media advisory
friends of the earth International, a seed
europe
groups demand world bank reshape its
poverty alleviation approach
friday may 20, 2005
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, May 20, 2005 –
In light of the upcoming World Bank Annual
Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE),
to be held in Amsterdam on May 23-24th,
Friends of the Earth International and A SEED
Europe question the World Bank’s track record
in alleviating poverty through the promotion
of economic growth.
“Through the years, the ABCDE conference
has been used to advocate the World Bank's
development policies, which are predominantly
based on the promotion of economic growth as
the main engine for poverty alleviation,”
said Filka Sekulova of A SEED Europe. “Yet in
practice, the World Bank's development agenda
has failed time and time again. Even when
World Bank prescriptions to borrowing
countries bring about a certain improvement
in overall economic performance, poverty
continues to increase.”
The groups also charge that the changes
that the Bank undertook after the large wave
of criticism it received up to September 2000
were mainly cosmetic. “Policy conditions
attached to loans simply do not work,” said
Longgena Ginting, co-coordinator of Friends
of the Earth International’s campaign on
International Financial Institutions.
“Institutions that use public money should be
pursuing investments that genuinely lead to
improvements in people's lives and their
environments. A shift away from fossil fuel
and mining investments and towards socially
and environmentally sustainable energy
solutions would be an important start.”
Even the World Bank is aware of its own
failures in the realm of poverty alleviation.
One ABCDE conference background document
states that “Overall, progress has been
slower than envisaged, uneven across policy
areas and countries, and far short of what is
needed to achieve the Millennium Development
Goals”, a set of targets set by world leaders
for reducing poverty and hunger by 2015.
for more information:
Filka Sekulova, A SEED Europe, Phone:
+31-20-668-2236 or e-mail:
wbboycott@aseed.antenna.nl
Longgena Ginting, Friends of the Earth
International, mobile: +31618846365 or email:
ginting@foei.org
Rodrigo Fernandez, Milieudefensie/Friends
of the Earth Netherlands, e-mail:
Rodrigo.fernandez@milieudefensie.nl
www.foei.org/ifi, www.wbbeurope.org and
www.worldbank.org/abcde-amsterdam
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