ODF-funded projects with a case study in Kenya. Much of the current research has not analyzed stakeholders of Chinese ODF-funded projects in Africa, especially the local communities. This paper looks at the Lamu Port project, a major infrastructure project in Kenya, to understand the perceptions of various stakeholders – the Chinese government, the Kenyan government, Chinese companies, media, NGOs, researchers, and most importantly the local communities – on the ESR of this particular Chinese ODF-funded project, and examines their relations so as to explore whether there is consensus on who should mitigate the ESR. Understanding these factors is critical for taking action to mitigate ESR resulting from the growing number of Chinese ODF-funded projects.Keywords: China; Africa; Official development finance; Environmental and social risk mitigatio

Global Market Shocks and Poverty in Vietnam: The Case of Rice

World food prices have experienced dramatic increases in recent years. These "shocks" affect food importers and exporters alike. Vietnam is a major exporter of rice, and rice is also a key item in domestic production, employment and consumption. Accordingly, rice price shocks from the world market have general equilibrium impacts and as such, their implications for household welfare are not known ex ante. In this paper we first present a simple framework for understanding the direct and indirect welfare effects of a global market shock of this kind. Second, we quantify the transmission of the price shock from global indicator prices to domestic markets. Third, we then we use an applied general equilibrium (AGE) model to simulate the effects of domestic price changes in more detail. Fourth, a recursive mapping to a large nationally representative living standards survey permits us to identify in detail the ceteris paribus effects of the shock on household incomes and welfare. In this analysis, interregional and intersectoral adjustments in the labor market emerge as key channels transmitting the effects of global price shocks across sectors and among households.