Category Archives: World Bank

Rio+20 Alternative Peoples’ Summit opens today: People of the world vs. the “green economy” and global economic foreclosure

By Anne Petermann, Executive Director, Global Justice Ecology Project

Today is the opening day of the Cupola dos Povos–the alternative Peoples’ Summit for Environmental and Social Justice in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

It was pulled together by Brazilian groups and is being attended by social movements, Indigenous Peoples, activists and organizations from all over the world who are coming together to identify real solutions to the multiple and rising crises we face as humans on planet Earth.  The summit was organized in direct opposition to the official UN circus known as the Rio+20 Conference for Sustainable Development.  More aptly it would be called the Rio+20 Conference for the greenwashing of Business as Usual.

As I flew to Rio on 12 June, I read an article in the Financial Times titled “Showdown Looms at OPEC After Saudi Arabia Urges Higher Output.”  The article explained how Saudi Arabia is urging OPEC to increase their output of oil in order to ensure that the global price of oil does not exceed US$100/barrel in order to “mitigate the risks that high oil prices pose to the global economy.”

The insane logic of expanding oil production in the face of mounting climate chaos in order to help rescue the global economy accurately reflects the mindset behind the negotiations around the UN’s Rio+20 Earth Summit, set to start next week here in Rio.
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Filed under Actions / Protest, Bioenergy / Agrofuels, Climate Change, Corporate Globalization, Green Economy, Greenwashing, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabs, Posts from Anne Petermann, REDD, Rights, Resilience, and Restoration, Rio+20, World Bank

Critical Information Collective Offers Resources for Advancing Movement for Justice

Note: The following post regards a new organization, Critical information Collective, set up by our friends Joe Zacune and Ronnie Hall (both ex-campaign coordinators with Friends of the Earth International).  This initiative will be a very useful and powerful resource and clearinghouse for our collective struggle for social and ecological justice.  Check it out!

–The GJEP Team

From Critical Information Collective:

We really hope that you have time to read this short message introducing a new organisation, Critical Information Collective (CIC). It’s been set up by the two of us, Ronnie Hall and Joseph Zacune (ex-campaign coordinators with Friends of the Earth International), although we hope to expand it to include more researchers and advisors soon.

 CIC aims to be a resource for you all, providing social movements, NGOs and communities campaigning against corporate globalisation with a single ‘one stop shop’ of incisive, political and campaign-oriented analysis, images and tools – as well as more visibility for our collective effort to challenge the prevailing economic paradigm.

We aim to cover a broad range of critical issues related to corporate-led globalisation, including agrofuels, climate change, deforestation, food, GMOs, land, mining, poverty, rights, and trade and investment.

If you want to find the key documents on any one topic, from a range of different organisations (including your own), or easily find relevant and free/cheap images for your publications, or point your members to additional information resources and campaign tools, we hope you will visit/link to us.”

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Filed under Bioenergy / Agrofuels, Carbon Trading, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Corporate Globalization, False Solutions to Climate Change, Green Economy, Indigenous Peoples, REDD, Rio+20, UNFCCC, World Bank

NGOs demand that Forest Investment Program in Indonesia is postponed until demands are met

By Chris Lang, 6th April 2012

Cross-Posted from REDD-Monitor

NGOs demand that Forest Investment Program in Indonesia is postponed until demands are met

On 8 March 2012, the World Bank announced that the Draft Indonesia Forest Investment Plan was posted on the Ministry of Forestry’s website. The 114-page document was posted in English, with a comment period of “a little over two weeks”.

An Indonesian version has now been produced and is available on the Ministry of Forestry website. But the commenting process is far from transparent. Comments are to be sent to an email address. There is no way of knowing who commented, what they said, or whether their comments were incorporated into the final document. Instead, comments received “will be considered by the team to assess the level of relevance”.

The document is part of the World Bank’s Forest Investment Program, which in turn is part of the Bank’s Climate Investment Fund. The document was to be considered for endorsement at the next meeting of the FIP Sub-committee, which takes place on 4 May 2012. However, the final version must be posted on the FIP website four weeks before the meeting if it is to be considered at that meeting.

