World Social Forum 2009

3 February 2009

For the 2009 World Social Forum (WSF), a group composed of various organizations is organizing a two day workshop for updates and strategy building to inform, discuss, plan and act in defense of the rights of affected populations and the environment. The organizations are working to prevent and/or mitigate any type of social and environmental negative impacts caused by the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) and other harmful development strategies.

The World Social Forum (WSF) is an open space where social movements, NGOs and other Civil Society Organization (CSO) around the world meet together to debate ideas and thoughts surrounding the problems and negative impacts of the current global trends.  The WSF represent a space where different groups formulate new proposals and strategies, share their development field experiences and analytical thought, and network for effective action for alternatives to neo-liberalism and capital-led policies.

The first encounter was held in 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil and since then the initiative has taken the form of a permanent world process seeking and building consensus and alternatives to neo-liberal policies which base its actions on its Charter of Principles that represent the WSF’s guiding document. For news about the FSM 2009 in Belem, see:

FORO SOCIAL MUNDIAL: Las oportunidades de la crisis by Alejandro Kirk, February 2, 2009 (IPS website) - In Spanish

For this WSF 2009, a group of different organizations working together to prevent and/or mitigate any type of social and environmental negative impacts caused by the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) and other harmful development strategies are organizing a two day workshops for updates and strategy building to inform, discuss, strategize and act in defense of the rights of affected populations and the environment.

The two day workshop “Challenging IIRSA Mega-Projects for Regional Integration: Priorities, Strategies, Lessons Learned, and Alternative Visions of Integration” will be held during the days of the 28th and 29th of January according to the following program:

Challenging IIRSA Mega-Projects for Regional Integration: Priorities, Strategies, Lessons Learned, and Alternative Visions of Integration - Part I,

Wednesday, January 28th, UFPA Profissional, Tribunal do Júri (12:00 – 8:00 pm)

Day 1, Part I - Panel discussion - IIRSA Overview and Trends: (12:00 am – 3:00)

Speakers include: Vince McElhinny (BIC) - Moderator; Ricardo Verdum (INESC) BNDES y Financiamiento para Megaproyectos de la Amazonia, Hector Moncayo (ILSA) IIRSA - Un Blanco Movil; Egberto Tabo (COICA) IIRSA y Cambio Climatico en la Agenda de COICA; Ivaneide Bandeira  (Kaninde) Campana contra el Complejo Hidroeletrica Rio Madeira;

Pronunciamiento de COICA en Belem (COICA website)

Day 1, Part II – Panel discussion - Case Studies (3:00 pm – 6:30 pm)

Speakers include: Enrique Laats (CEADESC/ Fundacion Cross-Cultural Bridges) UNASUR & IIRSA; Roberto Espinoza (CAOI) – IIRSA y la Agenda CAOI; Mario Palacios (CONACAMI), Cecilia Velasquez (CONAIE), Carlos Mamani (Foro Permanente de Cuestiones Indigenas ONU), Toribia Loro Quispe (CONAMAQ), Jorge A Nanchucheo (ONPIA),  can present case studies from their respective regions.

Por descolonialidad y Buen Vivir (CAOI website)

Declaración CAOI de la Asamblea de los movimientos sociales FSM 2009 (CAOI website)

BIC-BICECA IIRSA Project Profiles (BIC website)

Challenging IIRSA Mega-Projects for Regional Integration: Priorities, Strategies, Lessons Learned, and Alternative Visions of Integration - Part II,

Thursday, January 29th, UFRA Predio Central, Sala Verde (12:00 – 6:30 pm)

Day 2, Part I – Panel discussion – Policy Questions (12:00 pm – 4:30 pm)

Speakers include: Atossa Soltani (Amazon Watch) - Moderator; Vince McElhinny (BIC) - IIRSA trends and the IFIs; Christian Velasquez-Donaldson (BIC) – BICECA Advocacy Campaign Learning; Kristin Genovese (CIEL) – Legal and non-Legal mechanisms to challenge IIRSA ;  Leonardo Crippa (ILRC) IIRSA International Advocacy Mechanisms;  Jorge Cortes (CEADESC) -- Applying the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; Demetrio Moya (CRIC/ONIC) IIRSA y Colombia.

Day 2, Part II – IIRSA Advocacy Planning – Policy Questions (4:30 pm - 6:00 pm)

Group activity to design advocacy strategies toward IIRSA, UNASUR and other integration debates in 2009, facilitated by Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network.

