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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE APRIL 10, 2000
200 GROUPS CALL ON WORLD
BANK TO PHASE OUT DESTRUCTIVE OIL, MINING AND
GAS PROJECTS
(Washington, D.C., April 10) – Amid
growing criticism of the World Bank for
misguided and harmful lending practices,
more than 200 organizations representing
environmental, human rights, religious, and
economic justice organizations from 55
countries today called on the Bank to stop
financing oil, gas, and mining
projects.
At a press conference in Washington, DC,
and in simultaneous releases in the United
Kingdon, Canada, Netherlands, Germany,
Italy, Brazil, Nigeria and the Czech
Republic, representatives of these diverse
organizations announced a campaign to get
the World Bank to phase out its funding of
these extractive industries. The campaign
was unveiled on the first day of the World
Bank’s kick off its annual "Energy Week"
conference in the Washington area.
"The World Bank’s oil, gas, and mining
projects have left a trail of environmental
devastation, increased poverty, and severe
social disruption in their wake in poor
countries,"said Andrea Durbin of FoE United
States. "The record shows these projects do
little or nothing to foster poverty
alleviation, and instead mainly benefit
multinational corporations."
In a platform to be presented to World
Bank officials, the groups, including
Friends of the Earth International,
OilWatch Africa, Greenpeace International,
Oxfam Canada, United Methodist Church, and
environmental groups from Africa, Asia and
Latin America, highlighted the ten most
harmful impacts of oil, gas, and mining
projects. The platform notes that
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The poor are the most likely to be
forced off their land by oil, gas, and
mining projects. They are the most likely
to live in contaminated surroundings as a
result of oil spills, gas flaring and
improper waste disposal, and the least
empowered to demand fair
compensation;
-MORE-
WORLD BANK / 2
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Extractive projects have devastated
dozens of indigenous groups around the
world, resulting in loss of their
numbers, livelihoods, and cultural
identity;
-
Extraction of valuable natural
resources often exacerbates human rights
violations in countries with corrupt and
repressive regimes, as governments and
the corporations collude to repress
citizen opposition and demand for
compensation;
-
Desperate for hard currency to
service debts, poor nations exploit
resources such as petroleum reserves and
minerals at unsustainable rates, a costly
development path that fuels indebtedness
and dependence on foreign aid;
-
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The multinational corporations
that receive World Bank financing for
extractive projects often have
profits that dwarf the annual budgets
of poor nations. These wealthy
corporations do not need World Bank
support, which diverts much need aid
from programs that truly benefit the
poor.
Instead, the World Bank should be
investing in clean technologies and
programs aimed at poverty alleviation.
The platform detailed 10 better
examples of good development the World
Bank could finance, from renewable
energy and conservation programs, to
technical and job training,
micro-enterprises, and urban
quality-of-life projects. In addition,
the platform urges immediate debt
cancellation for highly indebted poor
countries.
CONTACT:
Andrea Durbin, FoE United States
Mobile Tel: 1 202 744 8048
Ann Doherty, Friends of the Earth
International Secretariat,
Amsterdam
Tel: 31 20 622 1369; E-mail:
info@foei.org
NOTE: CASE STUDIES OF WORLD
BANK-FINANCED OIL, GAS, AND MINING
PROJECTS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
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