A group of NGOs based in Indonesia wrote in protest at the poor consultation process. The NGOs are now demanding that the FIP process in Indonesia is postponed until their demands are met.

The correspondence follows:

    • The NGO letter to the Joint FIP Team (16 March 2012);
  • The NGO reply to the Joint FIP Team (5 April 2012)

Jakarta,‭ ‬16‭ ‬March‭ ‬2012To:

Hadi S.‭ ‬Pasaribu
Focal Point FIP Indonesia
Ministry of Forestry‭

David McCauley
CC Program Coordination Unit
Regional and Sustainable Development Department
Asian Development Bank

Ancha Srinivasan
Senior Climate Change Specialist
Southeast Asia Regional Department
Asian Development Bank

Michael Brady
Forest Program Manager
IFC

Werner Kornexl
Senior Climate Change Specialist
The World Bank

Gerhard Dieterle
Adviser

Dear Sirs,‭

We,‭ ‬a group‭ ‬from the civil society in Indonesia,‭ ‬would like to thank you for inviting‭ ‬our comments on the draft Forest Investment‭ ‬Plan‭ ‬(under‭ ‬FIP‭) ‬issued by the Multilateral Development Banks‭ (‬Asian Development Bank,‭ ‬World Bank,‭ ‬and IFC‭) ‬together with the Government of Indonesia‭ (‬Ministry of Forestry‭)‬.‭ ‬However,‭ ‬we consider the draft‭ ‬to be far from applying the principles of good governance,‭ ‬democracy and‭ ‬human rights in Indonesia.‭ ‬Our‭ ‬concerns,‭ ‬among others,‭ ‬are‭ ‬as‭ ‬follows:

    1. The‭ ‬FIP draft document that is posted on the Ministry of Forestry website‭‬is only available in English,‭ ‬not in the Indonesian language,‭ ‬although the document explicitly claims‭ ‬to be‭ ‬a document of the Republic of Indonesia.‭ ‬Furthermore,‭ ‬the document is only available on the website.‭ ‬This is not acceptable,‭ ‬because‭ ‬such a document should ensure effective participation of the Indonesian people,‭ ‬especially indigenous and local communities living in and around the forests.‭ ‬In addition,‭ ‬the World Bank and‭ ‬the‭ ‬ADB‭’‬s own policies‭ ‬clearly state that public consultation documents should be available in the national and local languages.‭ ‬Therefore,‭ ‬we question the accountability of these documents to all Indonesian people,‭ ‬especially‭ ‬the‭ ‬more than‭ ‬60‭ ‬million indigenous peoples and local communities in and around the forest areas.
    1. Time given to the public to provide their views and opinions is just two weeks.‭ ‬This duration is too short for the public to read a document‭ ‬with‭ ‬over‭ ‬100‭ ‬pages and provide substantial‭ ‬input.‭ ‬This‭ ‬proposed Investment Plan‭ ‬is not serious in involving active participation of indigenous peoples and local communities in and around forest areas,‭ ‬where this program will be executed.
    1. We do not see that public participation has been taken‭ ‬substantially‭ ‬into‭ ‬account‭ ‬during the drafting of this document.‭ The draft does not reflect‭ ‬input from consultations,‭ ‬written inputs,‭ ‬nor input provided by the Community Chamber and NGO Chamber of‭ ‬the‭ ‬National Forestry Council.
  1. This‭ ‬draft investment plan does not contain any concrete contributions that will‭ ‬support the implementation of the‭ ‬national‭ ‬REDD+‭ ‬strategy.‭ ‬Without a clear relationship‭ ‬between the two,‭ ‬this document‭ ‬may disrupt the coordination between state agencies and‭ ‬confuse‭ ‬the orientation of national policies relating to reducing emissions in the forestry sector.

