300 Civil Society Organizations Call on Bank to implement EIR - February 12, 2004

February 12, 2004

 

Mr. James Wolfensohn

President

World Bank Group

1818 H Street NW

Washington, DC 20433

HAND – DELIVERY / MELBOURNE

 

Dear Mr. Wolfensohn:

 

We write to you today in good faith and with genuine hopes for meaningful action towards our mutual goals of poverty alleviation and sustainable development.  As you know, Dr. Emil Salim has just completed the Final Report of the Extractive Industries Review (EIR).  We want to thank you for initiating this historic process in Prague more than three years ago, and for devoting significant World Bank Group (WBG) staff time and financial resources to the review over the last several years. 

 

We also want to thank Dr. Salim for his adherence to the principle that “genuine development requires partnership not only with governments and companies, but with civil society as well.”  Dr. Salim’s commitment in this regard allows us to endorse his recommendations to you, and to encourage you to adopt all of them without exception or reservation. 

 

The EIR correctly concluded that if the WBG intends to pursue its mandate of poverty alleviation, then it should not support extractive industries unless the broad set of enabling conditions outlined in the Report's recommendations are in place.  Furthermore, the EIR found that support for certain types of extractive activities does not represent the best use of the WBG's money to promote and support sustainable development, and thus that the WBG should phase-out its financing for these types of projects and reallocate its funds to other activities.

 

We will not view as sufficient the adoption of only a certain percentage of the EIR’s recommendations. The failure to meet any one of them can lead and has indeed led to a failure to contribute to poverty alleviation or sustainable development.

 

At your insistence, the EIR integrated World Bank Group staff at nearly every level, and the process and the Final Report were clearly richer for it. We certainly hope and expect that this integration of Bank staff and perspectives now translates smoothly into implementation of all the Report’s recommendations.  This was, after all, the premise upon which it was argued that Bank staff should be deeply involved in the EIR.

 

Those of us who have previously engaged in the Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative and the World Commission on Dams review already have great reason to be skeptical – and that skepticism would only harden if the World Bank Group were to pick and choose only those recommendations from the EIR Report that are least challenging.  In the intervening time that it may take to fully adopt the EIR recommendations, we feel that a good faith gesture would be for you to instruct staff and management to immediately freeze any further action on policies or projects that are potentially affected by EIR recommendations.

 

We congratulate the EIR for recognizing climate change to be a profound threat to sustainable development and poverty alleviation and we strongly endorse the recommendation for the World Bank to immediately end its support for coal mining and to phase-out financing for oil projects by 2008.  By shifting financial support from fossil fuels to new renewable energy, the Bank could play an important catalytic role toward new renewable energy development in the South, in turn leveraging significant global benefits.

 

We would like to also highlight the EIR’s endorsement of the right of free, prior and informed consent for indigenous peoples and the importance of securing a “social license” from affected communities to operate before projects proceed.  While this right is already recognized for indigenous people under international law, other communities often have very little influence over project decisions despite the significant impacts that extractive industry operations have on their livelihoods and on the environments on which they depend.  Empowering communities is not only the right thing to do, it will also spare the Bank and project sponsors considerable reputational risk and added cost.

 

Recognition of and respect for human rights is one of the core elements of sustainable development.  Despite your best efforts to date, which we recognize and applaud, the World Bank is far behind many other intergovernmental organizations in accepting its human rights responsibilities, including the rights of workers, and in integrating these and other human rights- related issues into its operations and programs. As the EIR correctly concludes, this is not a matter of discretion but rather it is a matter of compliance with international law that is binding on the Bank; it is also sound development practice.  We are aware that you have expressed an interest in human rights and have promoted rights-related issues within the Bank.  We hope that now you will use all of your influence to demonstrate that commitment by adopting all of the EIR’s recommendations.

