Panel claim in Ecuador

News|Bretton Woods Project|15 April 2000|update 16|url
print|email |bookmark

The Prodeminca mining project in Ecuador, officially called the Ecuadorian Mining and Environment Technical Assistance Project, involves a loan for $14 million that was approved in 1994. NGO attention was drawn to the project when World Bank staff were discovered working in environmentally sensitive areas protected under Ecuadorian law. The staff were engaged in mineral exploration and prospecting and concerns revolve particularly around actions in the protected Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve. In an attempt to stop publication of the results of the prospecting, several Ecuadorian NGOs, led by DECOIN, have recently filed a claim with the World Bank Inspection Panel. If these findings were made public it would result in a steep increase in small-scale mining in sensitive areas. Additionally, a claim is being made in the Ecuadorian courts. Despite repeated requests to the Bank, no one has successfully received a copy of the environmental assessment for the category A project.

Contact Dana Clark, CIEL, dclark@ciel.org .

This text may be freely used providing the source is credited.

This page is: <http://brettonwoodsproject.org/art.shtml?x=15406>

Published: 15 April 2000 , last edited: 8 February 2010

Viewings since posted: 3722