These facts‭ ‬proves‭ ‬that the Asian Development Bank,‭ ‬World Bank,‭ ‬IFC as part of the FIP joint team together with the Government of Indonesia did not seriously consider the input that‭ ‬have previously‭ ‬been submitted by Indonesian Civil Society. ‬Therefore,‭ ‬we urge that:

    1. The‭ ‬document should immediately be translated to‭ ‬Indonesian and local languages‭ (‬based on the location of the planned project site‭)‬.‭
    1. The deadline‎ ‏for the public to‭ ‬comment on the draft should be extended,‭ ‬counting from the date when‭ ‬the draft in Indonesian and local languages‭ ‬are made available for public distribution.‭ ‬The duration of this extension should take into consideration the necessary involvement of indigenous and local communities.
    1. There should be space for local communities and indigenous peoples to participate fully,‭ ‬taking into account the special needs of vulnerable groups‭ (‬such as women,‭ ‬children,‭ ‬and elderly‭)‬,‭ ‬and‭ ‬space and opportunities for local communities and indigenous peoples must be created to ensure‭ ‬that input is based on broad participation‭ ‬in discussion of this draft.‭ ‬The process must ensure the international principle of Free,‭ ‬Prior and Informed Consent.
    1. The document‭ ‬should not‭ ‬merely be provided on a website,‭ ‬but also actively‭ ‬seek‭ ‬local community participation through various participation procedures,‭ ‬taking into account the special needs of vulnerable groups,‭ ‬such as women,‭ ‬children and the elderly.
    1. The results of‭ ‬wide and genuine‭ ‬consultation should be a main reference in the entire process of FIP,‭ ‬including the‭ ‬drafting of an Investment Plan.
  1. Considering that FIP claims to be a national document,‭ ‬the FIP draft document should clarify its relation and position with the National Strategy that is being built by SATGAS REDD+.‭

Based on the‭ ‬above,‭ ‬we demand‭ ‬that‭ ‬the process related to‭ ‬the forest investment plan is‭ ‬postponed until there is‭ ‬synchronization with the process of establishing a National‭ ‬REDD+‭ ‬Strategy that can actually guarantee to save the remaining forests of Indonesia and improve governance in the forestry sector.

Signatories‭:
HuMa
debtWATCH Indonesia
BIC
WALHI
Greenpeace Indonesia
ICEL
KPSHK
Sawit Watch
AMAN
ELAW Indonesia

Copies:‭
Chairman SATGAS REDD+‭
Consultant Team‭

Endorsers:

Organizations:
Rainforest Foundation Norway
CNCD-‭ ‬11.11.11,‭ ‬Belgium
11.11.11,‎ ‏Belgium
NGO Forum on ADB,‭ ‬Philippines
Friends of the Earth,‭ ‬United States
Water Initiatives Odisha,‭ ‬India
INSAF,‭ ‬India
Both Ends,‭ ‬Netherlands
Jubilee Australia,‭ ‬Australia
Water and Energy Users‭’ ‬Federation-Nepal‭ (‬WAFED‭)
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum,‭ ‬Pakistan
Mitra LH Kalteng,‭ ‬Palangkaraya,‭ ‬Kalimantan Tengah
Aliansi Perempuan Sulawesi Tenggara‭ (‬ALPEN SULTRA‭)
Koalisi Rakyat untuk Hak atas Air‭ (‬KruHA‭)‬,‭ ‬Jakarta
YMP Palu
WALHI Kalteng
Perkumpulan Punan Arung Buana‭
Pusaka,‭ ‬Jakarta
JIKALAHARI,‭ ‬Pakanbaru
Institut Hijau Indonesia,‭ ‬Indonesia

Individuals:
Souparna Lahiri,‭ ‬India‭
‬Rato Dominikus,‭ ‬Dosen Fakultas Hukum Universitas Jember
Khalisah Khalid,‭ ‬Indonesia
Julia,‭ ‬Kalimantan

For the complete correspondence, please visit REDD-Monitor

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Filed under Biodiversity, Climate Change, False Solutions to Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples, Land Grabs, UNFCCC, World Bank

Tracking the World Bank at COP17

Note: GEAR (Global Economic Accountability Research) is a fiscally sponsored project of Global Justice Ecology Project and Keith Brunner, author of the piece below, is once of our Research Associates.  Keith was also the person, along with GJEP ED Anne Petermann, who got hauled out by UN security from the UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa last month for occupying the hallway outside of the main plenary and refusing to leave.

