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WASHINGTON
- September 19 - As World Bank representatives gather in Dubai Sept 18-24 for the 2003 World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings, three key environmental organisations today released a report in response to the World Bank's new "high risk/high reward" strategy in the water, forestry, and extractive industries sectors.
The report, ´Gambling With People's Lives´, analyzes the World Bank's ability to manage social and environmental risks in high-risk projects and to learn from its past mistakes. The report was produced jointly by environmental Defense, Friends of the Earth, and International Rivers Network and is available at www.irn.org
"The World Bank is playing a reckless, high-stakes game of roulette, where the poor - and not the Bank - stand to lose big," said Environmental Defense policy analyst Shannon Lawrence. "While the Bank and private
investors are shielded from project risk, the communities affected by its
projects have no such guarantees."
One of the Bank's most important environmental reforms of the 1990s was its
more cautious approach to high-risk infrastructure and forestry projects.
This policy is now being reversed. The World Bank recently announced that
it would re-engage in contentious water projects such as large dams in what
it refers to as a "high risk/high reward" strategy. In 2002, the Bank
dismissed its "risk-averse" approach to the forest sector when it approved
a new forest policy. The World Bank is also considering support for new
oil, mining, and gas projects in unstable and poorly governed countri es,
against the recommendations of its own evaluation unit.
"Big is beautiful again, and in spite of their abysmal track record,
megaprojects are back in style at the World Bank," says Peter Bosshard,
policy director at International Rivers Network. "The Bank's new high-risk
strategy will prolong the deadlock in important sectors such as water and
electricity, and will block the development of sustainable alternatives."
"Large dam, forestry, and extractive industries projects funded by the
World Bank have displaced millions of people and devastated the
environment," said Carol Welch, international program director at Friends
of the Earth. "The Bank's spotty implementation of its inadequate safeguard
policies means that communities and the environment will continue to face
the greatest risks in World Bank projects."
The report recommends, among other things, that the World Bank repair the
damage caused by its pre vious high-risk projects, stay away from new
high-risk projects, and address the human rights dimensions of its work.
The report will be presented on Monday, September 22 at the Dubai Convention Center, Room G-01 from 11:00 am-12:00 pm.
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