Description:

Indigenous rights and ecological systems of the continent are at risk by some 500 mega-projects planned under the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA).  Many IIRSA projects –e.g., dams roads, pipelines—are having or will have significant impacts on the communities and the environment of the region.

This seminar will provide an overview of IIRSA, review the trends in financing for IIRSA projects in 2009 and its implications for civil society advocacy. The session will present case studies of the most controversial projects and make recommendations on strategies to tackle the lack of adequate planning, safeguards, impact assessment and mitigation.  We will discuss the role of States, financial institutions --the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES)-- and industry sectors in backing IIRSA.  This seminar aims to exchange experiences and skills in how to campaign to challenge mega projects including the critical process for formulating counter proposals for the alternative vision of integration that we seek.   Civil society has long been excluded from the IIRSA process.  The debate over regional integration is reduced to how to colonize the region’s natural resources with the least public interference.   Beyond a diagnosis of what is wrong with the IIRSA model, concrete policy and project proposals are urgently needed to shift the debate and government action.

The stakes could not be higher: the Amazon's survival – crucial in regulating the global climate – is at imminent risk.

Additional Background: 

The Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA) was established in 2000 by twelve neoliberal governments in South America.  IIRSA was created when the Latin America region owed 80% of all outstanding IMF loans, ($US 81 billion) and the IDB and WB provided 75% of all multilateral debt.

In eight years much has changed.  IIRSA is now sustained by at least half a dozen governments that came to power on platforms openly critical of neoliberalism and IFI tutelage. In Latin America, only 2 countries maintained IMF Stand-By Agreements in 2008 and outstanding debt to the Fund has dropped below $700 million.  New financial actors have emerged, such as the Corporación Andino de Fomento (CAF) and the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) and have doubled their lending volume at expense of Northern based IFIs.  The policy space for IIRSA governments has been expanded by the demise of FTAA, and by the advance of ALBA, UNASUR, Bank of the South as the impulse for alternative integration models.

IIRSA finds itself at a critical crossroads. Within the principal institutional sponsor – the Inter-American Development Bank, and among South American governments, opposition is growing to IIRSA as the appropriate model for regional integration. By late 2009, the IDB must ratify extending its 10-year mandate to serve as a technical advisor to IIRSA.  On the heels of an internal evaluation that criticized the Bank’s stewardship of IIRSA, there is growing support at the IDB Board level for the Bank to cut its ties with IIRSA.

Expected Outcomes:

• Provide an overview and updates on the status of IIRSA, PAC & UNASUR.
• Present case studies of the most controversial projects and make recommendations on strategies to tackle the lack of adequate planning, safeguards, impact assessment and mitigation. 
• Discuss the role of States, financial institutions --the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), the World Bank and the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES)-- and industry sectors in backing IIRSA.
• Generate increased understanding about the role of BNDES, CAF, and the IDB in financing harmful development in South America.
• Share lessons learned for advocacy given experience of existing campaigns and given the regional shifts among key financial players
• Generate increased understanding of the current debates about regional integration and explore alternative visions of integration.
• Gain an understanding of how movements are meeting the challenges stemming from international political, environmental and economic policies of western governments and corporations.

Challenging IIRSA Mega-Projects for Regional Integration: Priorities, Strategies, Lessons Learned, and Alternative Visions of Integration - Part II,

Thursday, January 29th, Predio Central – Bloc B, Sala Verde (12:00 – 6:30 pm)

Description:

This workshop will build on the key themes discussed in Day I.  Participants will be able to explore lessons learned for advocacy and identify priorities for the coming year.  We will look at important cases and campaigns where indigenous groups, social movements, and environmental organizations are challenging the institutions behind the Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America (IIRSA).  We will consider how the context for our work may be shifting in the coming years and strategize on what shifts in strategies will be required. 

The presenters will outline how indigenous organizations, along with close allies, are implementing increasingly sophisticated advocacy strategies to confront these issues at local, national, and international levels. The legal and non-legal mechanisms for holding the various IIRSA-related entities accountable (including States, other funding entities, funding recipients, etc.) will also be explored. Specifically, presenters will highlight human rights, investment, IFIs, and other international accountability instruments. The workshop will offer practical guidance on the strategies and tactics needed to conduct effective campaigns that confront those backing IIRSA, support human rights and environmental conservation, and instigate change. Presenters will also create a space where participants can work together to author political statements that unify and publicize their voices.