–The GJEP Team

By Keith Brunner

Cross-Posted from GEAR

In addition to following the ongoing development of the Green Climate Fund in Durban, I also took the time to attend a number of World Bank organized side events focused on climate finance and investment.  As well as funding massive fossil fuel intensive projects- such as last year’s three and a half billion dollar loan to build one of the planet’s largest coal-fired power plant complexes in South Africa (ironic, no?)- the World Bank has been ramping up its portfolio of “Climate Investment Funds” and is jockeying for leadership roles in most of the aspects of the UN climate change proceedings.

So: is the World Bank really turning over a new clean, green leaf, ready to help the world’s poor contend with the climate chaos caused by the same fossil fuel-intensive development patterns which the Bank has championed?  Hardly.  Instead, under the leadership of President Robert Zoellick, a former head honcho at Goldman Sachs, the Bank is moving at full speed towards laying the groundwork for a colossal new financial services sector based in environmental products, while using the UN process as a legitimizing cover.  This brilliant scheme (note that all the environmental market initiatives are called “schemes”) will simultaneously provide a new investment frontier for the pools of stagnant capital controlled by the 1% in this slumping world-economy, as well as provide an offsets-based shell game which allows the planet’s biggest polluters to continue with business-as-usual, while giving the appearance that they’re “going green.”

Potentially the most interesting part of tracking the Bank was observing how it functioned in partnership with the US negotiators, and in fact seemed to be generating the policy language which Todd Stern and Jonathan Pershing (the US reps) would later echo impeccably.  Repeat after me: “Private sector engagement…public sector finance as guarantor of private sector loans…catalyzing investment…markets, markets, markets.”  It was essentially like watching a game of telephone, as other government delegations would parrot the US/World Bank line, with mainstream NGO’s such as World Wildlife Foundation following suit like puppies eager to please.

Climate Investment Fun with the World Bank

The first event I attended at COP17 was the launching of a new Climate Investment Fund (CIF).  As of 2011, the World Bank’s Carbon Finance Unit hosts 15 of these funds, which taken together are capitalized to the tune of $2.3 billion USD1.

The Carbon Initiative for Development, or the “Ci-Dev Fund”, was launched in Durban with the goal of helping “the least-developed countries access financing for low-carbon investments and enable them to tap into carbon markets after 2012… [t]he Bank wants to ensure that its suite of financial instruments, including private sources of capital via carbon markets, is accessible to all country clients so they can invest in their sustainable development2.”

The key words here are “financial instruments” and “private sources of capital via carbon markets.”  The Ci-Dev fund exists to fast-track the generation of carbon offset credits from projects as cook stoves in Africa, and household biogas systems in Nepal.  These offset credits will then be sold on international carbon markets, and can be purchased by polluting firms eager to meet emissions targets without actually changing their high-polluting behavior.

So the claim that Ci-Dev finance will aid in “sustainable development” is a wee bit of a misnomer- for how can development be ‘sustainable’ if it is de facto allowing for the continued frying of the planet, with the poorest and most marginalized regions to be hit the hardest?

Let’s say it: Se-ques-tra-tion

Another set of World Bank side events which I had the pleasure of attending at COP17 dealt with what the Bank calls ‘Climate Smart Agriculture.’  As with forest carbon initiatives such as the controversial Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) UN program, ‘Climate Smart Agriculture’ is just a recognition that good agro-ecological practices can actually sequester carbon from the atmosphere, and store it semi-permanently in the soil.  This is precisely what the global federation of peasant farmers La Via Campesina has been saying for years, with their slogan “Small farmers (Campesinos) cool the planet.”

However, while Via Campesina sees in this another reason to protect the land, food, and other rights of peasant farmers worldwide, the World Bank sees an immense new investment frontier, through the creation of agriculture-based carbon offsets which can be bought and sold on global markets.

