In early June the World Bank rushed to defend the proposed China Western Poverty Project from charges that it would disrupt the lives of ethnic Tibetans and had undergone too limited environmental scrutiny.
Rights
Rights
News
IMF transparency improved
The IMF has outlined a new information policy.
Environment
News
New report on problems with forest policy reform
The World Rainforest Movement and Environmental Defense Fund have produced a briefing on the World Bank’s Forest Policy Review and Strategy Development process.
IFI governance
News
Bank study finds adjustment impact studies inadequate
A leaked May 1999 draft Bank review of structural and sectoral adjustment loans severely criticises their treatment of environmental and social issues.
Infrastructure
News
Chad-Cameroon discussions reach peak
The Bank is due to decide in the next few weeks whether to support the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline.
Rights
News
Bank specialist assesses NGO networks
Kathy Bain, Latin America civil society specialist at the World Bank, has written a draft paper on The Accountability of Trans-National NGO Networks in Policy Alliances with the World Bank.
Environment
News
Exchange highlights continuing Bank resettlement problems in India
At the half-way mark of the Bank’s controversial Coal India Environmental and Social Mitigation project local groups have criticised aspects of resettlement implementation.
Rights
News
Post-crisis social code diluted to weak Bank principles
There is danger that the aims and scope of the social principles (formerly the Social Code), which was proposed by Gordon Brown as a fourth pillar of the new international architecure, will be watered down to become simply a framework for the Bank’s social policy.
IFI governance
News
New criticisms of the Bank’s resettlement record
A new official report has criticised the Bank’s record in overseeing the resettlement of people displaced by projects it supports.
Rights
News
IFC policies confirmed
The International Finance Corporation has finalised its rewording of the Bank’s social and environmental policies to fit its clientele and business cycle, and many of the policies are about to be signed off by the Board.
