Board approves Panel recommendation to investigate whether the Bank has observed its policies and procedures in a Mining Development and Environmental Control Technical Assistance Project in Ecuador (May 16, 2000)
CONTACT:
Eduardo Abbott (202) 458-2617
Antonia M. Macedo (202 ) 458-2597
WORLD BANK BOARD AUTHORIZES AN INSPECTION PANEL INVESTIGATION
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2000: The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors yesterday approved the independent Inspection Panel's recommendation for it to conduct an investigation into the Bank's compliance with its own policies in a Mining Development and Environmental Control Technical Assistance Project in Ecuador. The Executive Directors' decision was taken on a no-objection basis. The Panel will be making plans for its investigation in the near future.
The Panel report concluded (1) that the Request for Inspection met all eligibility criteria required under the Resolution establishing the Panel; and (2) that the Request for Inspection and the Management Response to it "contain a wide range of conflicting assertions and interpretations about issues, the underlying assumptions, the facts, compliance and harm." The Panel therefore recommended that the Executive Directors authorize an investigation "into the matters alleged in the Request."
The Panel will looking into whether or not the Bank has observed its own policies and procedures, inter-alia, on Environmental Assessment (OD 4.01), on Wildlands (OPN 11.02 now OP/BP 4.04 on Natural Habitats), and on Project Supervision (OD 13.05).
The Panel's report was prepared in response to a Request for Inspection submitted by DECOIN, Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag (Defense and Ecological Conservation of Intag) - an Ecuadorian non-governmental organization acting for and on behalf of persons in the area known as the Intag area and four representatives of the Associacion de Caficultores Rio Intag (Association of the Coffee Growers of Rio Intag), all residents in the Imbabura Province, Republic of Ecuador.
The Requesters claim that the communities they represent are likely to suffer harm as a result of World Bank failures and omissions in the design and supervision of the Project.
Specifically, they claim that the development of mining activities in the Intag area will prevent local communities from continuing to work in their traditional agricultural and cattle breeding activities. They also claim that the project will have a destructive impact on critical natural habitats, threatening protected natural reserves and endangered species. The Requesters ask, among other things, that the mining information gathered under the project within the natural reserves, their buffer zones and other areas in which there is a conflict involving local communities and mining companies be not disclosed to the public.
Copies of the Inspection Panel Reports are available on this web site.
Hard copies are available from the World Bank's InfoShop, Public Information Centers in Paris and Tokyo, and the Bank's field office in Quito.
In Washington: World Bank InfoShop, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433 tel.: (202) 458-5454; fax: (202) 522-1500