The Bank led an all-out push to get agriculture included under the UNFCCC’s carbon mitigation proceedings, building momentum for the decision by hosting agriculture-focused panels which featured UN dignitaries, finance and agricultural ministers, and of course, the ubiquitous private sector representatives.  Thanks partly to heavy organizing and a letter signed by over 100 civil society organizations from Africa and around the world calling for the UN to reject efforts to consider agricultural soils within carbon markets, it didn’t happen.  At least, not yet.  In the Durban Platform outcome from COP17, agriculture is found not under markets-focused mitigation, but under the Scientific and Technical body, a relative backwater.  We’ll see if this moves forward at COP18

The delay is good news, considering how the inclusion of soil carbon into offset markets has played out so far.  During the question and answer session at the launch of the Bank’s third ‘tranche’ of its BioCarbon Fund (which finances soil and forest-based initiatives), a young woman spoke up who had worked for a Bank-funded soil carbon project in Kenya.  She explained that the mostly women farmers who were a part of this project are set to make between 1$ and $5 per year, with the rest of the money going to project developers and consultants.  A representative from CARE International working in Africa piped up and said that they are facing soil carbon projects where the financial break-even point for the farmers won’t be reached for 10 years.

One Big Happy Family

Celebrating one year in operation for its Partnership for Market Readiness, the World Bank hosted a panel discussion which included finance ministers from Mexico, Brazil, Denmark, and South Africa.  Connie Hedegaard, the European Union’s Commissioner for Climate Action, opened the panel:

“[The Partnership for Market Readiness] brings together developed and developing countries with a shared interest to further the development of the next generation of multilateral carbon market mechanisms…We need to succeed in developing functioning new market mechanisms at the multilateral level.  The alternative will be a world of fragmented crediting mechanisms and a multitude of carbon currencies that would move us away from a seamless international carbon market with a single carbon price.”

After reflecting on the new market initiatives announced in the past year by California, China, Denmark, and Australia, Hedegaard concluded “So, the good news is the carbon market family is definitely growing.”

Here’s where the interesting part comes in- the carbon price, in actuality, has collapsed.   So is it good news that more countries are headed down this policy cul de sac?

Over the past year, the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)- the largest carbon market on the planet- has seen its carbon price lose over half its value, currently trading at about 7 Euros per tonne of CO2.  The carbon price in the UNFCCC’s Clean Development Mechanism, which generates carbon offset credits that are accepted in the EU ETS, has fallen to under 4 Euros/tonne.  Economically speaking, at this price, there is zero incentive for polluting firms to invest in low-carbon technologies.  At this price the market is useless- a playground for speculators.

In fact, this June Andrew Steer, the World Bank’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, was quoted in the Guardian saying: “The [carbon] market is failing us.  It has done very good things in the past but is not delivering what we feel is necessary.”  And in August (when the price was even higher than it is now!), Reuters proclaimed carbon to be the “world’s worst performing commodity.”

This was the elephant in the room at all of these World Bank events.  The panelists danced around it, making references to the “too-low carbon price” (Hedegaard) and fluctuating markets, yadda yadda.  But when confronted with the basic reality that the planet’s future is being handed over to jumpy Wall Street traders and unstable and untested financial schemes, the room would get silent.

“I’ve been waiting for someone to ask that question,” was the measured response Rachel Kyte, VP of Sustainable Development at the World Bank, gave to a query about the carbon price and long-term viability of carbon markets.  Responding to my question about when the Bank saw the “carbon market bubble bursting,” the Mexican undersecretary at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources chuckled and leaned forward to speak into the mic: “It already popped.”

Forging ahead, armed with ideology…and nothing much more

I spent my afternoon one Wednesday at a presentation which reviewed the recent World Bank publication, prepared at the request of G20 Finance Ministers, entitled “Mobilizing Sources of Climate Finance.”  Featuring an all-star cast of representatives from the French Finance ministry, the US Treasury Department, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, panelists discussed different methods of finance generation and emissions pricing instruments.

In the Question and Answer segment, I raised the point that the documents we’d been handed by the IMF, as well as the majority of the comments made by the presenters, claimed that there was no real difference between a carbon tax or emissions trading.  As I pointed out, experience shows otherwise.  Each of the presentations had acknowledged the major difficulties faced by emissions trading schemes, but then went on to advocate for the expansion of these complex schemes, equating them with a simple tax levied on carbon dioxide emissions.