 

We are confident the EIR will be remembered as one of the most important initiatives of your tenure, and one of the cornerstones of your legacy as World Bank President.   We would submit to you that the true test of the World Bank Group’s willingness to place poverty alleviation and sustainable development above bureaucracy, corporate interests, corruption, and institutional barriers to change will be in your willingness to push to redefine the Bank and the way in which it approaches development.  The upcoming formulation and adoption of a concrete and specific EIR action plan will prove to what extent the World Bank is serious about ensuring that the twin goals of poverty alleviation and sustainable development are strongly upheld. 

 

Sincerely,



 

 

Levi Cammack

Instituto Tecnológico Iguazú

Argentina

 

John A. Asatryan

ECOPOL

Armenia

 

Artashes Sargsyan

NGO EcoTeam

Armenia

 

Kate Walsh

AID/WATCH

Australia

 

Paul Bourke

Australia Tibet Council

Australia

 

Vikki John

Bougainville Freedom Movement

Australia

  

Anne Lanyon

Columban Centre for Peace Ecology and Justice

Australia

 

Binnie O'Dwyer

Friends of the Earth Australia

Australia

 

Frances MacGuire

Greenpeace Australia Pacific

Australia

 

Igor O'Neill

Mineral Policy Institute

Australia

 

Rainforest Information Centre

Australia

 

Peter Murphy

SEARCH Foundation

Australia

 

Peter Morris

Greenpeace Australia Pacific

Australia/Pacific

 

Azad Aliev

Association of Sosial Economic Researches of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan

 

Arup Rahee

LOKOJ Institute

Bangladesh

 

Mohammad Ziaul Ahsan

Organization for Social Development of Unemployed Youth

Bangladesh

 

Natasha Petrushkewich

Ecological Initiative "Belaya Rus"

Belarus

 

Natalya Ivanyuk

Ponimanie

Belarus

 

Liesbet Vander Ven

Boliviacentrum

Belgium

 

Pol Vandevoort

Coalition of the Flemish North-South movement

Belgium

 

David Nijssen

Ecosystem Management Research Group

Belgium

 

Berenice Muraille

FERN

Belgium

 

Karim Harris

Friends of the Earth Europe

Belgium

 

Bart Madou

GROS Zedelgem

Belgium

 

Claudine Loncke

Noord-Zuid Comité Middelkerke

Belgium

 

Veerle Ramoudt

North-South Comite Middelkerke

Belgium

 

Ann Martens

Oost-Vlaanderen

Belgium

 

Oxfam-Solidarité

Belgium

 

Stefaan Devarrewaere

Oxfam-Worldshop Roeselare

Belgium

 

Jan Glorieux

Pax Christi Kortrijk

Belgium

 

Filip Gheysen

People's Gardens

Belgium

 

Jan Cappelle

Proyecto Gato

Belgium

 

Agnes Voet

Stafmedewerker Noord-Zuidsamenwerking

Belgium

 

Sofie Van Belleghem

University of Antwerp, Department of Biology, Ecosystem Management Research Group

Belgium

 

Jorge Cortes

CEADES

Bolivia

 

Magnólia Azevedo Said

Centro de Pesquisa e Assessoria

Brasil

 

Kathia Vasconcellos Monteiro

Núcleo Amigos da Terra

Brasil

 

Alcides Faria

Rios Vivos Coalition

Brasil

 

Petko Kovatchev

CEIE

Bulgaria

 

Anelia Stefanova

For the Earth

Bulgaria

 

Michele Keegan

Altsean

Burma

 

Célestin Nsabiye

Global Village

Burundi

 

Edith Abilogo

Bubinga

Cameroon

 

Samuel Nguiffo

CED

Cameroon

 

Ndoumbe Nkotto Honoré

FOCARFE

Cameroon

 

Koueda Koung Jean

Global Village Cameroon

Cameroon

 

Roberta Frampton Benefiel

Friends of Grand River/Mista shipu

Canada

 

David B. Brooks

Friends of the Earth Canada

Canada

 

Pamela Foster

Halifax Initiative Coalition

Canada

 

