World
Bank: No more funding for oil palm plantations!
In August 2009,
the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and shortly thereafter
the wider World Bank Group (WBG) of which it is part suspended finance
for the palm oil sector. This was done in response to critical complaints
by Indonesian NGOs and indigenous peoples’ organizations and
international NGOs which triggered a damning audit report by the
IFC’s own Compliance Advisory Ombudsman.
However, the Bank
appears to be determined to continue funding oil palm expansion
in Africa, Asia and Latin America and has launched what it defines
as “an open and participatory process, engaging a diverse
group of stakeholders” for developing a strategy for “future
engagement in the palm oil sector”.
As part of that
process, the Bank has organized several consultations: Washington
(April 23-26), Indonesia (May 3-7), Costa Rica, (May 17-18), Ghana
(31 May-1 June) and The Netherlands (3-4 June).
Once this process
has been completed, the Bank will “take note” of the
diverse views expressed by a wide range of “stakeholders”
and will come up with a strategy that will allow it to continue
funding the expansion of this very controversial crop.
In response, several
social and environmental groups, which have been denouncing the
greenwashing of oil palm plantations, launched an action. On May
18th 2010, a letter was sent to the World Bank on behalf of over
80 organizations from more than 34 countries urging the World Bank
to stop funding oil palm plantations.
The letter stresses
that “The evidence provided by the documented environmental
and social harm caused by industrial oil palm plantations, makes
it necessary to insist that those plantations are part of a model
of large-scale extractivist production aimed at export, which is
inherently unsustainable”. As a result, the letter concludes
that “What is therefore needed is to stop the expansion of
oil palm monocultures” and that “The World Bank must
not finance oil palm plantations.”
The letter can
be accessed at:
http://www.wrm.org.uy/actors/WB/Letter_2010.html
If you wish to express you support to this letter, send an email
to: unsustainablepalmoil@gmail.com
You can also do that by entering the following web page:
http://www.salvalaselva.org/
