Petition Letter from RWESA to JBIC
From: "Kevin Li" <sanxia@yahoo.com>
To: <k-murata@jbic.go.jp>
Cc: "Mekong Watch Japan" <mekong-w@co.xdsl.ne.jp>;
"FoE-J" <aid@foejapan.org>;
<mail@sg-egl-jbic.org>
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 10:59 AM
Subject: Appeal Letter for JBIC
To: Mr. Hiroshi Yasuda (Governor, JBIC)
Dear Sir,
I, on behalf of Rivers Watch East and Southeast Asia (RWESA), am writing to
express our concern in the environmental guidelines to be established by
JBIC. We urge JBIC to make a clear commitment to adopt the strategic priorities
and policy principles defined by the World Commission on Dams (WCD).
Please find attached our petition letter.
We are looking forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
Kevin LI
(for Rivers Watch East and Southeast Asia)
-----------------------------------attached document to
follow-----------------------------------
c/o
Southeast Asia Rivers Network
78
Moo 10, Suthep Road
Muang,
Chiang Mai 50300
Thailand
Tel:
66-53-278334, 280712
Fax:
66-53-283609
April 12, 2001.
Mr. Hiroshi Yasuda
Governor, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)
4-1 Otemachi 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-8144, Japan.
Dear Mr. Yasuda,
Examining the history of industrialization, a model of development has
emerged in which the needs of local communities and peoples directly affected
by the impacts of development projects are often neglected. This has had tragic impacts upon
millions of people. The
consequences of development-induced environmental destruction are being felt
with phenomena such as global warming, desertification, and loss of
biodiversity.
Unfortunately, it has been this model of development that has shaped
much of the ODA and international economic cooperation patterns we see today,
and JBIC is clearly also a product of this history. There is hope, however, as we see international financial
institutions beginning to re-examine their policies and implement more
stringent social and environmental practices.
We write to you as members of Rivers Watch East and Southeast Asia
(RWESA), a regional network of NGOs and dam-affected peoples working to stop
destructive river development in the region. RWESA is aware that JBIC is
currently establishing new environmental guidelines, and would like to
encourage it in this process. We
urge JBIC to make a clear commitment to adopt the strategic priorities and
policy principles defined by the World Commission on Dams (WCD) and reflect
this commitment by incorporating the policy principles into the new
environmental guidelines of JBIC.
Specifically, we call on JBIC to:
1.
Incorporate the WCD strategic priorities and policy principles in the
new environmental guidelines;
2.
Make the guidelines binding;
3.
Develop a clear compliance mechanism to ensure that the guidelines are
followed;
4. Conduct an
independent, open and transparent review of all on-going dam projects that are
receiving JBIC funds for compliance with the WCD policy principles.
Construction on these projects should be halted until the review has been
finalized;
5.
Institute a moratorium on funding for all large dam projects until the
WCD's guidelines have been implemented and on-going projects have been
reviewed.
JBIC should refrain from funding any project that violates the WCD
policy principles. To fund
projects which violate the principles, thereby violating the rights of project
affected communities and damaging the environment, would only indicate
hypocrisy rather than sincere commitment to development which respects human
rights and environmental sustainability.
We would appreciate very much if JBIC would inform RWESA of its
position regarding the WCD report and the current status of progress being made
on the environmental guidelines.
As members of international civil society, we encourage JBIC to develop
a set of guidelines that are consistently implemented. We hope that these
guidelines can be a model for other export credit agencies, and JBIC can act as
a leader in this field.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Endorsed by:
Hui Seng Kin, SOS Selangor, Malaysia
Dr Kua Kia Soong, SUARAM, Malaysia
Colin Nicolas and Carol Yong, Centre for Orang Asli Concern, Selangor,
Malaysia
Joan Carling, Cordillera Peoples Alliance, Philippines
Kong Socheat, Church World Service, Kompong Thom, Cambodia
Kevin Li, Globalization Monitor, Hong Kong
Consumers Association of Penang, Malaysia
Sahabat Alam Malaysia
Indigenous Peoples Development Center, Sarawak, Malaysia
Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links
Friends of the Earth Japan
Mekong Watch Japan
Southeast Asia Rivers Network, Thailand
South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, India
AID/WATCH, Australia
EarthRights International
International Rivers Network
cc. Study Group on Environmental Guidelines for JBIC, JBIC Hong Kong Office