Chixoy Struggle for Reparations. Photo by International Rivers (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). The Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam, a project financed by the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in the 1970s and ‘80s in Guatemala, led to the forcible displacement and deaths of thousands of people across the region. Despite a 2010 agreement to provide …
Forty international and Honduran CSOs have signed a statement condemning the response of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to the highly critical findings of the Compliance Adviser/Ombudsman (CAO) regarding the IFC’s investment in Corporación Dinant in Honduras, which has been associated with extensive human rights abuses, including the killing, kidnapping and forced eviction of farmers. …
On December 2-6 2013, the Facility Management Team (FMT) of the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) held a workshop in Bogota, Colombia to facilitate capacity building and exchange of experiences among South American FCPF country participants. The workshop, entitled “Social Inclusion in the Processes of Preparation of National REDD+ Strategies,” was intended to …
On December 4-6, 2013, the Center for International Resources for Civil Organizations (CERI, El Centro de Recursos Internacionales para Organizaciones Civiles), held its third international congress in Pachuca, Mexico. The congress, entitled “Resources from North America for Social Causes in Mexico,” sought to provide Mexican civil society attendees with information regarding the available financial, human, …
Photo courtesy of AIDESEP Work done by Peruvian indigenous communities and leaders led to an important advance against deforestation on October 30, when the Forest Investment Program (FIP) Sub Committee approved the Forest Investment Plan for Peru (FIP-PE) in a meeting in Washington, DC. A Peruvian delegation of government and indigenous leaders, whose members included …
From October 29-November 1, the Bank Information Center, in cooperation with the International Commission of Jurists, hosted a unique delegation of eight adolescents and two child rights experts who traveled to Washington, DC from around the world. This visit was part of a broad civil society campaign on child rights and World Bank and consisted …
The Peruvian Amazon, the fourth largest extension of tropical rainforest in the world, is a battleground for indigenous rights and defense of critical environments. Key issues facing indigenous peoples are playing themselves out every day – territorial encroachment, illegal logging, government-sanctioned extraction of natural resources, construction of other mega projects, informal gold mining, among others. …
In the context of World Food Day, established by the United Nations and celebrated on October 16th each year, the Mexican Network of Rural Forestry Organizations (Red MOCAF in Spanish) has published a news release on the important role of forests in the process of food production. In this publication, Gustavo Sánchez Valle, president of …
Representatives of civil society, indigenous communities, government and the press gathered in San Pedro Sula, Honduras from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25 for the “First International Workshop on Social and Environmental Safeguards in Indigenous Territories and Forest Communities of Mesoamerica,” an initiative of the Bank Information Center, and for the Community Forestry Pre-Congress, organized by …
Between August 14 and October 5 2013 the Bank Information Center held a series of seven children’s consultations in six countries on the World Bank safeguards. The countries in which consultations have been carried out include: Peru, Yemen, India, Cambodia and Uganda. The World Bank is currently reviewing its social and environmental policy standards, and is …