11.6 Asian Development Bank · Part 2

that largescale development projects such as hydroelectric dams, irrigation projects, transportation development, oil and gas projects have the potential to reduce poverty and increase economic activities that would be aimed at development. However, on the contrary, there are others who oppose such development projects since they have terrible consequences to the environment and their lives, negates the Banks’ claim. Many argue that the damage done through these projects not only affect their welfare, but have negative social, economic and environmental results that are irreversible. The Asian Development Bank is a regional multilateral finance institution that is dedicated to the realization and reduction of poverty in Asia and the Pacific. The ADB was founded in1966 and has member countries and most of them belong to the region. The ADB has an equity capital of $ billion and reserves of $ . billion. Since its beginning in to the year the Bank has approved loans to both the public and private sectors amounting to $ . billion and disburses $ billion in loans and projects across the region and earns from it an annual return of $ million. The ADB’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) is the central component of its Long-Term Strategic Framework (LTSF - ). This fifteen-year agenda of the ADB subscribed to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to achieve the target of halving the number of people living in poverty worldwide. According to the Bank’s claim, its development agenda is to improve the welfare of the people living in Asia and the Pacific, more particularly about million Asians who are living in poverty and earn less than a dollar a day. Among the priorities of the ADB are economic growth, human development, gender and development, good governance, environmental protection, private sector development and regional co-operation. The ADB now operates through five geographically contiguous areas which addresses country and sector themes. The groupings are (i) East and Central Asia, (ii) the Mekong, (iii) the pacific, (iv) South Asia and (v) South-East Asia. Each of the regional departments undertake country planning