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
India
Roy Laifungbam
Indigenous Peoples' Centre for Policy and Human Rights in India's North East
India
Maju Varghese
Initiative
India
Smitu Kothari
Lokayan India
India
Ravi Rebbapragada
Mines, Minerals and People (mm&P)
India
Gangi Reddy
Rural Reconstruction and Development Society
India
Joe Athialy
The People's Movement
India
Rivani Noor
Facilitator of CAPPA (Community Alliance for Pulp Paper Advocacy)
Indonesia
Friends of The Earth-central java
Indonesia
Binny Buchori
INFID
Indonesia
Sutji Rahaju Shinto and Gita Meidita
Natural Resources and Development Initiative
Indonesia
AR Wahab
Serikat petani Jawa barat /West Java
Indonesia
Dewi Safitri
The 68H News Agency Jakarta
Indonesia
Anne Gouyon
The Natural Guide
Indonesia