"Investing in the environment is not any more a luxury but an essential," the World Bank's vice president for sustainable development, Ian Johnson, told reporters in the eastern port city of Durban.

"It is worth investing in protected areas. The economic dimension of protected areas provides enormous benefits such as profitable water resources," he said at the World Parks Congress which started Monday and is reviewing the world's 100,000 protected areas.

The 10-day event is being attended by 2,500 delegates from across the globe, who are focusing on how to safeguard protected sites and how local communities can benefit from living in these areas.

The World Bank annual review released at the event stated that lending for environmental issues was on the rise.

"After declining for several years, lending for environmental and natural resource management issues is now increasing," the document said.

"In particular, lending for environmental policies and institutions, a key area emphasised by the bank's environment strategy, is rising sharply," it added.

Johnson said environmental lending reached 1.1 billion dollars in fiscal 2003, and was projected to grow in 2004.

"We anticipate to double our lending in the next year to 2.1 billion dollars and even that may increase further."

Currently projects related to environmental and natural resource management amount to 13 billion dollars, a 13 percent chunk of the World Bank active portfolio.

TERRA.WIRE