Day 2, Part I – Seminar - Strategic Currents and Proposals (12:00 pm – 3:00 pm )

Goals and Methodology: Exchange experiences and skills in how to campaign to challenge mega projects including the critical process for formulating counter proposals for the alternative vision of integration that we seek.  Discuss concrete policy and project proposals are urgently needed to shift the debate and government action.  

The panelists can steer this seminar. This will be more interactive than the panel and rely on the participation of attendees.  Hopefully participants will have their own perspectives to share on IIRSA (such as case studies from their communities) or other relevant subjects to discuss and explore in the seminar. We can form small groups here to discuss specific topics, strategies, and solutions in more detail and return to the plenary to present our findings. For example, a group could be formed around civil society's plans for the IDB's 50th anniversary meeting in Colombia and then report back to everyone. This will also allow participants to build linkages with other organizations and affected communities working on the same issue.

Speakers: Atossa Soltani (Amazon Watch) moderator; Robert Guimaraes, AIDESEP and Darío José Mejia Montalvo (ONIC) - specific campaign tactics and strategies being used to hold States, public institutions, and corporations accountable from the Indigenous Social Movement perspective and the ways that participants can employ these in their own work; Jorge Cortes, CEADESC; - findings of Transparency Research on important cases where indigenous groups are challenging IIRSA; Vince McElhinny (BIC) Three Scenarios for Regional Integration and advocacy implications; Enrique Laats, Fundacion Puente Entre Culturas – UNASUR – IIRSA – Desafios y Oportunidades; Roberto Espinoza (CAOI) Agenda de CAOI; Ricardo Verdum (INESC) – Plataforma BNDES; Representative Amazon Alliance – Plans for the Amazon Forum

Day 2, Part II – Skills Exchange Seminar and Interactive Space (3:00 pm – 6:30 pm)
Goals and Methodology: Explore the legal and non-legal mechanisms for holding the various IIRSA-related entities accountable (including States, other funding entities, funding recipients, etc.). Human rights, investment, IFIs, and other international accountability instruments will be specifically highlighted.  Offer practical guidance on the strategies and tactics needed to conduct effective campaigns that confront those backing IIRSA, support human rights and environmental conservation, and instigate change. Presenters will also create a space where participants can work together to author political statements that unify and publicize their voices.

Speakers: Moderator: Angela Martinez (AJWS) ; Kris Genovese (CIEL) legal and non-legal mechanisms to challenge IIRSA;  Levana (RAN) can then lead the skills-based section by offering practical guidance on campaign strategies and tactics. This segment can be done in groups or in the larger plenary.

Expected outcomes:

• Review the topics and findings of Part I and build on its key themes
• Explore lessons learned for advocacy and identify priorities for the coming year. 
• Look at important cases and campaigns where indigenous groups, social movements, and environmental organizations are challenging the institutions behind IIRSA.
• Consider how the context for our work may be shifting in the coming years and strategize on what shifts in strategies will be required.
• Learn about specific strategies and campaigns being used to hold States, public institutions, and corporations accountable and how you can join these efforts.
• Discuss what changes and adjustments are needed going forward
• Identify a range of mechanisms for civil society to use in holding governments, institutions, and corporations accountable for the impacts of IIRSA projects. 
• Discuss how to support indigenous people in their resistance to IIRSA and its supporters.
• Learn practical campaigning skills and strategies and draft strong statements supporting efforts to challenge IIRSA and its sponsors.
• Discuss next steps, such as civil society's plans for the Inter-American Development Bank's 50th Anniversary meeting in Colombia.

Organizers:

Amazon Alliance
Amazon Watch
American Jewish World Service (AJWS)
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
Bank Information Center (BIC)
Rainforest Action Network (RAN)
Amigos da Terra-Amazonia
Organizacion Nacional Indigena de Colombia (ONIC)
Asociacion Indigena Inter-etnica para el Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana (AIDESEP)
Centro de Estudios Aplicados sobre los Derechos Economicos, Sociales y Culturales (CEADESC)
Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones IndÌgenas (CAOI)
Derecho Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR)
Instituto de Estudos Socioeconomicos (INESC)
Fundacion Puente Entre Culturas

Program for January 27th to January 30th: