Asian Development Bank will not weaken or dilute existing social and environmental policies, panel told
17 May 2007
Project affected people and civil society organizations highlight problems with current ADB policies aiming to protect the environment and human rights at a BIC and Oxfam Australia-hosted panel.
The Bank Information Center and Oxfam Australia co-hosted a Panel entitled: ADB's Revision of Environmental, Indigenous, Resettlement Policies: Is Social and Environmental Security at Stake? at the ADB’s 40th Annual General Meeting in Kyoto, Japan.
The Panel brought together policy analysts from civil society organizations (CSOs)[1] and project-affected people[2] as well as a senior ADB representative to address concerns regarding ADB plans to revamp its three major policies that aim to “safeguard” the environment and communities where the ADB is involved. Collectively, the three policies are known as “Safeguard Policies” and the ADB process to revise them is called the “Safeguard Policy Update”.
It was highlighted at the outset of the panel that the ADB’s own Operations and Evaluations Department (OED) has concluded that existing ADB safeguards have a poor track record of protecting the environment and social rights of people and communities where the ADB funds projects. And, safeguards are often the only means by which communities can hold the ADB accountable to uphold any type of environmental and social protection standards. There are concerns that the existing SPU process may result in a further dilution of safeguard policies as the ADB attempts to bring them together under one umbrella, rather than preserve them as three stand-alone policies. Moreover, increasing pressure from influential borrowing countries is requiring the ADB to reduce the number of mandatory procedural requirements used to implement these policies. This is because these countries are now able to acquire funding from other sources with less stringent environmental and social standards.
Nessim Ahmad, ADB’s Director of the Environment and Social Safeguards Division in the Regional and Sustainable Development Department, outlined several key outputs from the SPU. According to Ahmad, ADB hoped to 1) improve effectiveness of safeguards 2) focus on delivery 3) balance between “procedural requirements” of the ADB to meet safeguard obligations versus changing procedural demands to meet client (developing country borrowers) needs and 4) ensure that compliance of safeguard policies is improved.
He also highlighted that the ADB hopes to come out with new operational procedures, a new Involuntary Resettlement Handbook and a “Bank-wide corporate plan for delivery” of a sustainable safeguards framework.
Joanna Levitt, Director of Programs of the International Accountability Project highlighted that the focus of the current involuntary resettlement policy resulted in mitigation of damage rather than prevention, and that the ADB needed to move away from “least-cost” alternatives and a “do no harm” policy to actively improve peoples lives when its projects cause displacement. Ms. Sin Chhin, a resettled person from ADB-funded Highway One Project in Cambodia recounted how the project had resulted in lost livelihood, indebtedness and inadequate compensation. Levitt reiterated that the Highway One project illustrated clearly how “the poorest and those that are least able to defend their rights suffered the most” through ADB projects that failed to properly safeguard communities.
Ramananda Wangkeirakpam from the Northeast Alliance on Trade Development and Finance represented an Indigenous Peoples network. He stated that consultation and participation was a major shortcoming of the Bank and that not just “consultation” but “consent” was needed for the ADB to meet some of the higher UN standards upholding the rights of Indigenous Peoples to their development. He insisted it was time that ADB made a commitment to uphold the highest standards of International Law as a major International Financial Institution that should be subject to International Law.
Mr. Shafiqul Islam, a project-affected person from the Khulna Jessore Drainage Rehabilitation Project (KJDRP) from Southwest Bangladesh,[3] depicted the extent of flooding that had increased and created livelihood disruption since the funding of KJDRP. He reiterated that the ADB’s failure to properly integrate local knowledge into environmental impact assessments and during implementation had resulted in exacerbating environmental problems in the area. Moreover, he reiterated that EIAs had not been made public in the early phases of KJDRP.
Dr. Stephanie Fried, Senior Scientist of US environmental NGO Environment Defense, summarized that the need for flexibility in environmental project designs that integrated local knowledge was necessary and outlined several areas where the ADB needed to improve its environmental policy. She also stressed that there was a growing concern that the ADB was moving towards massive investment in infrastructure which underpinned the need for strengthened, not weaker, safeguards. She also asked for a commitment from the ADB that the SPU would not result in weaker standards and that the demand by borrowing countries to use their own rules to safeguard the environment would not result in less accountability of the ADB towards its projects. Mr. Ahmad assured the audience that the safeguards would not be diluted and the ADB would not relinquish its own accountability towards the projects it funds. Dr. Fried concluded by presenting a collective statement of over 53 NGOs from the NGO Forum on the ADB that underpin CSO concerns regarding the SPU.
[1] Stephanie Fried, Environmental Defense; Joanna Levitt, International Accountability Project; Ramananda Wangkheirakpam, North East Alliance on Trade Development and Finance (in conjunction with Forest Peoples Program)
[2] Ms Sin Chhin, Kampong Seung Community Leader/assisted by Ms. Kol Leakhana, Resettlement Action Network, Cambodia; Mr. Shafiqul Islam, Paani Committee, Bangladesh.
[3] with an introduction from Mr. Ashraf ul Alam Tutu of the Coastal Development Partnership, based in Khulna, Bangladesh.