Civil society groups have reacted angrily to a document circulated by the Extractive Industries Review (EIR), the initiative established by the World Bank to make recommendations about its future roles in supporting oil, gas and mining. The Compilation of Consultation Inputs recently released by the EIR “fails to reflect the full spectrum of views presented at the regional workshops and wholly ignores civil society positions clearly articulated at each of the consultations to date”. The finding that the World Bank’s extractive industries activities are an effective tool for poverty alleviation “reflects a bias toward industry and the World Bank and contradicts inputs repeatedly asserted by civil society”.
The groups recommend establishing a Joint Commission of Stakeholders (JCS) comprised of four civil society representatives, two industry representatives (one petroleum sector and one minerals sector), and two government representatives, to co-author the final EIR report with the Eminent Person whom the Bank appointed to run the Review. The final report is due in September.
EIR mid-term assessment, Friends of the Earth
Indigenous peoples have produced a set of case studies of World Bank oil, gas and mining projects. These will be presented at a workshop in Oxford in April which the EIR Eminent Person will attend.