The IMF rep took my question, and proceeded to lay out three detailed arguments of why a carbon tax is far more simple to implement, and more effective in bringing about structural changes than an emissions trading scheme.  He was nonchalant, and it was clear that this was his personal opinion, having been engaged in policy-making and having studied the matter.  But this contrasted with the “official line” we’d been fed only ten minutes earlier.  What gives?

What was clearly left out was mention that a carbon tax goes against the ‘official religion’ of the IMF or the World Bank, and increasingly, the United Nations environmental agencies.  Favoring the deregulation of business and financial activity, the opening up of borders to international trade, and the removal of ‘market-distorting’ subsidies (for housing, agriculture, or food, for example), neo-liberal economic policy and corporate globalization has been the dominant policy package of capitalism for over two decades, enforced through supra-national  entities like the World Trade Organization, the IMF, and the World Bank.  Through this lens of ‘market fundamentalism,’ any kind of tax is immediately seen as creating ‘market distortions,’ which will presumably cause the ghosts of Adam Smith and Milton Friedman to rise from the dead, not to mention those of Ronald Reagan and Margaret “There Is No Alternative” Thatcher, who were essential in implementing neoliberal policies in the 80′s in their home countries and abroad.

So, Question: How does the neoliberal economic religion approach the climate crisis, which has been dubbed “the greatest market failure the world has seen” by one prominent economist?

The answer, of course, is to create more markets.  From the Emissions Trading Scheme, or “Cap and Trade” approach, which dices up our common atmosphere into a patchwork of invisible property rights (‘rights to pollute’), then hands them over for bargain deals- although most of the time, for free- to the biggest polluters on the planet, to the nascent markets in financial securities backed by ‘ecosystem services,’ the priests of the neoliberal religion are spinning out increasingly desperate ways to maintain business as usual, while building the facade that they’re ‘solving the climate crisis.’  It would be humorous if it wasn’t all so depressing.

So, by now, one can see what some of the implications of a World Bank-controlled Green Climate Fund could be.  I’ve only touched on one aspect of the ‘green’ investment schemes getting underway, which run the gamut from new and improved GMO trees and organisms, to geoengineering, agrofuels and nanotechnology, all the way to money for more good-old massive dams, mega wind farms, and super-sized solar arrays.  And, of course, we’ll be sending Haliburton to rebuild infrastructure after that next super-typhoon, financed though the GCF’s Private Sector Facility using ‘adaptation’ finance.

Luckily, there’s a growing movement against the Bank’s involvement in global ecological finance and policy, information around which can be found here: www.worldbankoutofclimate.org.  As we move towards Rio+20, this issue will certainly gain more traction and energy.  Occupy the World Bank?

1.  www.carbonfinance.org

2.http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:23062384~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Carbon Trading, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Corporate Globalization, False Solutions to Climate Change, REDD, UNFCCC, World Bank

Grassroots Report Back from the Durban Disaster: “2011 UN Climate Change Negotiations”

Note: Global Justice Ecology Project and GEAR (Global Economic Accountability Research) did a report back from the UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa last month.  The reportback was held on January 11th and filmed by Burlington, Vermont’s CCTV network.  The report back was organized by the Environmental Working Group of Occupy Burlington and Burlington Action Against Nukes.  Special thanks to Sophie and Peggy for organizing this.
From Center for Media and Democracy–CCTV:
Grassroots Report Back from the Durban Disaster: “2011 UN Climate Change Negotiations”
Global Justice Ecology Project’s Anne Petermann and Orin Langelle, along with Keith Brunner and Lindsey Gillies (all from VT); including special live-stream report from Jeff Conant in Oakland.  All five speakers were present at the UN Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa last month.
(to watch the report back, click on the link below)

http://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/programs/grassroots-report-back-durban-disaster-2011-un-climate-change-negotiations

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Filed under Climate Change, Climate Justice, Corporate Globalization, Green Economy, World Bank