Catherine Coumans

MiningWatch Canada

Canada

 

Fraser Reilly-King

NGO Working Group on EDC

Canada

 

Derek MacCuish

The Social Justice Committee, Canada

Canada

 

Djeralar Miankeol

CPPL

Chad

 

Remedios Fajardo Gómez

Organización Indigena Yanama.Grupo Etnico Wayuu

Colombia

 

Manuel Lopez

COECO-Ceiba

Costa Rica

 

Isaac Rojas, Gabriel Rivas

Friends of the Earth Costa Rica

Costa Rica

 

Emily J. Yozell

Justicia para la Naturaleza

Costa Rica

 

Tomasz Terlecki

CEE Bankwatch Network

Czech Republic

 

Martin Skalsky

Center for Citizens' Support

Czech Republic

 

Klara Sutlovicova Hnuti

Centrum pro dopravu a energetiku

Czech Republic

 

Pavel Pribyl

Hnuti DUHA/Friends of the Earth CZ

Czech Republic

 

Anna Pinto

Centre for Organisation, Research and Education

Denmark

 

Carlos Zorrilla

Defensa y Conservación Ecológica de Intag (DECOIN)

Ecuador

 

Jorge Acosta

Centro de Derechos Economicos y Sociales

Ecuador

 

Ricardo Navarro

Chair of Friends of the Earth International

El Salvador

 

Alex Wilks

Bretton Woods Project

England

 

Frances Carr

Down to Earth: the International Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia

England

 

Marcus Colchester

Forest Peoples Programme

England

 

Mihail Dafydd Evans

Local Economic Accountability Network

England

 

Andrew Simms

New Economics Foundation

England

 

Simon Burall

One World Trust

England

 

Peep Mardiste

Friends of the Earth Estonia

Estonia

 

Toni Haapanen

Maan ystävät ry /Friends of the Earth Finland

Finland

 

Sébastien Fourmy

Agir ici

France

 

David Eloy

Association internationale de techniciens, experts et chercheurs (AITEC)

France

 

Jan Buelinckx

Attac

France

 

Jean Merckaert

Comité catholique contre la faim et pour le développement - CCFD

France

 

Damien Millet

Comité pour l'Annulation de la Dette du Tiers-Monde

France

 

Henri Persat

Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes Fluviaux

France

 

Jean-Louis Couture

general coordinator of EU regional programme

France

 

Jean-Paul Arpi

Peuples Solidaires

France

 

Annie Girard

Réseau Afrique Europe Foi et Justice

France

 

Sharon Courtoux

Survie

France

 

Jean-Patrick Razon

Survival International (France)

France

 

Hans Engelberts

Public Services International

France

 

Arif  IslamZadeh

Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

Georgia

 

Manana Kochladze

Green Alternative

Georgia

 

Ludmilla Klotz

IIZ/DVV

Georgia

 

Irène Mandeau

Amnesty International

Germany

 

Alois Moeller

Brot fuer die Welt

Germany

 

Uli Mueller

FoodFirst Information- & Action Network

Germany

 

Steffen Keulig

Friends of peoples close to Nature

Germany

 

Dorothy-Grace Guerrero

Projektkoordinatorin, Nachhaltige Entwicklung/Agenda 21

Germany

 

Knud Voecking

Urgewald

Germany

 

Ann Kathrin Schneider

WEED e.V.

Germany

 

Augustine Niber

Center For Public Interest Law (CEPIL)

Ghana

 

Santuah Niagia

Roots and Futures

Ghana

 

Richard Koranteng Twum Barimah

Volta Basin Development Foundation

Ghana

 

Tracey Wheatley

Energy Club

Hungary

 

Vera Mora

ETK Hungary

Hungary

 

B.T.VENKATESH

BUBBERJUNG & CO

India

 

Ashish Fernandes

Ecologist Asia

India

   

Joseph Rohmingthang Hmar

Hmar Indigenous Peoples Association (HIPA), Hmar Student Association