Globalization
- Thu Apr 06 2006
Source:
Amazon Watch
Civil society organizations gathered within the framework of the IDB Annual Meeting, and members of the different international networks monitoring the activity of multilateral banks put forward the some comments.
From Belo Horizonte, Brazil
"The Peruvian State, the Camisea consortia and the IDB have planted a time bomb to destroy our Amazon region and cause the indigenous peoples that have been inhabiting it for thousands of years to disappear. We, indigenous peoples ask the IDB: where is the cutting-edge technology you promised us for the Camisea project?, what is laying ahead for our children and the new generations?, should the destroyal of the environment and the habitat of indigenous peoples be considered as development?"
- Grimaldo Caristo Aladino, Leader of Machiguenga Council, COMARU, Peru
"The IDB is jointly responsible for this terrible Camisea project. Structural changes are urgently needed in a bank that manages public funds so that projects aimed at the exploitation of hydrocarbons which damage local populations, fail to bring development to the country and increase greenhouse gas emissions, thus posing a threat to the whole planet, are no longer financed."
- Lily La Torre Lopez, Racimos de Ungurahui, Peru
"We consider the political will expressed with regards to debt cancellation as very positive but believe that debate should be implemented in the quickest way possible in order not to further postpone this decision. According to our position, the resources to implement this measure should come from G8 member countries and not from Latin American countries themselves. The economies of countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela should not be financing this decision since they also have high poverty rates. We highlight the fact that we do not agree on a debt cancellation that would prevent the future flow of concessional resources to these countries since this would be further constraining the development of their economies and least of all on a cancellation involving conditionalities or policy “recipes” for these nations. Recent decades have shown that that neoliberal “recipes” have conspicuously damaged Latin American economies."
- María José Romero, Third World Institute, Uruguay
"Two years ago the IDB told everybody that the Camisea project would be a model as to how to carry out an infrastructure project in a sustainable way, taking into account the importance of the environment and vulnerable communities. In 2006, the Camisea project is a failure, since it has turned into an international scandal. Given its new focus on mega-infrastructure and the new re-alingment the bank intends to implement, I am very concerned about the fact that future projects may be evidencing the same problems and negative impacts as the Camisea project. It should be highlighted that if the Inter-American Development Bank does not learn the lessons from Camisea and other projects such as Caña Brava and Yacyreta, its new re-alingment and new mission will collapse under the burden of many more failed projects which will be spoiling the image of the IDB in the region as a leader in terms of sustainable and positive development."
- Lyra Spang, Center for Human Rights and Environment, Argentina
"Camisea has had five spills in 18 months. Forty percent of its central government royalties go to purchase arms. The fund that was to use some royalties for affected communities ended up a political payoff to distant local governments that wanted a piece of the pie. Is this development? Does the IDB have the capacity to manage these high-risk projects, especially now that it wants to reorganize itself to do more of them? The IDB says it is going to audit Camisea's problems, but what it really needs is to investigate the internal systemic failures that overlooked countless warnings, promised a 'model' project, and delivered a disaster of this magnitude."
- Aaron Goldzimer, Environmental Defense, U.S.
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