http://www.bicusa.org/en/Issue.24.aspx The latest news on Indigenous Peoples and the World Bank from the Bank Information Center 10 http://www.infodev.org/images/infodev.gif http://www.bicusa.org/en/Issue.24.aspx Read the latest REDD Alert for updates on the R-Package, Carbon Fund and Common Approach, as well as country updates from Africa, Latin America and Asia. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12550.aspx Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:53:20 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12550.aspx This update prepared by the Bank Information Center introduces the FCPF Readiness Package (R-Package) and the Carbon Fund (CF) operational. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12545.aspx Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:21:16 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12545.aspx The workshop Oslo REDD Exchange 2011 was organized by Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), on 23-24 June 2011. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12531.aspx Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:35:41 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12531.aspx Civil society organizations (CSOs) submitted a letter to World Bank President Robert Zoellick on the World Bank safeguards review on August 31, 2011. The letter includes signatories as of this date and organizations who wish to sign the letter can do so below. On Sep 20, 2011 World Bank Managing Director Caroline Anstey responded to this letter. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12530.aspx Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:06:20 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12530.aspx It took many years to establish the World Bank's operational policies that safeguard society and the environment, and are some of the world's highest development standards. As the Bank reviews these policies, civil society is organizing efforts to present their concerns and expectations, and offer their imputs as to what the outcome of the review should be. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12528.aspx Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:01:29 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12528.aspx En COP 15, México se comprometió a reducir sus emisiones de GEI, para lo cual se propuso desarrollar la Estrategia Nacional REDD+ (ENAREDD+). A varios pasos de la preparación para la estrategia, el BM ahora realiza una misión Due Diligence. La gerente del equipo de Latinoamérica, observadora para la misión, nos cuenta más sobre el tema. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12505.aspx Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:27:53 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12505.aspx The World Bank, the Technical Advisory Panel, and the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility present their comments on the latest draft of the the Colombia R-PP. (Document links). http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12459.aspx Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:27:34 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12459.aspx http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12456.aspx Tue, 21 Jun 2011 17:11:21 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12456.aspx The World Bank and the Government of Bolivia recognize the observations of the TCO Takana I on deficiencies in the Indigenous Peoples Plan of the Ixiamas - San Buenaventura Highway project and accept to start a process to improve the Indiginous Plan even after the project was approved. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12438.aspx Wed, 18 May 2011 14:29:10 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12438.aspx The project has a great potential to reorder and even positively or negatively change the dinamics of development and conservation in the region. Bolivia's government has decided that the PAD will not be public before it's approved. It seems that the project underestimates its indirect influence, and there are shortcomings in planification and consultation. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12399.aspx Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:58:07 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12399.aspx Read the latest REDD Alert for updates on the 8th Meeting of the FCPF Participants Committee, taking place next week in Da Lat, Vietnam. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12380.aspx Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:50:12 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12380.aspx It seems that the Government has forgotten its commitment to the environment when in January of 2011, it enacted the Emergency Decree No. 001-2011 to eliminate environmental impact certificates to approve 33 projects for investment. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12345.aspx Sun, 30 Jan 2011 09:55:57 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12345.aspx In a public statement directed at the Peruvian State, the World Bank, UNDP and UNFCCC, the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Forest (AIDESEP) denounces plans of the government and its political and corporate allies to grant mining, logging and tourism concessions, as well as approve REDD and environmental services initiatives after blocking the Indigenous Consultation Law. They insist: without territory, rights and consultation for indigenous peoples, such concessions must not move forward. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12220.aspx Mon, 01 Nov 2010 11:09:18 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12220.aspx BNDES, Brazil's national development bank, contributed to Amazon deforestation by lending billions of dollars to commercial meatpackers, driving expansion of cattle ranching across the world's largest rainforest, ruled an audit by the Federal Audit Court. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12218.aspx Sat, 30 Oct 2010 07:59:24 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12218.aspx The Government of Guyana is planning to build a 140 MW hydroelectric dam on the Potaro River with funding from China and Norway and technical support from the IDB and WB. The first dam is part of a 1060 MW complex that will have signficant social and environmental impacts in the western Amazon region of the country. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12187.aspx Tue, 19 Oct 2010 10:26:54 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12187.aspx It is one thing for the World Bank to promote a discourse of transparency and information disclosure and quite another to commit to being a public finance institution that respects all of the rights of people affected by the projects which they finance. Unfortunately, the Bank has not been willing to make this commitment. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12077.aspx Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:53:02 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12077.aspx Bolivian Deputy Minister of Environment Juan Pablo Ramos and Director Environment Luis Beltrán submitted irrevocable resignation from their posts on Friday of last week, after government officials tried to force them to sign an environmental permit for the construction of a highway in the Chapare region of Cochabamba. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12058.aspx Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:29:13 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12058.aspx At a series of ongoing consultations, many civil society actors have asked the U.S. to sign the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. BIC's Mark Rentschler and WRI's Kirk Herbertson discuss the importance of the declaration to work on the IFIs. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12043.aspx Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:22:36 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.12043.aspx This month's edition of the BICECA Monthly Bulletin features a summary of the event entitled "Oil and Mining Booms and Sustainable Development: Lessons from Peru for Development Planning & Revenue Management at the National and subnational level" (Washington, DC, June 16, 2010). http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11979.aspx Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:44:08 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11979.aspx Guyana's president implores the FCPF Participants Committee and the World Bank not to "obsess" over gaps in capacity, territorial right and indigenous consultation before REDD funds are disbursed. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11944.aspx Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:52:49 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11944.aspx President of the Amerindian Peoples Association Tony James calls on the World Bank to perform its proper due diligence to ensure that issues of territorial rights and meaningful consultation of indigenous peoples are addressed in Guyana. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11943.aspx Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:41:27 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11943.aspx The Peruvian Congress approved on Wednesday a provisional ruling on a law for the Right to Prior Consultation of Indigenous and Native Peoples. Still, indigenous groups emphasize the need to reconcile the development vision of the State and that of indigenous peoples, which is not always the same. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11887.aspx Fri, 21 May 2010 10:44:32 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11887.aspx The proposed capital increases for the World Bank and IFC would expand their size without expanding the scope of their reform. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11785.aspx Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11785.aspx Eight months have passed since the bloody confrontation between police and local protestors in Bagua over decrees passed by the Peruvian government that opened up indigenous land in the rainforest to oil, mining and logging companies, resulting in the death of 12 policemen and at least 10 indigenous demonstrators. Nevertheless, two falsely accused demonstrators remain behind bars, while no policemen have been charged for the deaths of the protestors. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11778.aspx Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:25:33 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11778.aspx "The World Bank released a study that finally put the impacts of climate change, deforestation and fires together. The tipping point for the Amazon is 20 percent deforestation," and that is "a scary result," Tom Lovejoy, a member of the external review panel for the report, told Tierramérica in an interview. The study, "Assessment of the Risk of Amazon Dieback," released Jan. 22, drew on the expertise of several international research institutions, including Japan's Meteorological Research Institute, Britain's Exeter University, Brazil's Centre for Weather Forecasting and Climate Change (CPET/INPE), Germany's Potsdam Institute and Earth3000. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11756.aspx Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:46:53 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11756.aspx Book Launch: Jan. 26 & 27, 2009 - Lima, Peru: Peruvian Amazon in 2021-Infrastructure and the Exploitation of Natural Resources: What is happening and what does it mean for the future? by Marc Dourojeanni, Alberto Barandiarán y Diego Dourojeanni is a publication in which the authors fill a informational gap that exists for Peruvian citizens regarding what the government and private investors plan to do in the coming decade in the Peruvian Amazon. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11748.aspx Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:33:38 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11748.aspx The following video was presented to the Inter-American Comission on Human Rights in Washington, protesting the construction of mega-projects financed by the World Bank and IDB. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11631.aspx Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:19:16 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11631.aspx Within 90 days, all US federal agencies must submit a plan for implementation of regular, meaningful, previous consultation processes with indigenous peoples. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11617.aspx Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:05:42 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11617.aspx The World Bank is quietly preparing the first capital increase in nearly 20 years to replenish the coffers after unprecedented lending in 2008 and the coming two years. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11608.aspx Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:13:29 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11608.aspx BIC's Africa Program Manager, Josh Klemm, is quoted in a This is Africa article about the problematic $860 million Bujagali Hydropower plant project in Uganda, financed, in part, by the IFC. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11595.aspx Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:13:53 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11595.aspx There are many reasons to oppose carbon trading. The most important is that carbon trading will not address climate change. Rising Tide North America together with Carbon Trade Watch and the Camp for Climate Action is launching a new website, 350 Reasons. Governments should not be looking for innovative ways to create loopholes for polluters or to create fortunes for carbon traders. Instead we need to dramatically reduce emissions – quickly. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11583.aspx Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:54:21 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11583.aspx With funding from the World Bank, the Brazilian Ministry of Environment is planning to expedite and integrate the environmental licensing processes now divided between Federal, State and Local authoriteis. In an effort to speed up large infrastructure with the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), the move could lead to licensing regional of river basins. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11567.aspx Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:23:59 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11567.aspx The International Herald Tribune/New York Times Global Edition printed a BIC Letter to the Editor on the role of the World Bank in climate change. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11373.aspx Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:22:50 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11373.aspx Read a BIC op-ed in The Huffington Post about Indonesia's problematic Readiness Preparation Proposal to the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11371.aspx Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:27:49 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11371.aspx In order to help mitigate the effects of the economic crisis, Peru has created an "Anticrisis Plan" which in part will serve to finance big infrastructure proyects. These projects, given their scale and the government's poor management of such projects are bound to create problems. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11329.aspx Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:06:57 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11329.aspx Just two weeks after the publication of Greenpeace's report "Slaughtering the Amazon" the IFC halts a $30 million payment to the Bertin corporation which was using the IFC loan to expand further into the Amazon. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11258.aspx Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:10:29 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11258.aspx The loan would support an overall US$1.08bn transport infrastructure development program, of which another US$630mn is to be covered by the state and US$150mn by IDB. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11208.aspx Mon, 25 May 2009 09:23:20 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11208.aspx The World Bank's Inspection Panel Annual Report highlights the problem of access to information within several World Bank-financed projects. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11138.aspx Mon, 04 May 2009 14:42:12 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11138.aspx Read "The Anchorage Declaration" from the 2009 Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11137.aspx Mon, 04 May 2009 13:35:58 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11137.aspx On the one hand, Brazil made some improvements reducing the rate of deforestation. On the other hand, IIRSA prevents the country from achieving its national environmental goals while deforestation puts the survival of the entire planet at risk. Deforestation is the cause of 20% of the world's global warming - more than the effects of all automobiles. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11101.aspx Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:00:15 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11101.aspx Read highlights from the 2nd Participants Committee Meeting of the FCPF, at which BIC served as an NGO observer. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11092.aspx Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:18:32 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11092.aspx Bolivians fear negative impacts from two dams (part of the Rio Madeira) in Bolivian territory. The Brazilian Minister, Celso Amorim assures the Bolivian government that the construction of the dams will not have these negative impacts. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11076.aspx Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:34:09 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11076.aspx For only the last two years has the Bolivian government paid attention to the impacts of dams in indigenous territory. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11074.aspx Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:17:33 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11074.aspx The leaders of hundreds of indigneous groups of Peru demanded that the government reject a proposal to give Petrobras (Brazilian) a large area in which to operate. The groups' leaders argue that Petrobras will bring contamination and the unnecessary exploitation of a protected area of the Amazon. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11073.aspx Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:41:40 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11073.aspx BIC to serve as NGO observer at the next meeting of the Committee of Participants for the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) that will take place on March 11-13 in Panama, Central America. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11055.aspx Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:17:26 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11055.aspx The Amazon Basin Indigenous Peoples Organization (COICA) with our worldview, diversity of languages, history, cultures, spirituality, territory, economy, have existed since before recorded time. We have adopted different forms of organization and identity under the framework of the nation states which have established laws and regulations according to their own interests, not recognizing the ancestral rights of the first inhabitants of the amazon region. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11034.aspx Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:08:15 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11034.aspx As world leaders focus on severe economic crisis in their homelands, an estimated 100,000 activists traveled from all over the world to attend the World Social Forum in Brazil. Led by Indigenous people from all across Latin America, over 1000 participants formed a human banner, using their bodies, to draw attention to the increasingly precarious situation of the Amazon rainforest. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11027.aspx Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11027.aspx http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11030.aspx Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11030.aspx Indigenous leader calls for suspension of REDD activities. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11693.aspx Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.11693.aspx Amazonian civil society organizations demand that the World Bank adhere to international standards by increasing the participation of indigenous peoples in meetings on forests and climate change. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3899.aspx Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3899.aspx IFI involvement in mining and oil projects in the Timan-Pechora basin raises environmental and social concerns. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3882.aspx Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3882.aspx Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and five other African countries were included in a list of 14 that will take part in the Bank's controversial Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3878.aspx Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:18:36 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3878.aspx During the French environment minister's recent visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Congolese civil society organizations released a statement drawing attention to the alarming situation in the Congo forests and the destructive activities of logging companies. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3785.aspx Fri, 30 May 2008 13:31:56 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3785.aspx Last week, the Financial Times published an article on the World Bank's errors in its forest operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and allegations of support for illegal logging in the country by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Just two days later, the IFC announced it would sell its stake in Olam International Ltd., the Singaporean commodity trading company accused of "environmental malpractice" in the world's second largest rainforest. As those gathered in Bali for the United Nations conference on climate change discuss the importance of forests to the future health of the planet, the Bank's missteps in Congo deserve a closer look. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3619.aspx Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3619.aspx Working session aims to update the Indonesian civil society organizations and movements on the old and new trends in the governance and operations of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as they relate to Indonesia. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3594.aspx Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3594.aspx The World Bank touted it's meeting with a delegation of Pygmies from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during the Bank's Annual Meetings in October. But as Simon Counsell of Rainforest Foundation UK points out, the Bank has consistently ignored the findings of the quasi-independent Inspecition Panel and violated its own "safeguard policies." http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3585.aspx Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:51:55 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3585.aspx On September 13th, after over 20 years of negotiations, the United Nations General Assembly finally adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The international declaration sets a higher standard for international financial institutions (IFIs) to ensure safeguards and strengthen their policies on indigenous peoples. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3495.aspx Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:34:28 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3495.aspx The report will guide the organization's work in Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, China, Laos and Indonesia. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3065.aspx Thu, 21 Dec 2006 10:09:51 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3065.aspx This issue of the IF-Eye newsletter discusses the World Bank's middle income country strategy, highlights civil society activities around the IFIs, and provides recent updates on the institutions. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3011.aspx Fri, 10 Nov 2006 10:37:38 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.3011.aspx The World Bank President met with Mario Tema and Magali Rey Rosa on December 9 http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.2540.aspx Thu, 15 Dec 2005 19:23:09 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.2540.aspx The World Bank Board of Directors voted to approve the Revised Draft Operational Policy on Indigenous Peoples (OP 4.10) http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.2117.aspx Wed, 18 May 2005 16:12:23 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.2117.aspx In 2002 the World Bank adopted a new policy on forests, over objections from civil society and indigenous peoples’ groups. Three years later, as the Bank policy comes up for review, a broad coalition of environmental and indigenous groups have published Broken Promises, an extensive report on the forest policy’s effects on the environment and communities. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.2088.aspx Tue, 26 Apr 2005 14:04:22 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.2088.aspx http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1855.aspx Mon, 03 Jan 2005 15:58:52 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1855.aspx Once approved by the Board, Operational Policy 4.10 will replace the existing Operational Directive 4.20 on Indigenous Peoples. http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1799.aspx Mon, 06 Dec 2004 16:01:35 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1799.aspx http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1529.aspx Thu, 22 Jul 2004 14:10:41 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1529.aspx Update includes final draft Indigenous Peoples Policy, indigenous concerns about a hastily planned WB legal roundtable, and information about a planned briefing for the Board on Free Prior and Informed Consent http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1474.aspx Tue, 22 Jun 2004 09:51:55 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1474.aspx http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1225.aspx Thu, 29 Jan 2004 18:04:30 GMT http://www.bicusa.org/en/Article.1225.aspx